Jenna Birk, NEET statistic, started writing a guest blog for TheEmployable, last month. After 7 months of ‘unemployment’ Jenna was determined to keep thinking positively & had explored loads of options on how she could change her employment status…So we are happy to report that Jenna, has some exciting news to share with us all….

What the future holds…

When you’re an unemployed graduate, life becomes all about the future. You spend hours at a time applying for countless jobs, complete weeks of work experience to increase your employability, and in my case, spend too much time looking at holidays that you can’t afford and couldn’t book for fear it would coincide with an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity.

Since graduating, I’ve spent so much time both worrying and fantasising about my future. It’s funny how finally achieving the goal you sought for so long can change your whole perspective.

That’s right, folks. This employable graduate has become an employed graduate! After promising you an insight into my journey and on-going job hunt, a surprising job offer has put an end to my search. For the past few months, I have been working part-time as an unpaid intern in a Fashion PR company in London. Last Friday, just two months into my three month placement, they offered me a full-time salaried role. I have officially entered into the ranks of the employed. And I couldn’t be happier.

But whilst I am enjoying my shiny new ‘executive’ job title, it is a strange thing to suddenly find myself employed. With no interview preparation or agonising wait for a decision, the offer of a job came as a complete surprise to me. I feel happy, of course, but also that it’s an end of an era. An era which, in constantly dreaming about the future, I didn’t think I would ever look back upon fondly. Sure, there have been bad times; searching for jobs can be soul-destroying, never mind the feeling of failure that can descend upon you as an unemployed graduate. But, what I didn’t expect from being an unemployed graduate was the sense of community and camaraderie that I have experienced. Twitter has made it so much easier to connect to people in similar positions to you, to share worries, advice and little successes. People I have never met in real life have been thrilled that I have found a job. And I know that it is only a matter of time until they all do too.

So it is with an excited but fond farewell that I say goodbye to The Employable. I’d love to stay in touch with everyone that I’ve met on my journey and to hear about your future successes. Follow me on twitter @jenloubee. Good luck to everyone on their job search!

A maaassssiivvve congratulations to Jenna on her success.

But there is a little bit of a (but) in there too. At TheEmployable, we are keen to highlight that ‘finding employment’ should not be as tough as perhaps being picked to swim at the Olympics! Finding employment should not be a ‘given’ for every young person, but it should be an acheivable target. The fact that Jenna, an able, talented and hard working young person has had to run, jump, and swim through hoops to find employment is a daming failure…The answer does not lie only with ‘the government’, yes they are responsible, but so are we all. As big businesses continue to make big profits, lets encourage ‘big businesses’ to take ‘big steps’ to address the NEET issue. Jenna is an example to us all, but she is also a symbol of failure, as talent, like Jenna’s cannot be left to wait for a job….

Need some help on how to Apply for Jobs – you might want to check out TheEmployable job hunting ebook..