1. Birth
2. Education
3. Work experience
4. Job
5. Retirement
6. Death
At 23, I think I should be classed as somewhere between stages 3 and 4 on the career ladder. Sadly the jump from 3 to 4 seems to be as easy as climbing Everest.
How important is work experience/internships to the modern graduate? To me it seems as crucial as the degree itself, although the higher education system has been trivialised thanks to Mr Blair, but that is another story soon to be told.
The inevitable slump the average graduate seems to find himself in makes limbo seem like the higher power, however, there is an easy way out of this middle ground. If you have financial backing and more time on your hands than an OAP, then an internship could be for you.
A degree is not good enough nowadays to get yourself started in a career; you need to have an endless list of work experience placements and be able to demonstrate that you already have the skills necessary to begin the role. It seems as though in house training is a thing of the past for the majority of entry-level jobs. Companies are worried graduates will work for a few months, learn the trade and then move on in search of a higher wage elsewhere. Are we supposed to be made to feel as though these companies are doing us a favour?
I have been looking for a job in journalism/publishing/pr for almost a year now and am either under-qualified or not even given the respect of a reply from the thousands of applications I have filled out over this time. Frustration is an understatement - depression to be looming. A little melodramatic perhaps but come on; there must be something suitable out there, no?
Anyways, enough of my own personal hell, and back to the real issue at hand. I am sure there are thousands of more than apt people who are simply over-looked for the simple reason they are totally unable to gain work experience in the field they wish to work in. For example, newspapers and magazines offer thousands of work experience places every year to 'give people the opportunity' to get some experience in the field. This just seems to be a situation where they need jobs done that assistants and journalists are not willing to do. Enter the workey. Thinking they are privileged to be working at a daily broadsheet they will sit at their desk researching articles for the highly paid staff writers while mummy and daddy pump hundreds of pounds into their accounts every month for them to live their dream city lives. How many of you can say that you're in the same 'privileged' position to be able to do this? Not many, I’m sure.
I always seemed to think that exploitation of workers had been abolished by the Human Rights Act, but from my experience it is still rife among many of the most well-respected organisations we all seem to hold in such high regard.
It may seem as though I am bitter and frustrated that I have not yet been given the opportunity within my field but there are higher agendas I am more concerned about.
Who are the people most able to take on these work experience placements? you’re average student who has to work over the holidays to save money to pay for their rent, or the kids that are given daddy’s credit card to ‘make the most of their university experience’ – how can people like this be given a free ride into their dream jobs? Unfair is an understatement. It’s not their fault or their parents fault, everyone’s been dealt their hand in life and its how they deal with it that actually matters. I know people from both sides of the spectrum and some are thriving while others are struggling, whether they have wasted their opportunities or have not been given an opportunity.
The people who are to blame are the companies involved. instead of realising that there are people more than qualified even though they do not have the relevant work experience they will continue to choose those who they deem able to walk into the job and not ‘waste money on training’. everyone should be judged on their own merits and pre-requisites such as work experience should be looked at but not relied upon to judge whether a graduate is able to succeed in the position or not.
Believe in yourself and find your way in life, do not consider your dull, mindless jobs as a waste of time and useless in terms of your career. For me, they prove more than any unpaid work experience that carries no weight or responsibilities. Humility is something you can't demonstrate on a CV.
1 comment:
(Its Joe's mate Jag here, for the record)
The problem with university and degrees is that undergraduates, myself included, go into university thinking that even the stupidest degree is going to ferry them into a well-paid job with contemptuous ease. Obviously, like you've already said, this is bollocks. Since half the country has a degree these days, unless you've got a quadruple first or something silly like that, a degree alone isn't much to write home about. Its all about the other things you've done.
The cunning solution is to do these other things, and make sure you've got a portfolio of published material, relevant to the career you want to move into. In my case, since I want to work in web design, I am taking on freelance web design projects, and putting together little code samples, all on my own website, which I can then provide as a link for potential employers to see my work. You've made a good start with setting up a blog, but you also want to get articles published anywhere you can, magazines, websites, et similar. If they won't give you the experience, you've got to go find it yourself.
Nonetheless, good luck, and keep plugging away. It will all happen eventually.
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