Amy Downes: The opportunities just aren’t there for ‘lost generation’

Last week Mark Goldstone, head of policy at the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, told the Yorkshire Post part of the reason for this situation is that young people are not in a position to be able to take up the jobs that are available. He said: “Businesses tell us employability skills remain an issue, and they are keen to see better team working, communication and problem solving skills developed in all schools.”

This puzzles me, because I believe that the graduates, at least, do have those skills. Phrases like “communication”, “team work” and “problem solving” became buzzwords for me while I was at university, because my courses were based on the theory that this is what we would need to secure full-time employment in the future. Every day we worked in an environment that was designed to resemble the places we would be working in once we graduated. For me, as a journalism student, it was a working news room that transmitted bulletins to the campus.

But it would seem these skills are not enough. The Government now appears to be telling us we need to prove our talents through unpaid work experience too, or so one would assume following the introduction of their work experience scheme for young unemployed people. In theory, I can provide evidence that this is an excellent idea, because I have gained some invaluable experience during voluntary work over the years.

Since the age of 16, I have taken part in work experience at hospital radio, the BBC Radio football department, a local paper, a local radio station, Sky News radio, a council press office and Doncaster Rovers Football Club press office.

I learnt a lot from all of these experiences, but, more importantly I have been given the opportunity to demonstrate the employability skills that Mr Goldstone says I need. Three of those placements have lead to offers of more work, but, sadly, not one has led to a position of full-time employment. The funding simply hasn’t been there for me to be taken on permanently.

The local radio station I worked for is the best example of this. The two-week placement I originally secured was extended to six weeks and I was later offered paid freelance work.

Sadly, after almost a year of working there, the recession had begun to take its toll. Radio stations were sold off and freelance staff were (understandably) the first to be cut. This is where the Government’s theory on work experience seems to fall apart, and I don’t feel the scheme goes far enough to help young people get of benefits and into work.

Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, points out that “you cannot have proper reform if the job opportunities are simply not there in sufficient numbers”. In my opinion, she is absolutely right. I secured all these placements on my own, I didn’t really need a scheme from the Government to do it for me. What I needed was for the Government to give these businesses the funding and confidence to be able to take me on full-time.

Being out of work, applying for jobs and being constantly knocked back is soul-destroying. But, for me, it has been even harder to spend a successful two weeks working for a company, to enjoy my time there and even to picture myself working there in the future – only to find there is no full-time position at the end of it. Quite honestly, this has been heartbreaking.

In my opinion, the Government would find more success investing funding in the companies that are willing to, even claim to be keen to, take on young graduates. If they could finance a proportion of our wages, then businesses will be able to afford to take us on permanently and help us build a future. Two months ago, and nearly three full years after I graduated, I was finally given a chance to do that when I was offered a “maternity cover contract” at Asda head office.

Here is a company who are able to invest in the future of their employees, but not every business is able to do this. I feel it is the responsibility of the Government to make sure they can.

I will always keep trying to build my career, but I have come to the brutal realisation that I may never fulfil my potential.

I was lucky to finally be in the right place at the right time, but there are so many of my peers who are not. We are in real danger of becoming the lost generation, and something needs to be done to change that before it is too late.

* Amy Downes is a journalism graduate who lives in Barnsley.