‘Hundreds of job applications’: young people on their struggle to find work

Catherina, 24, in BrightonWhen Catherina finished her degree in digital film production in London, she thought her prospects of finding work were good, but she has found the jobs market tough.“I was coming out of uni very expectant and hopeful, but then I was facing a very competitive industry,” she said. “I was always hearing nothing back.”She has produced a few short films that have been shown at festivals and found occasional work on film and TV productions as a runner – a job generally seen as the first rung on the ladder of the industry. But finding more than that has been tricky.She said she had believed if she put in the work she would reap the rewards. “It was ‘work ethic, do the hustle and it will pay off one day’.”She said she was “blessed” to be able to live with her parents while she looked for permanent work, but said she would “love” to have her own income.“Looking to the future gives me anxiety,” she said, adding that she had taken comfort from her Christian faith and the support of her church community. “I have so much compassion if someone is going through something alone,” she said.She has also benefited from coaching from Spear, a youth employment charity. It gave her a year’s one-to-one advice and preparation, and helped her to remain hopeful of finding the right job.“It helped me face those mental, practical, emotional struggles head on,” she said.Olivia*, 24, in EssexAfter months of struggling with epileptic seizures at work, Olivia decided to leave her job in retail. She felt her employer was not making enough reasonable adjustments, which are required under equality legislation.Her seizures are triggered by dehydration and tiredness, both big risks when working in a fast-paced environment – and particularly when the shop was short-staffed, she said.She believes the government should step up the guidance for people with disabilities on their rights, and for employers on their obligations.“A lot of companies want diversity, but I don’t think they are equipped to support people with disabilities,” she said. “It’s not a pity party, but it’s an understanding that more people should have.”Since leaving this year she has found the grind of not hearing back from job applications dispiriting. She said she was “trying to keep myself motivated and do it again when it’s just knock after knock after knock”.Financial support to stay in work would have helped. However, her epilepsy was not deemed serious enough to qualify for any benefits, so she was forced to go into work when sick, raising the risk of seizures.“It definitely would have [helped],” she said. “Not having enough sick days, forcing myself to go in – that takes a big toll.”She has received help from the Young Women’s Trust on her CV and interview preparation. Kate Nightingale, the director of communications, campaigns and research at the charity, said: “The Milburn report is clear. The labour market is failing young people and, increasingly, young women. This isn’t about a generation giving up – it’s about opportunities disappearing.“More young women are locked out of work or education than at any point over the last decade, despite actively looking for jobs.”Giovanna, 24, in LondonGiovanna has started a nine-month training scheme at the civil service.Giovanna has had to contend with a host of challenges while navigating education and trying to get a job. At 16 she left her father’s home and did her A-levels while living in a hostel in London. But she managed to juggle the bureaucracy of trying to find permanent accommodation with getting into university to study psychology.At university and after graduating she worked a series of temporary jobs in hospitality, but setting up something more permanent was a struggle. She sent off lots of applications, but nobody was responding, and she could not afford to take time off her jobs in cafes or bars to do unpaid internships or application events. Failing to make ends meet could have imperilled her accommodation.“I can’t make a silly mistake like that,” she said. “When I finished uni I really felt behind in the game. I was like: what the hell am I supposed to do?”She was eventually directed to the Drive Forward Foundation, a charity helping care leavers into work. She said some of the most valuable help on offer was “basic things that if you came from a ‘typical’ family you would kind of know”, such as how to lay out a CV and answer interview questions.After more than two years of trying to find something, Giovanna’s government-appointed personal adviser suggested the civil service. She has now started a nine-month training scheme – “hopefully the start of a long career”, she said.Russell Winnard, the chief executive of the Drive Forward Foundation, said the key to helping care leavers find work was building a trusting relationship and providing support on several fronts to find a suitable role. He said that too often schemes to get people back into work focused on “how do we get them into the first job available? That’s not sustainable.”Joseph, 21, in GlasgowJoseph grew up in a small town near Sunderland in a “working-class family”. He was eligible for free school meals at primary school.After leaving school, his family scraped together enough money for a year’s training in musical theatre but after completing that, he needed to look for work. “Finding a job was incredibly difficult,” he said. “We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of job applications.”Eventually he did find work at a supermarket, but he felt forced to leave because employees were “being picked to the bone”. He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. For many autistic people, “the atmosphere of working those starter jobs is too much for them – and it was for me”, he said. Eventually he decided to move to Glasgow after receiving a job offer at a call centre, where demands kept increasing with no parallel rise in pay or support.The combination of stress and adjusting to his neurodiversity led him to quit, and he was unable to work for several months. “It’s a bit of a never-ending cycle where the only lifestyle support provided from employers is short-term workplace counselling, which doesn’t really help,” he said. “I had to resign and take off all responsibilities to get back to normal.”Eventually he was able to start a degree apprenticeship, combining studies with work at a software engineering firm. Yet even now the weak labour market is having an impact, with job cuts at the business and no guaranteed employment when the course finishes. “In the tech space it feels like there is not room to breathe any more,” he said.* Name has been changed