Surviving Youth Unemployment

According to Reddick, the biggest favour millenials can do for themselves is career pathing- that is, actually taking the time to pick a interest, passion or career position that suits you. Then once you’ve determined where your interests lie, capitalize on the resources at your disposal to explicitly map out what career is most suitable to you and how to acquire a specific job.

“[One of the hardest things] is guiding applicants who aren’t profession specific yet.” she says. “If you want to be a lawyer, or a doctor that’s very exact in the steps you have to take. But if you come out of school with just a general honours BA but you haven’t gotten that experience yet its very difficult.”

While earning a degree is an important step for young job applicants to distinguish themselves in the existing competitive job market, it is also crucial to identify and build on your skills and interests, and finally be able to communicate these abilities in a way that is relevant to potential employers, says Reddick.

To be sure, the skills and interests of a twenty-something in 2013 are not going to be the same as they were 60 years ago – and that’s not a bad thing.

Millenials adaptability and social nature has allowed them to harbor a variety of skills that are useful in the workplace and that employers actively seek out.

For example, (although I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times) social media has had a strong impact on the workplace attitude of many youth in a positive way.

Communication is a key aspect of this – and I don’t just mean through Twitter and Facebook. Younger generations are more aware (and have typically mastered) so many different methods of communication that many employers have yet to dabble in. Your knowledge of various apps, websites, smartphones, and video calling can be an invaluable asset to many people in the office, so be sure to include it in your resume.

Further, young generations use of social media has not only created a society of young people who enjoy building relationships (look at how many friends you have on Facebook!) and who prioritize transparency – essentially, our every waking moment is documented and logged through these social media sites. While this may seem like a far stretch, these are characteristics employers look for – be sure to communicate that in a professional manner.

That being said, young people must also use the tools at their disposal to determine and capitalize on how work and the way people work is changing. Although mom and dad are valuable sources of information, applying for a job now may be very different from the last time your parents were in the job market. Seek out people who are in the field you’re interested in (family members, friends parents, acquaintances) and reach out to them for advice.

Wright also stresses that 80-85 percent of jobs are not posted. Go out and do some legwork, hand out resumes in person and keep networking. Remember: the Internet doesn’t actually have the answer to everything.

So for those of you bracing yourself for the “black hole” of joblessness, don’t get discouraged just yet. The next time you find yourself despairing over not having a career position or even a fulltime job, ask yourself: have you tried all the avenues possible? How can you expand on your resume? How can you communicate your skills in a professional manner? And lastly, have you engaged in some good, old fashioned conversation with any professionals in your field?

While today’s job market is highly different from that of our parents and even a little bit scarcer, there are definitely still jobs to be had for young professionals who are adaptable, energetic and ready to embrace change – just make sure you’ve set yourself up to be one of them!

Image provided by canadianmortgagesinc

Tiffany Narducci is a master’s candidate in Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, where she also completed her undergraduate degree in Journalism. She is passionate about international politics and how they affect humanitarian relief efforts, and hopes to begin a career in international development.