"It's the lack of replies that's most unnerving,"
says Luke Hatfield, a journalism graduate from Staffordshire University. Since
graduating he's been working full-time in Nandos while applying to
graduate-level positions. "I've been looking for work for four or five
months now and have sent off tons of applications – I've received two replies.
Neither of them led to anything."
"At first, I started double-checking my CV to see if
I'd written my phone number and email down right. But there just aren't any
jobs out there."
While the news that around 40% of university-leavers fail to
get a graduate job more than two years after leaving education will come as a
shock to many, recent graduates aren't so surprised.
It took Emma, who finished her sociology degree in 2011,
more than a year to secure a graduate-level paid internship. She spent the time
working behind the counter in Boots and sleeping on a futon in her parents'
house.
"Working in a shop was depressing. It felt so unfair.
I'd spent three years at university – picking up thousands of pounds worth of
debt in the meantime – but was working the same job as people who had left
school at 16."
As the first person from her family to go to university,
Emma was – statistically speaking – even less likely to find work than those
with university-educated parents. She hopes her internship will help her get a
foot on the career ladder: "I want to be a teacher, so doing an internship
in education will be really valuable, and it's a lot more enjoyable than
working in a shop."
For many, it's the Catch 22 – that you can't get hired
without experience – which proves the greatest barrier to a graduate job.
"It's frustrating. How do you get experience if none will give you a
break?" asks Natalie Clarkson, a Staffordshire University graduate.
"I've done unpaid work placements, I did several during
my course, but I can't afford to do them in the long term. A lot of internships
are also based in London, so commuting from Essex, where I live, would cost
around £100 a week."
The uneven distribution of jobs across the country is a
barrier for graduates pursuing careers in a range of industries, says Jodie
Norman, who recently finished a postgraduate degree in criminology. "I am
in a non-grad job that I have been working in though my time at uni.
Unfortunately it looks like I will need to uproot from North Yorkshire to
London as it seems it's the only place with jobs."
Others are considering going further afield. Nathan Ouriach,
who finished a postgraduate degree in English and American literature at the
University of Kent this summer says he plans to teach abroad in South Korea:
"I have the choice between sleeping on my brother's sofa in London and
trying in vain to find internships, or I can go abroad and get some cultural as
well as vocational experience."
"When you're in sixth form, they paint this picture
where everything will be fine if you go to university – there's no question
that you'll get a job. Actually there are lots of very qualified people out
there, and they're all going for the same few positions."
Knowing that a barrage of rejection letters is a reflection
of the current economic climate rather than an unimpressive application
provides little comfort, says Hatfield. "I feel like it's getting to the
point that I'm almost embarrassed to say I haven't found a job or even had an
interview yet, especially after applying for so many vacancies. I'm starting to
loose confidence."
Source: 7 November 2012, The Guardian by Rebecca Ratcliffe
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