This year thousands of University graduates in the UK are going to find themselves in a very sticky situation.
I graduated from my undergraduate degree last May, and have just completed a Masters in Broadcast Journalism. Many of my friends who did not go on to further study last year have found it nearly impossible to get their careers started.
Many have ended up working for free on internships where your main role is to make tea or working in minimum wage jobs.
Last years graduates who have began their chosen careers are few and far between I don't know anyone my age who is working in a profession that they studied for at University or anyone who is remotely working in a similar industry to that of their desired career.
The class of 2008, have been left behind and the class of 2009 face a even tougher challenge.
Just take a look on a jobs advertisement website like grapevine or mandy.com, out of one hundred jobs advertised there, only a few are available to graduates and most of those are unpaid, which brings me on to my second point: Since when was it okay for film and television companies to employ graduates free of charge for domestic (cleaning) purposes?
If somebody told me before I enrolled at University and spent over £12,000 that when I graduate the only opportunities that I will have will be to work on minimum wage or work for free doing menial tasks like making tea I would not of bothered putting myself through three tough years!
What are 21 - 24 year old's meant to do exactly?
The options we have are limited:
1. Get a job on minimum wage and spend 10 years paying off our student loans and that's just counting the interest we have obtained over the last four years!
2. Leave this country where there are no opportunities for young people anymore - of course this requires money which very few young people have!
3. Claim benefits which won't really help anyone, as overdrafts and loans will still not be paid off!
Seriously what else can young people do? When is someone going to start doing something to help us get a foot into the job market!
If this continues I suspect thousands of young people will begin to suffer from low self-esteem, confidence and depression.
The worst thing about all of this is that no-one seems to care.
Posts
8 comments:
best blog ever
I understand this predicament all too well. Last week I wrote about graduates being told that they are overqualified for even the most casual jobs available.
Nice post, I just hope people do start to care.
Thanks for the comment! Whats the link to your article would love to read it sounds interesting
Sure! It's at http://www.inspiringinterns.com/blog
Would love to know your thoughts?
Just read it, great article; the problem I see is that people can only do internships for a short period due to the lack of income, so after you have done several internships I find most people are back in the same position as before they began the internship - unemployed! Think the graduate talent pool is a step in the right direction!
Yeah I think so too, it shows the government at least recognises the problem.
But do you honestly think there are less jobs out there? Or do you think that students these days are just not getting the practical skills required?
I really believe that there are less jobs out there specifically in the media industry, I mean if you go to the guardian or mandy.com and check out the positions available, you either have to be extremely qualified with a wealth of experience as many of the jobs are for editorial roles or you end up applying for un-paid work experience/internship roles which when you have spent over £15,000 educating yourself for several years is a bit of a rubbish situation! Think graduates are really stuck at the moment and in the next couple of years I can see a lot of young people leaving this country.
Well that is very discouraging for me especially as I am graduating next year (hopefully)
The blog you read is for my internship, I am currently their editor and I am enjoying it.
What would you suggest for me in terms of organic traffic? I'm new to blogging and hope to start a personal one for myself very soon. I just need to grasp the traffic aspect of things.
Any thoughts?
Post a Comment