Umempolyment rates are high but we need to show young people to keep on going no matter what!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/24/neets-number-climbs-record-high

Please read the  article above about the alarming rate if unemployment in the UK. This article is about the number of young people who are NEET(not in education or training). This number has currently risen to 1.16m young people who are now not in employment or education. This is not only affecting young people across the nation it is affecting people everywhere in the UK.

The Guardian have a very interesting feature on their business news web page "UK unemployment since 1984". Please see link http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interactive/2009/jun/22/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-recession. Which is an interactive feature that allows you to read an article about how the unemployment rates have been dropping at the beginning of the year. If you look at the graph on this feature and click on each point you are given a actual breakdown of what has been happening from 1984 to present. This follows three different areas represented from the key above "International Labour office measure", those claiming benefits and youth unemployment.

The graph demonstrates it is clear that the 80s were a period of high unemployment. Things slowly started to improve by the early 90s and then there was a slight increase in unemployment in the mid 90s again. However by 1997 onwards when Blair came to power the number of people in employment increased again. The general flow of employment looks pretty steady until 2008 where the rate of unemployment yet again starting rising. So what has gone wrong? I am not an economist so I am not going to go through patterns of why unemployment is happening however it seems apparent that the going effects of our current recession could be a possible cause. So what now? 

One of the areas which has been badly affected is youth unemployment the number of those aged between 16 to 24 who are unemployed is over 1 million. It is very difficult to compete in a market where certain areas in our current market are not making any profit. So what do people need to do? The government will only allow individuals to seek unemployment benefit for 6 months. Finding a job is hard and I remember a young person "saying it feels like a job in itself" which to some degree it is. What needs to be assessed however is that after the 6 months what happens especially if you still haven't obtained a job.

As an adviser I was used to seeing many young unemployed people fed up of going to the job centre. Many of these young people were prepared to work anywhere but weren't always given adequate support. Once more some of them who had no or little qualifications didn't want to retrain for something new. The Apprenticeships scheme is something that excited many young people who were in this position but again the process of going through these schemes were not always popular with many young people. I did witness many  people who didn't give up though and came regularly to the centre. An example of this was a young boy who was so determined to get on a catering apprenticeship who kept on and although he didn't get the apprenticeship he did obtain a catering job. Encouragement isn't something the UK media want to portray for young people. If people in education and employment don't encourage young people to seek employment who will. Yes times are hard but people must not give up. 

There are so many fantastic opportunities out there it seems the media doesn't always focus on such things. I am not trying to sugar coat youth unemployment. Yes it is happening its true but making it more negative isn't helping other. We need to find ways to help and support this generation and so should the government. 

Please see these videos below one is about the state of youth employment today by the BBC news last year. Showing how the government has almost ignored youth unemployment rates. The other video is made by a young person who is in employment himself and has spoke to others to find out their opinions. It's quite a positive and interesting video to watch because many young people are willing to work but experience and perhaps the benefit system is maybe letting them down. .

Skills Explorer

Please see links below this is a really good resource for young people who want to look into the jobs that they are interested in and the skills needed for those jobs. The website itself is called Skills explorer and is connected to the other well known website called Careers Box where you can see videos from professionals if you want an insight into different careers.

http://www.careersbox.co.uk/skillsexplorer/

and for the main site just type in www.careersbox.co.uk.

Please pass this on to anyone you think may find it useful  i.e young people and will also be a great tool for careers advisers and teachers.

Networking – Building connections

Networking – Building connections _(see the link here from the careers group website)

Please see link above about tips on networking. A great tool for anyone who is jobhunting at the moment. Social networking through sites like Linkdin etc and establishing professional contacts with companies are a great way to make contact with potential empolyers. In an age of who you know rather then what you know. Marketing yourself online and showing you stand out from the crowd is a great way of getting youself noticed!! Best of luck.

Interesting website about graduate unempolyment

 http://graduatefog.co.uk/ideas/uni-careers-adviser-insists-serving-grads/

Please see link above about the lack of careers advice in university leading to graduate unemployment!! I don't agree with this of course but alot of scapegoats are being used to help explain the lack of graduate employment much like this website.  Like Dr Dan says students really need to be realistic about their career paths when they leave university. If a student really wants to find work they will have the tendency to do so and some of them may not attain their dream job in the beginning but will get somewhere if they really want it. Us careers advisers are there to guide people and untimely help them but we can't help motivate them and give them the will power to carry on trying to seek work. As this is something every individual must attain themselves.Yes remaining postive is the key but so is realism!!

Being employable is so important in this current economic climate and if youth don't have the necessary skills needed to be successful in a job i.e communication or team work skills etc what can they do? Internships are a great way of getting young people started as is volunteering. Yes neither of these routes may always lead to permanent employment but if you lack work experience as a graduate this is an excellent place to start. Being fussy about where you want to work after you graduate is fair enough but if your work experience is lacking then maybe even a job in a retail store or even McDonald's could help you build on these essential skills you need in life and work. Communication skills are one the most essential skills we need in life to do anything. This isn't something we learn as a graduate and I sometimes think graduates think that certain jobs are beneath them and then never apply. This lack of being open to the job market has lead to many people being extra picky about what jobs they actually want to do. Another issue is employers are now seeing alot of graduates in the same category having a 2:1 may help in certain professions but the number of people having degrees is still very common. So its your job as an individual to talk about projects you have been involved in maybe during summer or helping abroad etc. You always have to be one step ahead of the game. 

Bottom line is not all degrees are vocation driven i.e Geography, Maths are not unless you go into teaching perhaps. Such degrees could help an individual go into journalism, HR, Administration etc and are very open.  If you are a graduate and know where you want to go and have that essential vocational experience or other experience you need to talk about in interviews the rest should surely follow!!