A computer expert says he fears he is on the scrapheap at 21 – after being turned down for more than 1,500 jobs.
Daniel Smith sailed through a college IT course and started looking for work – applying for an average of two jobs a day. After hitting a brick wall, he quickly widened his search to other jobs – but the rejections continued to pour in.
More than two years later, Daniel has been knocked back for posts in everything from cleaning and catering to shop work. He said: "I feel that I’m stuck in a hole with nowhere to go but deeper in the hole."
Comment: Don't give up on the future
He revealed his plight on the day that government figures were expected to show another rise in unemployment. The jobless total increased to 2.68m last month nationally and new figures being published by the Office for National Statistics were expected to show another rise.
The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in Greater Manchester hit 82,000 in December, up by 10,900, or 15.3 per cent, over the past year. The jobless total included 26,000 out-of-work young people, aged 16 to 24 – up 4,800 in a year.
Nationally, the number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds hit 1.04m in December, the highest since records began in 1992.
David Cameron pledged to tackle the problem after admitting the number of young people out of work was ‘unacceptably high’.
But Daniel, from Dukinfield, said: "David Cameron told the population of Britain that they were going to do something better for 16-24 year olds but I don’t see any change."
Daniel left Ashton Sixth Form College with a Btec national certificate in IT in the summer of 2009. Since then he has spent just six months in paid employment through the Future Jobs Fund – a government incentive scheme encouraging businesses to employ young people, which has since been scrapped.
Daniel, said: "All the employers keep coming back and saying they’ve either had people apply with more experience and that I need to get more.
"I’ve had maybe one or two job interviews for each month I’ve been unemployed, but so many people are unemployed at the moment that employers can take the best of the best when hundreds of people apply for one job."
He spends two days a week volunteering for Ashton’s Wooden Canal Boat Society and lives with his mum Barbara, surviving on £50 a week in benefits.
He said: "The longer I’m unemployed, the less experience I have as I’ve been out of a job so long. I have qualifications but they are gathering dust as no one wants me. I just have to hope for the best and keep looking. I want to work and I’ll do anything.
"I would like to see the government introduce something similar to the Future Jobs Fund as that did put a lot of people in employment.
"I know the government said they couldn’t afford it, but how much will it cost to pay for people to be out of work for years to come?"
Greater Manchester town hall chiefs this month launched a drive to save the region from a ‘wasted generation’ through a new initiative to tackle youth unemployment.
A scheme will offer businesses cash incentives to take on young people. The 10 councils will help businesses fund two-month trials – or ‘working interviews’ – for young unemployed people, or ‘NEETs’ - those not in education, employment or training.
Apprentices who succeed will be given the guarantee of a job and those who do not claim benefits will receive a weekly training allowance during the trial period.
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Keep gathering qualifications, e.g. Network+, Server+ etc - your local library should have the books.
Try volunteering with ITCanhelp - that way you get more IT experience
The British Computer Society also offer a lot of free lectures in Manchester. Come along and start networking.
MM
He may benefit from a mentor. Someone in the IT business who could give him some work experience and good advice on how to get into the industry. Also his qualifications are likely to be out of date due to the type of industry so may need updating. Someone in the IT industry reading this should give him a hand.
My 17 yr old daughter had the same problem when she was looking for part time work after college. She was turned down so many times because she didnt have experience. How the hell are kids supposed to get it when they cannot get a job??????
Luckily she is now in a lovely job that fits around her college work perfectly - so hopefully this young man will soon find something. x
"A computer expert says" ...."Daniel Smith sailed through a college IT course"
That's the problem not really a computer expert after a BTEC college course and there's better qualified / experienced people i'd rather spend my money on. In this line of work experience counts, this may be experience gained through employment or something you can demonstrate you've personally done. I've employed people with no formal qualifications as such but have demonstrated they have the skills they need through personal projects etc, some of these are better than people who have gone through Uni and come out with a Computer Science degree.
Demand for IT / Developers hasn't dropped, it's a nightmare finding good ones and for developers in certain areas salaries / demand has gone up over the past 4 years. In this area as any it comes down to the best man gets the job and they are plenty of jobs out there for the right person. If your not getting much luck, give your self an advantage over other candidates by gaining more personal experience to demonstrate your skills, Don't expect the government to do this for you, go out and do it yourself, good thing about IT is you can do it from your bedroom if you want.
I'm sorry, but you can't possibly describe someone with a btec in IT as a 'Computer Expert'. I have a 1st class honours degree in Computer Science and I don't consider myself as a Computer Expert.
Still feel sorry for the guy though. Getting a job is an art in itself and he needs to see someone who can help build up his confidence, improve his cv and improve his interview technique.
Try volunteering at a centre that helps teach people how to use the internet. Show enthusiasm and charisma and maybe something could happen. It is hard when you get knock backs but try to get feedback about what positive steps you could take so that an employer would consider you next time. Keep your chin-up, don't go in with a defeated attitude and make employers want you!!! Best of look
Poor guy, I hope he finds something soon.
It certainly doesn't help matters when the government raise the retirement age, leaving those who need to get on the career ladder unable to because jobs are still occupied by an ageing workforce.
Unfortunately all the vocational qualifications that have conned young people into thinking they are doing something worthwhile have been shown to be an unmitigated disaster. There is no substitute for a proper grounding in the essential basics of literacy and numeracy that so many people lack these days......all the rest can be picked up whilst working in most jobs.
What this chap lacks is no real time experience. My advice to him if he's reading this is to apply for 1st line help desk work (involving password resets, printer problems, etc). Simple enough work, but he'll also touch on advanced IT work - networks, AD, the different types of software/hardware and above all, customer skills. This will garnish his CV with experience and knowledge and make it more 'sellable'. These roles are constantly being advertised on job agency websites (this is the type of work I started in). When he's confident, he can either stick with 1st line work or change tracks and move into the huge IT world of 2nd/3rd line, project, analyst or IMAC/roll-out type opportunities. Key words when searching for roles - '1st line help desk support'. Good luck mate.
Sadly this is being mirrored around the UK, Cameron is a joke, worst leader ever of any political party.His coalition government have actually borrowed more almost every month since it came to power in Mat 2010 than the Labour Government ever did. This is despite the rise in Vat which the Government claimed would bring in approx 15 billion extra a year. Where is it then. This coupled with all the other cost cutting measures, it simply doesn't add up.Just heard the unemployment figures again. Well done Dave for ruining yet more lives.
Try and find a company who will let you volunteer with thier organisation as an IT professional, get some hands on experience, will put you in good stead for future interviews as you will have gained some day to day experience and shown a level of commitment to finding employment in the industry.
The result of the worthless qualifications invented by Blair & Co. Children should leave school at 16 and start apprenticeships. We have enough eggheads.
Join the thousands out there....what can you do when every government we have had has sent contracts abroad......its about time all the utilities were nationalised then we the tax payer would be in control...and bring the prices down....
The problem is that there is an endemic failure by companies to take on graduate staff like this chap.
There is, according to industry at least, a shortage of skilled IT people in this country and many companies are still offshoring IT services as they seem to think that they cannot get the skilled staff in this country.
Why are there no skilled staff? Because graduates are not being hired and skilled up. Companies seem to have been mis-sold the idea that young people coming out of school/college/university are ready to start work on day 1 and make themselves useful. This has never been the case which is why graduate salaries were low until the new starter had proved themselves. Companies would have a graduate intake each year of which some would be kept on and the rest would be showed the door. The risk the companies took in employing inexperienced graduates was reflected in their low salary and the nature of the jobs they were expected to perform.
10 years ago (just after I started) this stopped and UK companies are now unwilling to take the risk of new graduates. They demand skilled staff and then look abroad when they cannot find them here.
What’s even worse is that the foreign IT service provider companies (wipro, tata etc ) who our companies are outsourcing to have massive graduate intake programs and the Indian universities cannot churn out graduates fast enough.
I did a GCSE in Geography, does that make me a Geography Expert?
An IT expert from college?
BTEC = Crap, try and study for you MCSE or something similar. I value experience over education. Experience isn't, in my mind, just gained from 'work. So helping out in IT centres, volunteering, learning a few programming languages, setting up a decent site, there are loads of things you can do to make a portfolio.
I'm currently hiring for an IT assistant at the moment. I'm more than happy if you would get in touch to get you pointed in the right direction. I could also offer you some work experience? paid of course.
A BTEC makes you a computer expert? I don't think so, Kate Weir and Alice McKeegan!
The unemployed are all lazy scroungers, I know, it says so in the Sun. And since I'm a pretty wretched person I believe it anyway, because I need people to look down on to get through life.
the gov needs to stop opening them flood gates stop the immigrants coming in ,the uk is goin down the pan i had my back window smashed by an immigrant doin window cleaning i told i have someone cleanin my windows and he wanted £5 and he will go away i said no then about 20min after my window goes in i got him called the cops and they let him go all to do with his eu rights and human rights all the british mans/womans jobs are all bein taken bloody joke
The counrty is awash with people with degrees in psychology, business studies, media studies etc. I've met plenty and many seem to be as thick as two short planks. These degrees cost an absolute fortune and for the large part are pretty useless.
Plenty of firms still employing people just because they are a "graduate", makes me laugh!
Good luck to this lad, my advise would be to take any work you can get, it can often lead to other things.
The world of recruitment is completely demented though!
'College IT course' hardly qualifies him to become an 'IT expert'.
I'd regard an IT expert to be educated to degree level.
Maybe..just maybe there are far too many graduates doing the same courses. Everyone wants to be a Graduate with a degree these days that it dilutes the value of what was once a very highly regarded qualification. Mind you who can blame students when there is no manufacturing base left in the UK.
At the risk of becoming the most hated man in the MEN comments page I have to side with this 21 year old who has been turned down for 1,500 jobs as being the real victim here. Misled by the world of academia that a certificate would find him work. It is a tale I hear in every local street and yet we still punch out more and more paper certificates. The best hope sits in our under-funded third sector, by creating new careers through inventive minds. Greater Manchester has tremendous opportunities and young talent to engage in the creation of a world class vibrant third sector where 21 year olds with or without certificates will be equality placed to invent their own job and prized future.
There is clearly more to this story than he simply keeps applying for jobs and getting rejected.
His CV must be awful or he is siomply rubbish at interviews.
You dont just simply get turned down for 1500 for no reason
I happen to know Daniel personally and can confirm that everything he has told MEN about his job search experience is true. He is very proactive in his search for employment and is willing to accept ANY job offered to him. He is an intelligent and honest young man with a great sense of community and does a lot to help the people around him.
I think he may have reached a point of desperation now because he really has tried so hard, has faced a lot of rejection and his confidence in finding ANY work in the near future is slowly diminishing. I am sure that he will take on board the positive advice and suggestions offered here in the comments and use them to better his chances of employment.
His situation is reflective of the thousands of young people who do want to work, but lack of experience and the current low in the jobs market pushes them to the bottom of the queue. I think our Government need to review and revamp training and work experience opportunities for young people. Encouraging employers to offer more apprenticeships would certainly be a step in the right direction.