I’m part of the generation that grew up being told that education is everything. If you stay in school and go to University the world will be your oyster. But as we now know that is sh1te, now the country is full of graduates in minimum paid jobs if they can even get one to begin with! Culture and society writer Emma Martin takes a look at the current state of affairs and asks Is youth really Wasted on the Unemployed?.............
I
am one of those unsettled people. It’s quite possible you are too. I am an Arts graduate, unsure of my future career path, toying with the idea of studying further to become a teacher (considerably more frequently as time seems to gather momentum) but still feeling there should be a few years left in the lucky bag that is youth. So, I’m still looking for a job, not a career. Searching for any job let alone a career advancing post is difficult at the moment with many employers having so many applicants to choose from; the selection processes they devise become complex and in some cases almost ridiculous. I recently attended a recruitment open day for a well-known airline. I thought I’d go along as it was advertised as ‘no experience required’. It was an all-day affair with a lot of talking and very little assessment. Our fate was finally presented to each of us on a little piece of paper which we had to read after we’d left the room à la America’s Next Top Model or the like. No, I didn’t make it to the next round. Recently, I was listening to a radio programme having a phone-in discussion about life in your twenties; whether it’s the time of your life, or (ahem) not. It got me thinking. It really is a time of immense pressure, not put upon us by anyone more critical and harshly judgmental than ourselves. From time to time I find myself listening to that annoying little voice telling me I’m not building a career; I’m not saving for my future; I’m not in a long-term relationship; I’m not having enough fun etc… Doesn’t that sound incredibly selfish? If you are one of those people in their twenties who has it together, who is successfully putting together the components of a real ‘grown-up’ life in these very difficult times, I commend you!
J
im Varney was my first true love. I was only three when the infatuation began and ended, but you know what they say – you’re never as wise as than when you were a child. Alright - that’s not a real adage* - but it is true that I can’t remember any time more blissful than the year I loved Jim Varney. Jim Varney, or as I knew him, ‘Ernest’, was the lead character in a series of goofy sketch comedy movies. He was also my dream man. I used to write him love letters. Consisting of only crayon scribbles and tears they were the kind of emotional genius Walt Whitman only dreamt of articulating in his poetry. I used to take these priceless pieces of art, which I had my brother, parents, or anyone at all who could write an “e” forwards instead