Graduates facing struggle to find work

I AM one of many that has been joined by another two million people. We are the unemployed.

University was an amazing time of my life, but it was a bubble. My life then was wrapped in a huge roll of invisible bubble wrap and only on leaving did I see the real world; the world outside of education.

Following my Masters in archaeological heritage, I did what many students basking in their freedom do

– I travelled. Two and a half months of adventure in South East Asia seems like a life time ago, yet I only returned six months ago.

I got myself a cafe job (whilst applying for degree-related work) which I left three weeks before lockdown, not knowing what was lying in the imminent future: Covid-19.

Dwelling on the past is pointless and the facts, as they stand, are that I am graduate with two degrees and no job. On top of this, I am likely to leave lockdown with hopes of entering a struggling sector. Heritage and museum work was previously incredibly hard to get a job in anyway, the difference being that now the already underfunded museums have been shut for months and there is another pool of graduates entering the application pile.

Of course, I am not alone. The coronavirus has been such an unexpected event for most people and has had a huge impact on everyone. For me, I had a volunteering position in the Yorkshire Museum in an endeavour to increase my experience in the sector.

Unfortunately, the virus showed its ugly head after my second day of volunteering and so I haven’t been able to go in since. I also had an archaeological dig lined up for two weeks in summer.

I would have been working in my dream landscape in Orkney, but sadly in the same week of finding out I got a position, they had to cancel the dig due to the dreaded virus. How unlucky.

The longer the lockdown goes on the more stressed about my future I get. The number of unemployed goes up daily, cafes and heritage sites have been shut for months – will any of these industries be employing in the foreseeable future? Meanwhile my lifestyle has come to a grinding halt.

I am a travel blogger. I am constantly on the go. Last year alone I visited nine new countries alongside studying for my Master’s degree – this is what I save up for and spend my free time doing. The travel ban has understandably denied me this lifestyle and I have become ridiculously uninspired to write my blogs. What I do for fun and what I aspire to do as a job have both been significantly impacted by the pandemic. So what do I do?

If there is one good thing to come out of my experience during lockdown, it is that I have become healthier. I spend half an hour every morning practicing yoga. This could possibly be an attempt at being a healthier person in body and mind, or perhaps it is about giving myself a routine to stick to.

I took my love of travel further and spent the first four weeks of lockdown undertaking a TEFL course (teach English as a foreign language). I intended to get an online teaching job but that doesn’t seem to be as straightforward as I had hoped. Fingers crossed, I can use this qualification once travel is back to normal (so it seems unlikely that this will be anytime soon). As it stands, my plans all involve the end of the lockdown.

This isn’t a cry for pity. I’ve had weeks to wallow in that. This is a cry for recognition. Recognition of a group of people who have recently graduated, began this pandemic unemployed or have been made unemployed during the lockdown. We are a group who have been struggling for weeks. Sure, the first week or two felt like a holiday. I mean, who doesn’t like a day off?

It is in the last few weeks where finding things to pass time is getting harder and harder, days are repetitive and any purpose in life is fleeting. Yet we can’t do much to change this, it’s not like people are hiring right now.

Supermarkets were incredibly good for hiring people; unfortunately I applied for the only one in walking distance and they didn’t need my help. The NHS and care worker schemes were helpful for some, as was the farm help scheme, but for me these weren’t possible.

I have no car to drive to these locations and it is suggested to avoid public transport. I’m sure there are many to have found solace in such schemes, I truly hope this is the case anyway.

For all of us, I hope there is some positive news soon.