Stitch-Up for Students

Sorry to start the New Year off complaining- hopefully the year will start from a low point and end on a high! However, having graduated six months ago and still out of work, it is surely understandable why I may not be the most optimistic of people at the moment! At school, I was submerged in praise for hard work and given the impression that all those who work hard and go to university will achieve whatever they want. Six months after graduation and the illusion has disappeared. For those who have spent almost all of the first 21 years of their life in education will find many employers uninterested: if you apply for low-paid jobs, you will be ignored because companies do not want to waste their time employing someone who will quit at the first sniff of a more aspirational career. But higher-paid jobs won't be interested either, due to a lack of experience in the workplace. Thus the position many graduates will find themselves in is either persevering and hoping they get lucky, or spending months in unpaid/expenses-only work to gain experience- but without a proper income or a guaranteed job at the end. So many interns will find themselves working just as hard (if not harder) than their colleagues- the only difference being whether a token, menial sum is transferred to their bank account or thousands of pounds. Adding to the mix are at least two other factors: positive discrimination and silver spoons. Positive discrimination is the practice whereby employers (primarily in the state sector) prioritise the employment of those from backgrounds that traditionally are underrepresented in the workplace, such as women and ethnic minorities. However moral the intentions of this policy are, discrimination is never positive- no matter what spin is put on it, and there will still be the same victimisation and resentment that accompanies all discrimination. Awareness of the practice will particularly annoy white, male jobseekers- and unfortunately fuels resentment against those who benefit from positive discrimination, when really it is the employers and the government who should be blamed for enforcing the policy. Don't discriminate against some jobseekers and patronise others (as well as patronise employers)- just discriminate on the basis of ability and potential! Then there is the old case of the silver spoon: the trend of employment being found because of who people know over what they know. It is understandable that friends and family would like to guarantee a good career for those closest to them, but not everyone has such useful connections to exploit, making it unfair to the latter. While it is common sense to trust someone you already know to take on a job, it never gives a chance to outsiders. It also means that there will inevitably be cases of the gifted and unconnected being ignored in favour of those potentially with the opposite traits. So when seeking employment, not only do graduates need to worry about experience, but also be mindful of positive discrimination and the silver spoon potentially having an impact behind the scenes. Moreover, universities themselves are guilty of manipulating statistics to make them (and universities generally) seem a good path to pursue when leaving school. Statistics tend to show that a majority of students are employed full-time soon after graduating. But having read and filled the survey for graduates myself, I was shocked to see how skewed the first question is. You are asked to tick the box that is relevant to your circumstances 6 months after graduation, with the first box titled "Working Full-Time"-which surprisingly includes "internships, "voluntary" and "unpaid work". "Work" of this nature is later referred to as "employment" in the survey. So if you are helping unpaid in a charity shop; on unpaid work experience at a local business; or commuting at your own expense and unpaid for an internship- you are considered by this survey to be in full-time employment. No wonder people are cynical!