As the new Channel 4 series, The Intern, kicked off a young woman stated "I haven't got a job, it's just no experience... no experience" which is very much heard of from young people nowadays. This highlights the very trivial dilemma in which a young person needs a job to gain experience, whilst on the other end employers refuse to hire inexperienced people.
Hilary Devey, the infamous Dragon from BBC's Dragons Den sets out to solve this problem and get Britain's young jobless on the career ladder.
The silly antics shown within the first two to three minutes of the show added a hint of humor to a very serious problem - youth unemployment. The bewildering combination of Candid Camera and The Apprentice wouldn't be expected to be the obvious choice of an unemployed young person but maybe this highlights the desperation in society.
I found Hilary's role in this show quite confusing as she crept in between scenes from time to time to talk to the young job hunters, however her words were firm and powerful which stayed in tune with the true and serious reality of youth unemployment.
Out of the several young and jobless people that applied for a week's trial in the industry of their choice, only three were chosen per industry. This week's industry was the hotel sector. The eager young trio included unemployed graduate Princess, as well as 18-year-old café worker Taelre and 22-year-old Georgia.
As I'm a student myself I wasn't too surprised that despite the fact that Princess has a degree, she was competing against non-graduates. Many students who are relying solely on a degree to get them that dream job will most probably be in the same unfortunate predicament. I'm the type of person that is more scared of my life being in someone else's hands than my own. Does this hint at something? Well I've taken the step to work for myself and set up my own tech startup, The Skills Market, which is an online marketplace that connects people with the skills that they want to teach with the people who seek to acquire them.
Back to the show - the trio were set a series of tasks which had all been humorously booby trapped in a bid to see how the candidates react. Some of the hilarious situations include 22-year-old Georgia given the task of walking a hotel guest's precious dogs, unaware that one of them has been trained to run away the moment it's left off the leash. Princess, a big Made in Chelsea fan, discovers one of its stars, Hugo, chained to a bedpost in the room she's supposed to be cleaning. How will they cope under pressure? Can Princess keep her mouth shut about Hugo's embarrassing predicament? Can Georgia find the lurcher in time?
What I've learnt about the hotel industry is lying is a must have skill on behalf of fellow staff and in some cases on behalf of customers. Young jobless viewers watching, with the aim of getting knowledge for their job search, will have learnt as much about the hotel trade as we do learning how to live in harmony on Big Brother. In terms of showbiz, The Intern will do quite well but with youth unemployment being such a big issue at the moment I personally believe Hilary should have gone for a more serious approach. After all the laughs have faded away young people will still be in the same 'unemployable' predicament.