“I’m a little worried about my future,” proclaimed Ben Braddock in The Graduate. He was lucky, he only had to worry about whether to have an affair with Mrs Robinson whilst she stayed at home.
Fast forward a few decades and young graduates now have every reason to worry about their future job prospects whilst the older and more experienced workers are highly sought after by employers. The Mrs Robinson’s aren’t sat at home any longer, they are doing the high-flying jobs that young graduates desire but struggle to get.
Until very recently a good degree used to be viewed as a passport to a glittering career. However unemployment is at a 15 year high of 2.50 million people which continues to steadily rise while another batch of graduates is about to join the ranks of those looking for work making the competition even tougher.
In a recession, employers are able to hire the cream of the metaphorical crop. From one point of view this means that the most experienced and capable candidates are the ones who land the jobs. The problem is that determined and ambitious graduates who have accrued thousands of pounds worth of debt in the misguided belief that a degree will help kick-start their chosen career, increasingly now face the bleak reality of the dole queue.
I graduated in 2008 with a 2:1 in Political Communication from Swansea University originally planning to stay in South Wales; however my meagre savings ran out before I managed to secure a full time job there. Left with no other choice, I gratefully moved home in April 2009 and reluctantly filled in some forms to officially become a statistic of the Credit Crunch in return for the princely sum of £51.85 per week Job Seekers Allowance.
Between April and November 2009 I applied for over 150 jobs before starting at Friends Provident in January 2010. The majority of employers willing to speak to me when I followed up an application cited the lack of experience as being the main reason for not taking an application any further. It's a frustrating Catch 22 situation when you lack experience, because you need it in order to get it.
I had decided that if I wasn’t in full time employment by January 2010, as an enterprising experiment I would sell myself on eBay and market it as a publicity stunt in the hope that an employer would be willing to “buy” me. Luckily that wasn’t needed and now I’m gaining valuable experience with Friends Provident which should stand me in good stead when I apply for the Friends graduate scheme next spring.
Christian Walton, Friends Provident
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