'The Lost Generation'
The heading they have given my generation (recent graduates); the Lost Generation, is spot on. There is a struggle in the job market; fighting for jobs and against dwindling account balances, and a struggle for every graduate to remain optimistic. It is difficult to sell yourself when you fear you have left yourself in a difficult position spending thousands of pounds and years of your life developing skills for your future life that coming out the other end appear obsolete in the eyes of employers.
I work in Starbucks currently and 90% of my colleagues are students, both current and recent graduates. We are told we are the lucky ones; we have a steady income. A consequence of this position, however, is falling off the unemployed radar. This type of steady employment also puts us in a difficult position because we cannot put ourselves forward for temp-work because we work full time, we can't attend last minute interviews, and we cannot start work immediately. The list is endless and becomes a mess of lethargy and frustration.
Would it be better to live as a ‘temp.’ uncertain of income from week to week, or stay put in a job that is at least consistent. Do you leave yourself with gaps in your CV you later have to justify. Or continue in a role that could be considered unworthy and unimportant by some employers? Do we keep pushing applications in the vain hope we will get a response, even a rejection is better than the empty space of an e-mail inbox. Or do we push for short scraps of work experience we can squeeze into holiday and days off in the hope somewhere in the hours of labour we willingly undertake lies a glimmer of prospect?
The real question we have to keep asking is; have you go it in you? Can you ride this wave to its uncertain conclusion while balancing your hopes and dreams against the drag of reality?
The lost generation; we are the people who serve you your coffee and epitomise the catch 22; you have to have experience to get a job but to get experience you need a job. Our experience usually doesn't fit on our CV. It’s the bit between the lines where we lived and breathed a life of passions, personal and academic. We lived, made mistakes (a lot of mistakes) and learnt in the process. We are a generation of battered individuals trying our damndest to make something, anything of ourselves in a world desperate to legitimise us, and in the process itself.
Don’t get me wrong, our breaks do come; there is hope. The fight is predominately with ourselves: our personal belief, resilience and patience. We demand better of ourselves- waiting to begin the life we promised ourselves was achievable once we were graduates.
And there we stand, willing a change of our fortunes, and doing our utmost to achieve it. We are not the ‘Lost Generation’ because we sit in front of the TV watching Jeremy Kyle day after day; we are the Lost Generation because we have emptied our lives into every corner of reality grasping at the promise of success.
