tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153845628469776909.post1147070848374668295..comments2024-03-24T09:13:28.758+00:00Comments on The Plashing Vole: Graduating to the dole queueThe Plashing Volehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13021407602157515927noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153845628469776909.post-69434052104482209662011-11-21T10:18:04.588+00:002011-11-21T10:18:04.588+00:00What can I say? What a terrible waste of human pot...What can I say? What a terrible waste of human potential. Our political leaders have ceded all power to the bond markets and we're therefore screwed. Any government schemes are just a distraction to make them look authoritative.The Plashing Volehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13021407602157515927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153845628469776909.post-27459153630348726042011-11-20T13:50:46.359+00:002011-11-20T13:50:46.359+00:00My experiences of unemployment: resisted going on ...My experiences of unemployment: resisted going on the dole; got a job interview I thought I was nailed on for; realised halfway through said interview I didn't want the job as it wasn't what was advertised (which leads on to a rant about how useless job sites are); went on the dole; got thrown off the dole for going to a careers day; went back on the dole; recurring. In that time I've had three interviews out of somewhere either side of a hundred job applications. Bored of writing the things now.<br /><br />I've got an internship in March. I don't like the idea of free labour and I know that by taking it I'm becoming part of the problem that will make internships flourish and screw over more young people, but the only reason I'm doing it is because it fills a gap in my CV - which, coincidentally, has nothing on it. I'll get £10 a day expenses for travel, lunch etc. and consideration for a full-time job at the end, but that's not going to happen, is it? <br /><br />I am considering doing an MA - maybe in Creative Writing, maybe in Film - for two reasons. Firstly, I don't see many other options. Secondly, I am genuinely interested in the subjects. This sounds silly now, considering the position I'm in, but I never went to University with a career in mind, and I still think that's the right approach to education. At least I haven't come out expectant of anything. At the minute, all my eggs are in the basket of doing an MA, sucking up to the staff at whichever institution and trying to get a job out of it. But I've got to get on one first. <br /><br />I've played around with the idea of teaching and applied for a few jobs in schools but, honestly, I'm not sure I could be arsed with a curriculum strangling both me and pupils. I never learnt best when forced or made to do something; I learnt best when I was inspired to go off and do my own thing, which is how I'd want to teach. <br /><br />On a less me level, I recently watched that BBC3 Up For Hire thing. They were offering apprenticeships working in the stockroom in Argos and other menial jobs that only the desperate - ie. the young - would go for. Something worth noting about apprenticeships: most are level 3, which discounts people with degrees. Level 4 apprenticeships are for 'us' but there are fewer of them, which makes thinking about or looking at apprenticeships a waste of time. The conclusion drawn from the show seemed to be 'if you can't get a job, why not make your own?' which was helpful from a show aimed at helping and offering advice to young people. I can only imagine the amount of Two Pints LTD's and Well Good fast food vans that have sprung up around the country. <br /><br />I'm not depressed or upset about being unemployed yet, though the fortnightly signing on is pretty grim. But in terms of paid employment things don't look like getting much better.Danhttp://www.davyancowboy.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153845628469776909.post-9179971429206909832011-11-20T12:20:19.623+00:002011-11-20T12:20:19.623+00:00As someone who graduated with a first in a non-...As someone who graduated with a first in a non-'Mickey Mouse' subject, has always worked (including whilst at uni) in dead-end, minimum wage jobs; was subsequently turned down for every job from barman (despite 8 years experience) to cleaner to graduate scheme; was unemployed for 5 months (and unable to claim a penny), and only now (with savings pretty much gone) has a part-time job - only procured through a friend of a friend who works there - which involves 12-hour shifts making coffee and just about keeps the bills paid (none of this mentions the 25k debt of uni or the spiral of stress and depression I'm just climbing out of)...It's hard not to feel just a little fucked over.<br /><br />And d'you know the final slap in the face? I applied for a graduate scheme at the very same uni that I'd just spent three years and several thousand pounds studying for this great and useful degree at...and they didn't even dignify my application with so much as a rejection letter. Nothing. What they DO bother to write to me about is to spend thousands more studying for a Masters at their uni to 'enhance my prospects'. It's just inflation - 'Oh but if you want the ACTUAL good prospects, you need an MA' - after that it'll be an even bigger and more expensive carrot they fucking dangle.<br /><br />By my creative and academic works (in and out of academia), I'm very accomplished (if I say so myself). By my CV, I'm a lost cause (if society says so). So fuck the lot of it, it's all a con. There's no way in this society for a natural creative/academic, none that'll allow me any kind of financial security anyway. I'm going back underground.SpHhttp://www.reverbnation.com/thebluebeatarkestranoreply@blogger.com