Generation Hope Less

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
The question that crosses the lips of all adults who look after children; be it a teacher, a parent, an aunt or just a family friend. We’re taught from a young age that nothing is impossible, answers can be anything- police officer, fire fighter, singer, actor, scientist, celebrity…the list is basically endless. Chances are, if you’re a part of Generation Y, the generation born between the early 1980’s to the 2000’s, your hopes are going to be far, far higher than the eventual reality.

I was born in 1990, and growing up, the world seemed to be getting easier to break into. The economics were kind of recovering from the Conservative ‘reign’ in the 1980s, jobs were becoming more viable again for people, things were improving. As it got to the end of my state provided education, the economy was in horrible shape. It was 2007, just about to hit what would be seen as the lowest point since the double-dip recession in the 1980’s. Going onto college was the logical next step for me- 2 years of education to prepare me for then finding a job- excellent.

Except once I finished college in 2009, things were still not improving. I didn’t want to go to university at first. I fought against it, and my parents insisted. The reason? So that ‘you have a better chance than we did at your age’. That’s fair enough reasoning, but if I knew then what I do now, I would have stuck by my word and found a job back home. 
Anyway, University happened, and 4 years later in 2013 I was back on the job market. All of the things I had been told about finding employment ended up being a lie. Many employers seem to require a graduate, yes. But in order to do the work and the tasks associated with the position, it was like a master’s graduate was required, not an honours graduate. It’s now 3 years after that date, and no luck thus far.

With student finance loans here in the UK, it’s pretty much expected that all of a class at a certain point, with certain grades will go to university. A place to better yourself. If you have a clear path on what you want to do; go for it. I am not in any way saying not to go to university. I feel it was a bad idea for me, as I had (and still have) no idea of what I want to do with the rest of my life. That is also the story for many people in the same position as me- education becomes somewhere you can be when you have no idea what you want to do. You still get a form of monetary income from the loan and grant, and it gives you some extra time in which you may just get the inspiration to know what you want to do with your life. There was just one person at college who didn’t want to go to university, and she was basically wasting her time coming in for the last couple of months because the lecture sessions were designed around preparing your statement for university, preparing for the courses we had chosen, drop-in sessions for advice about our university choices. It was almost as though anyone deciding not to go to university was ‘less than’. I don’t know if it’s any different now- 7 years on with many different routes- apprenticeships, non-graduate internships and just employment- hopefully people will be encouraged to do what they actually want to. I think the person from college was very strong to know that they did not want to go. They had a clearer idea of what they wanted to do than many of us, and now have none of the student finance debt that so many of us have.

One of the big issues with essentially selling the world to all of the people at university and further education is that there is just not enough room on the silver platter for everyone. Many people who choose a particular path may not end up where they want to be. For example, if you are interested in the media or journalism, outside of London, it is very, very difficult to get any employment. Looking at the job vacancies in the UK, the highest concentration of media jobs is in London. Or more specifically, Greater London. So unless you can live in London, the place in the UK with the highest possible rent charges, or commute on a daily basis from wherever you are in the UK, you’re very much stuck to get what you can.

Many graduates may not have the financial backing once they have finished education to be able to move into a place in London. If you’re already studying in a large town or city, you may have a better idea of how to get a cheaper place and survive whilst you look for a job. Many who move to places like London or Birmingham chasing a job in their chosen field may end up in a retail or hospitality position- just to make ends meet. Those are the lucky ones, however.

According to statistics, the overall employment rates for 2012/13 graduates has risen compared to the previous year. From The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/careers/unemployment-graduates-job-market-recovery-recession:

“…the overall employment rate for UK and EU graduates from a full-time first degree after six months was up from 68.5% last year to 70.7% this year, and unemployment after six months was down from 9.1% to 7.8%.”

Excellent, more people are employed after 6 months. But what about the other 30%? Unemployment was down from 9.1% to 7.8%. So if you are in a location that’s viable for the job you are looking for, chances are that your opportunities are improving- you are far more likely to get a job than during the recession in 2008. London and other large cities or towns are said to have been the first to begin recovering.

“Like the recovery in general, it seems to be happening more in London and the South East, although other cities, most notably Manchester, also seem to have seen improvement.”

The only time that a huge rise in graduate employment has happened previously was in 1993. This could be related to the expansion of the university sector in 1992.

So could the end be in sight for the job turmoil of Generation Y? 
Could it be that instead of being constant renters with no real monthly income, the generation becomes one almost on par with the previous one? Only time can tell something like that- the economy usually takes a long time to recover.

I graduated in 2013, and I’d say that approximately one third of them are employed in a job that fits their field. For three years on, that’s not such a good thing. I know a couple who now have their own businesses, which is a fantastic thing to do if you have the enterprise to do so, and hopefully more people will be employed as the market calms down and evens out a little. 
Another part to the troubles our generation has is the rapid shift in almost everything we know. We’ve seen the home telephone become something that people have in every home, followed by the mainstream introduction of the mobile or cell phone which has then become popular to the point that everyone has one. We’ve seen the internet turn from its dial-up days of only being able to use the internet when the phone wasn’t in use, and it cost so much per minute to use to the very fast, sometimes fibre-optic, broadband we know today. Technology has shrunk and mobile phone screens have got larger. Most of our lives are spent online- generation y was sometimes referred to as the ‘Myspace’ generation or the digital generation. Things have moved so quickly between the 1980s and the 2000s that all of the young people are said to have moved along with it.

However, looking at the teachers and lecturers from the institutions of the students, they grew up in a very different time. At the oldest, the 1960s, and the youngest being mid to late 1970s. Things have changed very drastically for them in their time too, however they may have had more opportunities in their chosen field than the current young adult population. ‘Local’ has now become a very loose term. More and more companies recently seem to have been adopting a work from home idea, like some of the latest positions from online music source Bandcamp. If the work is entirely digital, I think many companies can save money by not needing so much office space, and allowing people to work from home, to a set deadline. Perhaps this will help graduates who want to work in fields like journalism, design, etc- what’s to say you can’t just go to the local news story, write a piece and send it in? Why do you need to physically be there? Same as if you are working for a company’s social media management. Why can’t you log in from home and manage to comments, the pages, etc? It may open it up, not just for graduates, but also for people who may need to stay at home because of other commitments.

Applying for a job is always a nerve-wracking thing for graduates, especially if they have never had a job before. Figuring out if you have the right skills they need, seeing what skills you actually have- this is not always something you are judged on at university. Instead, you are judged on whether you can finish an assignment to the best of your ability and learn from it. I have applied for many graduate positions, and the majority of them write back and let me know I don’t have quite enough experience/knowledge in the field they need me to know a lot about. That really does make me feel as though my degree has failed me a little bit by not teaching me what I need to know. I learned Quark Xpress as my main go-to magazine software- when Adobe’s InDesign was already becoming the industry standard in 2012. Yes, my courses ended in 2013, but surely we could have covered InDesign in my final year? So that has put me behind in terms of software knowledge.

Another issue a graduate may have- an issue which almost saw me removing my degree entirely from my CV- is that when people see you have a degree and you are applying for a ‘regular’ job in retail, etc, sometimes you get turned down because they think you are too advanced for their level of employment. This is something that made me very angry when job searching- just because I was able to study a course for 3 years does not mean I am any less determined to do well in a job.

Employment aside, why is Generation Y so deeply unhappy? 
I think it may be stagnation. If you’ve ever been unemployed for any period of time, especially after studying to make sure that unemployment would not happen, it is a serious uphill struggle. You apply for the odd position you are capable of doing, and it’s great- you get a real feeling that you can do something that will make a difference in your life. However, after waiting the maximum of 3–4 weeks it says, you never hear a thing. So you keep trying and rinse and repeat. I know at least one person who decided that before studying, they were going to experience what was out there in the world. After a couple of years traveling the world and working as they went, they are now in a great position at a company they enjoy. Having more experiences has made them more settled and now they can focus on education or training. As they have a fantastic position in a company, they have their own house and they are just twenty-three years old. I know graduates who are struggling to make ends meet and they are still renting their own places because they cannot find anything that’s relevant to them.

In the ideal situation, the wealth of the world would be more evenly distributed, and the local services related to a happier way of life would be properly maintained. This would lead to more happiness, especially when the opportunities dangled in front of you at university are real instead of made-up. With the amount of people with knowledge in this generation, the world is truly our oyster. Dreaming big and making those dreams happen can be a reality. Many people just need the support and stability to make it real.

Dream big, believe in yourself and anything is possible. It’s just a little harder today and you have to fight for it.

The Generations: a brief guide

Generation Z is said to be the generation which is currently in their teens-born just before the millennium. Those who are too young to remember the events of 9/11 and they have grown up in a world of financial and political turmoil. This generation is seen as smarter, safer and more mature than the previous Generation Y. The children of Generation X- which we’ll come to soon.

Generation Y is said to be the ‘Millennials’, born between around 1980–2000. Very much shaped by technology. Comfortable sharing their entire life online, seen as a selfish and self-regarding generation.

Generation X are those born between the early 1960s and early 1980s. Too young to have fought in any kind of major war, old enough to have enjoyed a free education. It is said that self-help books line their shelves and they are almost permanently in a state of anxiety.

Baby Boomers arethose born directly after World War II all the way up to the 1960s. The swinging sixties, hippies in the 1970s- the generation who had it so good. NHS was a new concept, enjoying welfare throughout childhood. Things were good. The first real generation to go abroad- not for a war, but to sit on a beach on holiday. Many have already retired from their hard work over the many years they were looked after by the advent of the NHS.