Much ado about trying to find a job - graduate (un)employment and internships

(c) Kennington Fox

To say that for anyone finding a job is somewhat of a stuggle at the moment could be the understatement of the century. I am in the same boat, and where's a job fairy when you need one?

Statistics released for the 3rd quarter of 2010 show 20% of new graduates (those graduating within the last 2 years, which includes me) are presently
unemployed. This interns anonymous article suggests that the figure does not include those completing unpaid internships, otherwise the figures would look even more dire. In any case, Alice Reeves of the Vibe points out that full time positions under law cannot be unpaid internships, they should be paid National Minimum Wage at least.

The apparent proliferation of unpaid internships does irk me a lot - take my (formerly) favourite website w4mp.org - the pages of jobs are dominated by unpaid positions, some of which now do not even cover all of your expenses, referring instead to 'reasonable expenses' or £10 a day limit. Juxtaposing this against the management jobs on the same page paying £50-70k a year, I feel ripped off and foolishly wish they'd spare me £10k of that money to help me get by.

The funny thing is, inspite of my lamentations I'm presently doing an internship myself, it happens to be really enjoyable. Working at Nacro the role is varied and interesting and they have taught me a great deal and let me get involved in a range of things. To tell you the truth, I'd stay there for good if I could find a full time, paid role to hold on to... Fingers crossed!

Really I should be thankful for having any position to speak of at all - I couldn't do an intership at all without my parents and grandparents helping hand when I fall on hard time, along with that is my indispensable 9 hour weekend job at the business library in Henley Business School. So, on more than one score I certainly cannot call myself unemployed or even that hard done by compared to some.

Management Today says interns should stop moaning and 'enjoy what they have'. But what about others not so fortunate as me? This New Statesman piece illustrates that the effect of internships is in reality to stymie social mobility, because only those with wealthy relatives and a nice sum behind them can afford to stay on for months at a time working for zilch.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development has introduced a proposal that any employment with the word 'internship' in the title should trigger a legal obligation to pay a £2.50 'Training Wage' to try and strike a balance between being fair to the intern, without dissuading businesses from running them altogther. Assuming that this wage comes on top of lunch and travel expenses (which may be hasty as this hasn't been explicitly mentioned to be the case), this would leave on average an additional 7.5 hours x £2.50 = 18.75 per day, £93.75 per week

and a total income for an intern of £375 per month. Not a fortune, but not something to be sniffed at if you're travel and lunch are already covered.

The problem with this state of affairs is that while I might be accumulating ever more job experience with Nacro throwing me plenty of challenges at me, it is not good for your confidence when it seems like to many like you're not worth paying. My present boss noticed my evaporating self-confidence in my interview for Nacro and pointed out that I spent half the interview putting myself down. So if I feel like this, with my frankly cushy position in comparison with those graduates who sit at home or in agency offices every day for a seemingly interminable length of time - what can that be doing for their confidence and self-respect?

I seriously worry for my so-called 'lost generation' - so what can we offer this country when a great chunk of the older generation are struggling themselves to find steady employ?