Two men, 40 years apart - one in England, the other in Wales - but they share the same daunting experience of unemployment.

Their downbeat mood is palpable: a smile is rare, and their softly spoken voices convey a lack of confidence and hope after years of sitting on the subs' bench.

In the town of Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, 25-year-old Ben Gillet is in his cramped room lighting up a hand-rolled cigarette.

The window is ajar and a crisp cool breeze forces its way through, blowing the curtain into the side table.

He hasn't slept all night - a common recurrence when you're without work, he says. The last time he was employed was in 2008 - and now his days mostly consist of playing video games and consuming vast amounts of tea.

"I've played all my games to death, I watch TV series that I've watched three or four times through," he says.

"My confidence is practically nil. I have no reason to be confident these days - I don't know why I'm failing to get a job, because I get such little feedback that it just amounts to none."

He doesn't have a plethora of experience. Short stints at factories and restaurants make up the bulk of his CV, along with low-grade A levels in sciences and IT.

Pessimistic
Ben lives in a clammy rented flat with a friend. The kitchen is swamped with dirty plates and cutlery, some of which have been there for weeks. Mould lines the mug from which he drinks tea.

bbc.co.uk

Get rid of the beard for a start...

Just seen this thread, think its really interesting & everyones right really arent they from different angles? If you are out of work it is so demoralising if you really want to be working - I graduated three years ago and am still doing the same carer job (now full time) that I started doing six years ago to support myself through uni! Im glad im in work but its not exactly what I envisaged when I signed up for a £22,000 debt being told there would be endless opportunities when i graduated.
I must apply for approx 50 jobs a week, have barely had any interviews and despite having done voluntary work, further training and asking the interviewers for tips on how I can further improve my applications - nothing. Three years of this and I am definetly less motivated and less confident in myself. I dont yet drink from mouldy cups however and I do change the sheets so theres still hope :) Actually have an interview this afternoon. Again.!!

Good luck. This is exactly how you will eventually land the job you want. There also classes or seminars you can attend that help you with interview skills and brushing up your CV if you think you need it.

Thanks :) im still holding out for a lottery win secretly ;)

This is exactly what I stated earlier on, regarding someone's comment about post-grads not working.

You get told there are plenty of jobs waiting for you when you finish, and that you can start earning from X amount upwards, and there are loads of post-grads who refuse to work for anything less, because they don't deem themselves worth it :/

Fair play to you though, you might not be in a job you like, but it's a job, and it's supporting you whilst you're looking for something else, and you're actually asking how to improve. I can understand it's fully depressing being in either a job you hate, or without a job at all, but at the end of the day, if you don't push yourself, then why would someone want to employ you, you know?

I went to an interview for the job I currently have. It was for teaching swimming, and I have always been told to turn up to interviews in smart dress. So I turn up in a crisp white shirt, black trousers, and modest pair of heels. There were plenty of people there in just regular dress, jeans and trainers and the like, and there was one woman, in her hippy wear. Nothing against hippies, but is it really appropriate for an interview? Regardless of the job? Interviewers and employers really do take notice of appearance - which goes back to the original statement for that Ben bloke, he really needs to have a shower shit and shave and sort himself out. And the same with what Katie was saying - plaster a goddamn smile on your face even if you're dying inside. As much as we have moved on in this world and moved away from appearance being everything, it still plays a great deal in application processes.

Yeah man, suited and booted, no matter where it is! I wore a suit for my DSI interview, albeit without a tie, but still smart - I was applying for a job at a clubbing website lol! I knew John, Dave and Tim would be in T'shirts and trainers, but you still need to make the initial effort. Then in the second interview, I wore smart jeans, shoes and shirt n cardi etc.

Appearance is everything for an interview, not because of what you look like, but it shows the level of effort you're prepared to make! If in doubt, dress up rather than down!

I only did a paper round once and decided it wasn't worth the money. One of my mates had it sweet though, he used to deliver the local free rag like The Informer or something. First couple of weeks he delivered them all, after that he didn't bother at all, when the newsagent people phoned him they gave him a list of addresses that complained that it hadn't reached them. After that he just only delivered to the addresses that actually bothered to phone up and complain when it didn't arrive. He ended up using this system to deliver almost all the free papers in the borough of Ealing and found that using a wheel barrow he could do the whole round in about 40 minutes and was coining something like 70 quid a week which when you're 12 is fucking LOADS!

I'm so glad I can roll into work in the same clothes I wear all the time anyway.. absolutely hate dressing smart for it. Early mornings and suits dont go well together

If I may may offer a point of view that takes in to account both sides of the argument...



I did 3 years at Winchester University and came out with a degree in Media & Film. In retrospect, it is a useless degree, and after 2 years I admitted to myself that I primarily went to uni to get pissed and meet some really cool new people (which I did).

Now, i'm not condemning the uni approach... far from it: After completing my course, I know that I may not have come out with the result I possibly could have obtained, and I also know that (had I known then what I know now) I would have picked an entirely different course to study (Hell, I think it's ridiculously unfair to ask an 18-20 year-old what they want to do for the rest of their life....... most of us still don't know). However, uni does offer something that's extremely valuable in modern society, in that (providing you find a like-minded group of people) it can develop you as a person in a way that no job can possibly hope to emulate. I am in no way bragging when I say that I feel that i'm far more confident as an individual, and possess a far more loyal group of friends now than I ever had before I went to university.


Mind you, I do honestly believe that the real money these days lies in apprenticeships and work experience. Industries in every field no longer want a bit of paper that declares you are good at something... rather, they prefer documented evidence that you have commited yourself to a period of physical education whereby you have first-hand experience of the job you are applying for. In a world where 100 people apply for the role of a lowly shelf-stacker in Asda, prior experience is what gives you the edge over competitors who are sat there with an A4 sheet of paper with 'Retail Management' written on it.

Obviously this is just my opinion, but it's based on 6 years of experience of the work that I currently do, as well as that of the people closest to me. Coming away from university today with £27,000 worth of debt, and no guaranteed employment is borderline insanity, and i'm genuinely staggered that universities nationwide aren't completely derelict.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm in uni myself!! However I just went really cack-handely. I'm bored of being at uni now, as I've been there for so long, and I'm currently doing the job that I love for a reasonably good wage. But because I'm at uni, I can't go full time :/

Since the age of 16 I've been teaching swimming and trampolining along side my mum, as those were the sports I did as a child, and I was helping her demonstrate and teach, as a bit of fun and a way of earning some decent money. Through this time I ended up getting my coaching qualifications.

I ended up doing three years at college doing my A-levels, because I really fucked up and pretty much failed, after finding a rather hedonistic approach to life. This put me a year behind my peers.

After passing I went along to uni to do a foundation degree in Forensic Science.. During this time I found a job doing bar work and casual coaching. I realised I fucking hated going into uni - what I was doing was really interesting but it wasn't for me, I couldn't see myself doing it, and I ended up hating being there. The only thing keeping me going was my jobs.. It was about 6 months through that my mates were very much saying to me, why didn't you go into sports, that's what you're good at and if that's all that's keeping you going, doesn't that say something to you. This put me another year behind my peers.

So I decided to change universities and change course. So I started somewhere new on a foundation degree doing Sports Coaching. I only managed to get on the course due to the fact that my mum pushed me to do my professional qualifications in swimming and trampolining, allowing me to coach, as well as my athletic experience of competing at high levels. If I was going on my academic levels, I wouldn't have had a chance, considering I near as damnit failed my A-levels. To many people, sports is a very "cop-out" degree, not understanding the amount of biology/biochemistry involved with it.

I've now completed that foundation degree, and I'm at yet another university topping up so I have a full degree. Whilst topping up, it's quite hard as some of the modules don't necessarily match up. So again regarding on my professional qualifications and expertise, I was allowed to take on the third year here, with only having to sit two level 2 modules - one to make up the time table, and the other because it wasn't worth enough credits through my foundation degree.

I have learnt a fair amount going through uni, being in different areas of the country, and meeting various experts in the field and everything, and everything I have learnt in uni will aid me in my job. I've also met some fantastic people, and been given some amazing opportunities that I wouldn't have got if I hadn't have gone to uni. However, there isn't much I've learnt at uni, that I didn't already know or do, due to having done the professional qualifications. I'm quite lucky in my job, that uni doesn't really count for much, even though what I'm doing now is very highly related. It's the professional qualifications that are pushing me through in life. Degrees come dime a dozen these days, and whilst it shows that you can commit yourself and work hard and put the effort in, there's not much that differentiates you from the next person if you've got no experience working in that field.

That's exactly it.

I wanted to be a Journalist... in year 2 we had a guest lecturer in for one semester from the Guardian (i think). He was a clueless cunt who had no idea whatsoever how to structure a lesson, and as a result every single person in that class failed that term. Naturally we all complained and had our failure revoked, but it totally put me off journalism.

Since then, i've realised i'd have been better off taking a degree in sound engineering or something similar, as that's what I really love. However, I know now that I have to make the most of what cards have been dealt to me, as my indecision has led to me falling into one type of work (namely the metallurgy industry)

I know that i'll never be out of work as the area I work in is always in demand of people who possess the niche expertise of steelwork engineering. I just need to follow up on what i've learnt so far and maybe spend some time enrolling in courses that will further my career. I'm aware that it's not going to be riveting work (far from it), but it should see me right in terms of finance. The way I see it now is that, so long as i can earn enough to make the rest of my life comfortable, I can possibly stand working a job that isn't exactly 'movie star' exciting.

To tie it back to the thread topic, it all depends on what you want out of life in my opinion. I think someone mentioned it before that it's rare that you'll get a well-paid job that you enjoy, so you have to decide whether a flashy car, enviable house, and holidays to the Seychelles are worth more to you than a job you can happily turn up to every day with a genuine smile on your face.

Completely agree! Would never regret going to uni, best three years of my life but in retrospect would choose a degree that incorporated work experience for the connections or one that had a direct career at the end ie nurse instead of a general one that leads you.. no where!! def think more input should be made in college with tutors helping you plan where you want to go so kids have a chance at working this out earlier on :) I wanted to go back to do msc this sept in careers guidance (to help these poor kiddies as mentioned above!!) but the course has been discontinued :( so must continue job hunt slog until I look like the charming lad this discussion is all about. I love my life!

Marry a sugar daddy.

If it allowes you to do the things that make you happy, then why wouldn't it be?

Not forgetting that you spend a very large amount of your life doing it, so it really does need to be something that you at least don't detest and preferably find some sort of enjoyment in.

I've found that working all week and every other weekend makes me enjoy my time off even more and the quality of the time spent not at work is vastly increased. Would hate to be out of work.

I think sometimes we simply have to like what we do until we can do what we like ;o)

Ohhhhh, very Zen ;)

I just have to mess around on DSI all day! ;-)

Jammy sod.