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My name is Ava Patel, I'm 23 and I'm a campaigner for Channel 4's Battlefront.
I studied Journalism at university thinking it would be easy to walk into a job after my degree. Not that I was anything special but I thought there would be ample opportunity. No-one really told me whilst I was studying that it would be so tough, now I look back and wonder why.
I went to uni to develop my skills for a particular career in journalism but after I graduated I slowly started to realise it wasn't about your skills or enthusiasm but how much work experience you had. I struggled to get work experience as no-one would employ me and I started to lose faith in everything I had studied for three years.
Coming back home to Blackburn where there were few prospects for aspiring journalists put me in a sticky situation and I really started to struggle. I felt like every application I was making was being ignored and it felt like a barrage of doors being slammed in my face. I finally managed to get unpaid work at a local radio station to try and make my journalism dreams come true.
To sustain myself whilst I was working for free I started looking for jobs in supermarkets, shops and call centres, anywhere I could earn some money. The final blow came when a well-known supermarket rejected my application to stack shelves before I even had an interview. Being on benefits and getting odd unpaid shifts wasn't the lifestyle I wanted and when I landed a job in a call centre answering emergency calls I was over the moon that someone actually wanted to employ me.
I stayed there for a year, working part time so I could still apply for journalism jobs and then found what can only be described as "the job I dreamt about" working with Battlefront as a paid campaigner for three months.
So, the campaign to combat youth unemployment, that's what I'm doing. I remember trawling through Twitter one afternoon after work, angry that I was working somewhere I just didn't want to be and angry that none of my friends seemed to be getting their dream jobs either. I started to think about how we all had to expect less, when something caught my eye, it was an application form to be the next campaigner to combat youth unemployment. I remember thinking, "I know how that feels! I know how it feels to become angry with your own situation to the point where you feel like giving up! I HAVE to apply!" I did and got the job.
I will never forget how amazing it felt to be introduced into the office, to have my own official work email address and to be able to make myself and the rest of the team a cup of tea, small things that I appreciated so much because I knew I'd be doing something worthwhile that took me to my full potential. I was looking forward to waking up and being happy about the coming day instead of dreading it.
So far the campaign has been absolutely amazing. I'm heading the press and PR side of things and have to generate as much publicity as I can for our Campaign to Combat Youth Unemployment. As a gimmick. I have to pull together an unemployed choir that will drum up press coverage and will help take our message to the politicians to convince them to listen to young people's voices on the issue. I constantly see bad press about young people being "lazy" "unemployable" and "not ready to work" when for the majority of young individuals I know this simply isn't true. And this is the message I want to hammer home to the government.
I've met some inspiring people so far, including PR guru Max Clifford, who gave invaluable advice on how to get the most coverage for the campaign and I've been working with John Higginson, political editor of the Metro who will act as my personal mentor and help me along. He is constantly there to offer his support and counsel.
In my opinion, youth unemployment is no longer a problem, but a disaster. When I saw the Battlefront job advertised I was attracted to it because it was a chance to use my journalistic skills and tackle a subject that has had a huge impact on me. It's something that had me feeling pretty low for a long time and I don't think it's fair young people should have to lower their expectations just because their environment or the economic climate they live in isn't prospering. I'm tackling youth unemployment because young people today are quickly becoming disillusioned with their lives and ambitions.
Working with young people in the past through volunteer youth work made me realise just how much potential the youth of Britain have and it will be such a loss if these individuals become part of a lost generation. Something needs to be done. Fast.
Despite recent youth unemployment figures falling, there are still over one million 16-24 year olds out of work all over the UK. It's not enough just to blame the current economic situation when young people are suffering. Hopefully the most important thing that will come out of this campaign is for young people to find it easier to get a job and I think the government has a role to play in that.
They've committed over £1billion to tackle the issue but they need to make sure what they are doing works and that's why they need to listen to us. It'll be tough going but if we can get the government to pay attention we can bring about real change.
Support the campaign: http://battlefront.channel4.com/get-involved/petitions/battlefront-iv-petition
Follow Ava Patel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BF4Ava
Benjamin Zephaniah: Youth Unemployment: I Wanted to Use Poetry to Speak for Myself
You couldn't find a job if you paid someone to hire you. You think you have it bad? Let ROMNEY get into office. He'll do a flip flop on the RED BUTTON! He scarey!
and immigrants continue too flood into this country,high
youth unemployment will never cease.
It is as simple as that.
wes
You need to learn "Work Ethic", it is not a given and a teenager that has earn't a few quid before leaving school definately has more chance when leaving school.
"Work Experience" schemes are a joke and ammount to nothing more than a weeks "Guided Tour".
Employers say they prefer migrant workers because they are cheap, hard working and supposedly better educated than our home grown school leavers and college graduates. With an attitude like that what hope is there?
The elephant in the room is of course immigration and the sooner people on the left, the right, the unions, the media and the business community put people before ideology & profits, matters can only get worse. What will it take for the politicians to finally sit up and take notice?. Perhaps a few riots might concentrate the mind.
How do you see that this is addressing the underlying issue, or youth unemployment in general? Again, the campaign seems to have no real aim other than to raise awareness.
Voluntary work in my opinion is really important for young people. It provides so much experience in a variety of different ways. Voluntary experience helped me get my first job, and gave me confidence and self worth. It also exposed me to people of a variety of different backgrounds and ages.
I would love to see some kind of national volunteer service, that is mandatory for all young people prior to employment, but is creative and challenging. Maybe for 6 months or so. But not skivvy labour for the local supermarket. I think this would beneficial on so many levels.
Then this experience could go on job applications as a genuine reflection of character. As a person who now employs, I look out for these extra-curricular activities as an important indicator about the prospective candidate. And don't poo-poo work for the Church or other social groups. It all counts :-)
I agree that youth unemployment is a problem, and a serious one at that since, as you have experienced yourself, early work experience is essential (or at least extremely useful) in obtaining employment of a kind that later leads to a career. I do not understand, however, the purpose of your last two paragraphs? You say that one cannot just blame the economic crisis, even though this rise in unemployment in general is attributed to it and has to be understood in the context of it. You admit that the government is investing money to solve the issue, but your problem with this seems to be rather vague; you just say 'they need to listen to [you]'. What is it that you have to say about youth unemployment? Plenty of think-tanks have looked at the problem, do you wish to build on their work in a more practical capacity? Is the aim of the campaign to raise awareness? I don't think that awareness is the problem. Read in the press, watch the news, look at the streets. Youth unemployment is visible, the government and population are well aware of it. What is the eventual goal of the Battlefront campaign? Perhaps you could elaborate on that. Honestly, I'd love to know.
Anyhow, great post, I'll follow you on Twitter so I can keep track of how the campaign is going. Good luck!