Youth Unemployment Support

Hi all and welcome to my new blog, YouthUnemploymentSupport.

Yup, as you can probably guess this blog is dedicated helping and supporting those who are currently unemployed in the UK, though more specifically the youths who are unable to find work.

I’ve been meaning to start writing this for a while now, but with yesterday’s rather dismal and alarming news that youth unemployment in the UK has topped 1 million, now has never seemed a better time to knuckle down and begin posting.

First of all, please let me introduce myself – my name is Chris, a 26 year old unemployed Molecular Biologist. Up until August this year I have worked at several laboratories in a prestigious university, when my research contract ended due to the loss of funding.

Unfortunately, around 97% of research jobs at universities are fixed-term contracts (though so are a lot of other jobs). So if the post-docs and prinicipal investigators are unable to secure further funding every couple of years or so, it means at least one person in their laboratory will no longer have a job.

It is now the second time within the past 4 years that this person has been me, but the first time around it happened the recession was just beginning, and I was lucky enough to find employment after 5 months of applying for jobs, and attending 9 or 10 interviews.

That was 2 and a half years ago, and now things have apparently become infinitely worse.

I knew my contract might run out this summer if my boss was unable to obtain a new grant from the research councils in order to extend my contract, so I started looking for something else in December 2010. I thought 9 months would be plenty of time to find another job…how wrong I was!

After almost a year of searching, applying for positions, and 3 interviews, I’ve still not had any luck.

Although I know this situation is depressing for anyone to be in, things could be a lot worse. I have a mortgage, a car, a loving family, great friends, and I am working on building up the small business I run in my spare time until I find something science-related.

So no, in case you’re wondering, the point of this blog is not to wallow in self-pity. That gets people nowhere.

I admire any person out there (young or old) who keeps stabbing away at the job-hunting process. It’s a task that eventually becomes tedious, dejecting, time-consuming and extremely frustrating.

The media bleats about unemployment figures and what the government and other organisations should be doing to help. But in the meantime, there are now over a million young people trying to find a job, and NO ONE is talking about the emotional side of the issue.

I remember thinking a couple of months ago “there must be other people who are as fed up as me – wish there was somewhere to talk about it”. So…

I’m hoping this blog will become a place where young people can come and talk about their job situation, ask others for application and interview advice, or just share their job hunting experiences.

That includes having a rant

It’s nice to have somewhere you can get things off your chest, especially if it’s to people who know exactly what you’re going through.

So if you’re currently looking for a job, please stop by and say hello. With enough people, we can then open a forum to develop discussions dedicated to specific aspects of the job hunting process, and create a friendly and structured community.

I’m aiming to post here at least once a week about unemployment-related issues, as well as my own experiences over the past 4 years along with any good advice I can supply.

In the meantime, best of luck to anyone out there looking for a job. I look forward to reading your comments.