11 jobseekers competing for each vacancy in region

With a degree in television production and a glowing CV, Kristian Snowden should have the world at his feet.

Instead, new figures obtained by the Grimsby Telegraph reveal that the 21-year-old is one of the 11 people in North East Lincolnshire chasing every job advertised in Grimsby's Job Centre Plus.

And, despite applying for countless posts in the last three months – sending out up to five applications a week – he has yet to even be offered an interview.

Today, as the Telegraph reveals the continuing difficult situation for jobseekers, we can also show how many agencies are working tirelessly to get people into work.

A recent Get Britain Working event organised by the Jobcentre Plus and North East Lincolnshire Council's Change programme attracted more than 200 people to the event. Latest figures show the Change programme has helped 434 unemployed residents in the borough to get back into work since January 2010.

However official statistics reveal the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in the borough has increased from 6,501 in July to 6,559 last month. Of those in receipt of out of work benefits, 2,145 are below the age of 24.

The number of young people – aged between 18 and 24 – claiming JSA in North East Lincolnshire has increased by 3.6 per cent from 2,070 in July.

In Cleethorpes, there are 7.1 people competing for every Job Centre Plus advertised post, while in Louth and Horncastle, there are four per vacancy.

The unemployment statistics for North East Lincolnshire mirror the picture nationally, which shows the biggest rise in the unemployment rate for two years.

The increase been driven by a surge in the number of jobless young people. The country's jobless rate stood at 2.51 million between May and July, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, after the total number of unemployed increased by 80,000.

This was the largest quarterly increase in unemployment since August 2009.

Within these figures, the number of unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds surged by 77,000 to 769,000, the ONS said.

Kristian, of Durham Road in Cleethorpes, said he is "frustrated" with the lack of response to his efforts.

He said: "I wanted to get a job in TV production out of town, but I need to save up money to move away and I'm not guaranteed a job straight away. I have been looking for any job in town and sometimes when I take my CV in to places, they look at me as if I'm stupid.

"I'm claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and receiving about £56 a week and living with my dad. The Job Centre said taking my degree off my CV was an option, so I don't appear overqualified."

Kristian said he is now pursuing opportunities with eFactor to start his own video editing business.

He continued: "If nobody is going to employ me, I might as well employ myself.

"I'm now looking at getting a loan, I already have people interested in using the service.

"This is the first time in my life that I have been out of education. It's easy to look at someone who has been unemployed for a lengthy period and assume they are lazy and don't do anything to help themselves, but I must stress that this is not always the case.

"I desperately need work at this point.

"I'd say that only one in 20 jobs even bother to respond to turn down my application. I would appreciate a letter or e-mail to tell me that my application has been unsuccessful, just so that I know.

"I have gone to great lengths to tidy up and tighten my application techniques and still I haven't had any interviews. It leads me to believe that most of my applications are going straight in the bin without so much as a glance.

"I would also like to urge businesses to pay more attention to application forms they receive in order to critically assess the best person for the job."

Source: ThisisGrimsby.co.uk, Monday 19th September 2011