         Laurence Griffin
Am I the only one who feels like today’s job market is unbelievably frustrating? I often feel like I am. Gone are the days where there was talk of a ‘job for life’ in your local area and that was it. It seems now that there is a, what some may argue, a ridiculous amount of expectation that is put on today’s candidates in order to acquire a career. Employers can pick and choose and can easily just turn you down, not even having the courtesy to bother to give feedback, even after a huge amount of effort you may have put into trying to prove your worth to them. This frankly absurd process, proves just too much for some, who either quit university or do jobs they are way over-qualified for, thus driving productivity and the economy down. In many respects, for many people, they simply have to make do with ‘what they can get’, despite showing all the resilience and productivity in the world. The most insulting thing is; society seems to think this is somehow ‘normal’, from personal experience.
Phrases like ‘well rounded and polished’ and talk from society such as ‘it’s very competitive, no one will help you get there, sort your life out, you’re not trying hard enough’ seem to come up needlessly and today’s graduates are up against unbelievable competition just to get noticed, let alone acquire a job with a graduate employer. Many employers still don’t regard voluntary work as credible alternative to proven paid, work experience and as such this almost renders the whole philosophy of participating in voluntary activities and what skills/experiences you gain from it ‘useless’. I feel and continue to believe that my voluntary work has in so many respects been the making of me (both personally and professionally) and has in some respects enabled me to consider options I would never have considered previously. Sure, there are the opportunities out there, today’s generation now have opportunities on a global scale, but a huge sinking hole is continuing to widen as to how you actually get there. It is still very much a postcode lottery, rather than actual ability.
You get constant feedback on your CV, saying this and that is wrong, but how do you 100% prepare when applying for the job? The answer is, you can’t, you simply never know what the employer’s true criteria are. This means that for a lot of people, there is a lot of action and yet no results. It can be a very demoralising process, including for young people and their families.
Regional inequality also has a part to play. The vast majority of opportunities are still targeted towards London. The capital is starting to become a victim of it’s own success, with transport and housing at breaking point, something will eventually have to give. Of course, there are deprived areas in London just as much as anywhere else, but they still have better access to opportunities that will subsequently make them more employable, as opposed to someone from a rural part of the lake district or highlands. We still have a government who believes London (a national and international powerhouse) is the ‘bees-knees’ and the countryside comes second (even down to basics like broadband, which is slower than in cities), it is prejudice and downright discriminatory to treat those who live and have been brought up in rural areas as second-class citizens. London in many respects behaves as if it’s a completely separate country from the rest of England, let alone the rest of the UK. Many people have no understanding of what it is like to live outside of greater London. I am certain if I had been brought up in London or indeed any other major UK/IRE city, be that Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham etc., I would’ve had far better careers guidance and I doubt I would’ve experienced periods of unemployment. The answer some may say to me, is that I ought to move from where I currently live, a fact I’m well aware of and is a challenge that I will have to take at some point. But I’m very close to my family and I often feel ill at ease about the prospect of moving, another reason why I indicated voluntary activities as a means of ascertaining some form of ‘second family’.
Some may argue, that this is simply ‘progression’ of a capitalist society. Whilst it is true, the UK is still in debt and cannot afford not to be competitive, the execution of the current state system is simply failing to keep up leaving a lot far behind the rest. If, through no fault of your own, you have experienced difficulty in your life, such as coming from a deprived background, bullying at school, unsupportive institutions, this still limits you to a successful career (or at least what the glossy brochures of universities, some articles and top graduate employers have you believe).
When I left education, all of the opportunities I found to date I had to find myself or through word of mouth, through pure resilience and determination to better myself. But I still find myself in a position now where I’m unsure where my life is going, what I want to do and whether anyone will listen or relate to me. Maybe all this uncertainty is a good thing, but in many ways it makes me more and more wary. I often fear that people will judge me in a negative light because of this, it makes me feel very frustrated and angry sometimes. I, just as much as anyone else, want to make a success of my life. I’ve already achieved a better standard of living with car ownership, but how much does it take nowadays just to get recognised, let alone living standard achievements? Is this what this ‘it’s all very competitive’ and ‘survival of the fittest’ comes to? Increasingly by the day it seems, it’s no wonder there is an increasing loneliness epidemic, both in the UK and in countries like Japan.
Of course, you can’t make everyone the same, but there is a certain issue with this inequality that results in far-left movements, that then subsequently result in far-right movements and the vicious circle just continues.
Being busy and having tight schedules (as often glorified in graduate jobs like ‘dynamic and busy’) isn’t always a glamourous life (as I found out) and there is nothing wrong with a calmer life, yet not in the eyes of many employers it isn’t. Furthermore, I do not believe this continuous pressure is productive and often just increases the opportunity gap, for instance if you’re on the autistic spectrum and relating to people can be challenging. Of course it’s challenging for everyone now, but I still believe many people seem to make it out to be a much easier ride than it actually is and put a lot of judgemental emphasis on you to perform on your own back without any real support to help you get there.
Something perhaps even more controversial I’m going to raise here now. Whilst Third Sector organisations do a lot to try and bridge the gap for many young people who did not have a fair stab at education and employment (in particular the failings of the Jobcentre and it’s largely bureaucratic, unsupportive system) so much more could be done.
It has been the case where some organisations take a very ‘laid back’ approach, which means things can be slow to get anything done or not at all and communication can be patchy. Kids Company was a prime example of what happens when a charity behaves irresponsibly with spending and how they operated in general. It’s vital that these organisations step up the mark with the opportunities they give to young people and take far more seriously their interests and supporting their needs, otherwise it looks tokenistic and largely disengaging. I have been to so many events where the aspiration on everyone’s mind is that it isn’t a tokenistic use of young people.
They have so much potential to have a real recognition in changing the policy of what the state fails at, in ensuring that no young person is left behind in the increasingly competitive employment world and they need to be far more accountable. I am assured that already positive steps have been taken in light of the closure of Kids Company that charities who work with young people are stepping up their game, which in turn will mean the government is far more likely to take their interests seriously. This also includes those who have lived in rural areas, which is also really encouraging to hear. These organisations also have to realise that the UK is still in debt, they talk about cuts, but the country is still borrowing and taxing the middle-class to pay for many beneficiaries such as the NHS and even Erasmus+ programmes (another thing that needs vast improvement if the EU has any degree of credibility left).
This may seem a direct criticism and somewhat opinionated, but it’s a brutal one and it’s my opinion (I believe free-speech is always a right to be upheld, I believe I have every right to be vocal in my opinion about any organisation not performing well enough or to the best of it’s ability). Such organisations need to address their underlying issues and not hide from or ignore them, in light of Kids Company, so that they enable young people to take not just as many opportunities as possible that they might otherwise be denied, but to also be recognised what they put in. An expectation of which employers seem to echo in leaps and bounds these days.
