The Ugly Side of Employment

A job seeker told me about a recent conversation they’d had with a recruitment agency. The recruitment agency had told the job seeker to rip out any reference to their three (yes, THREE) degrees, professional qualifications and (by association) the seniority of previous positions. Why? Because it was the recruiter’s opinion that the jobseeker had a better chance of getting a job if they DIDN’T tell prospective employers about their academic and professional achievements.

So if someone with a couple of DECADES of working experience, three degrees and buckets of professional qualifications is asked to dump all that in the hope of getting a job you have to ask the question, “What’s the point of getting a degree?”

The bad news seems to be piling up even more. The Telegraph had a piece that said, based on data from the Office for National Statistics, a 21 year old graduate had the same chances of employment as a 16 year old with a single GCSE. What kind of message does that send out to those about to graduate after three years of slog? “Hi kids, you’ve just blown three years of your life, and a pile of cash, for something that might get you a job flipping burgers.” I’m in the same boat and I can say, gentle reader, that this doesn’t exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

This situation reminds me of a piece I read many years ago about new immigrants to Israel. The piece was based around the menial jobs that incomers had to take no matter their backgrounds. It spoke of taxi drivers with PhDs, cleaners with MBAs and doctors forced to work as nurses. Are we about to see a similar situation in the UK? Or has it already arrived? Perhaps the UK will soon have the highest qualified shelf stackers in the world? We’ll have to see.

Freelancing - Spiraling Down To The Lowest Price

I recently felt impelled to sign up to an online freelance website in the hope of gaining some real world experience and earning a modicum of cash along the way. The process has been most informative.

The whole “setting yourself up on a freelancing site” is pretty straightforward and, mainly, without incident. The concept is simple. You put your details on a website and then you either bid for work or hope that someone offers you work. Although I suspect that the likelihood of someone just offering you some work maybe a little farfetched considering the fierce competition out there.

What has struck me is that the world of a freelancing, whether it is for writing blogs or giving HR advice, has become dominated by globalisation and commoditisation.

Firstly, globalisation. Now I don’t have an issue with the idea of a global free market, a place where we are all able to compete for work. But the simple fact is that we’re all starting at different levels of expectation and need. Here’s an example. A UK training company wants a virtual administrator to carry out such functions as student enrolment, typing letters and maintaining a student database. All pretty much bread and butter administration tasks. But instead of employing either a temp or a fulltime employee they’ve called for a freelance to fill the post. A fair number of people applied to fulfil this role on a freelance basis. The two shortlisted, one from Romania and another from the Philippines, both offered to do the work for £4 an hour, much less than the UK minimum wage. I don’t doubt that the two selected applicants can do the job in question. I also don’t doubt that a UK applicant would find it very difficult to survive on an income (before tax AND before roughly 10% is hived off by the freelancing site) of £4 per hour worked. That’s a gross salary of £120 for a 30 hour week.

Secondly, commoditisation. Commoditisation is “A commodity is a product that is completely undifferentiated. If a product becomes less differentiated, so that buyers care less about who they buy from, this change is called commoditisation. The key effect of commoditisation is that it reduces the pricing power of the producer: if products become more alike from a buyer's point of view they will tend to buy the cheapest.” People, especially those who once might have felt that they offered skills and experience that were unique and hard won, are now being savagely commoditised. Journalists, administrators, software developers, HR experts, image processors, video editors etc etc are all having to face the fact that they are now competing with people from across the globe. That their skill sets no longer offer them anything unique with which to sell themselves. This means that commoditisation is forcing down the fees that they can charge for any job that can be done via the net.

It hasn’t been too difficult to foresee this situation. Businesses have been taking advantage of it for sometime, hence the rise of off-shore outsourcing. The real question is “what’s going to happen to those who live and (hopefully) work in the west?” The answer is, I believe, that we’re going to have to accept a much lower standard of living. That our nations, and specifically the governments and economies, are going to have to readjust to a world where salaries are going to be a lot lower than they have been. That prices and taxation levels are going to have to drop and the prices of such sacred cows as property are not just going to fall a bit but come crashing down like out of control aircraft.

We appear to be destined to live through interesting times.

Job Search - The Results Are In?

A recent Business of Journalism seminar inspired me to do a bit of digging into employment prospects for journalism graduates. The results are a tad alarming to say the least.

(Okay, this isn’t a scientific study or one where the researcher (i.e. me) has spent many hours dredging every data source known to man. But I think it’s indicative of the state of the jobs market when it comes to journalism students seeking employment.)

The question I asked was “how many journalism jobs are there in various cities when compared to PR jobs?” 

(Graph of PR Jobs and Journalist Jobs on monster.co.uk 26/01/2012)

I used the monster.co.uk website and searched for “PR” and “Journalist” categories of work. This rather illuminating graph is what emerged. The Monster site showed a grand total of five “Journalist” jobs in ten of the UK’s major cities. The same cities returned a count of 777 PR related jobs. Also note the  geographic distribution. London outguns the rest of the UK on both types of work (4 Journalist jobs and 621 PR related jobs). Now Monster might not be the best place to look for journalism opportunities so I tried the Guardian. There the pickings were a little better.

Sourced from the Guardian 26/01/2012

The Guardian site showed a total of 74 journalism jobs. Hooray you might cry but that’s for the whole of the UK! I looked a little deeper into the various jobs on offer and found that less than 55% of the jobs were paid journalism roles. More than 12% were unpaid, nearly 18% were PR & Marketing related and over 10% were for the state sector in some guise (or NGO). Oh, and many of the journalism roles advertised seemed to be based out of Dubai rather than the UK.

This quick data trawl would indicate that if you’re thinking of working in journalism then you’ve got a mighty battle on your hands. For those of us who might be considering working in the PR/Marketing/Advertising fields the obvious conclusion is that London and the South East is the place to be.

Why not take a few moments out of your busy schedules and look for yourselves? It might help you map out your next move after graduation.

The Dirtiest Word: Competition

This morning I found myself watching the BBC show called The Big Question. The usual debating crowd included a young strident lefty gentleman who was obviously less than enamoured with the idea of competition in our society. He gave me the impression that competition was a cancer inflicted on our society by the evil that is capitalism. A very idyllic, utopian and unrealistic view of the world.

Life is all about competition. From the day you're born to the day you die you'll be competing for something, even if it's just for the attention of a busy parent. Yet, at university, there seems to be a a distinct lack of competition. There are no published lists of who has earned what mark in either their degree or any particular unit. There's no publicised announcements concerning those who have done particularly well or badly. No league tables posted. Even the dissertations in the library aren't marked with any indication of the score they earned (which I find really annoying). It's as if competition is a dirty word yet the real world, the world beyond the walls of the University of Lincoln, is full of competition and I feel that the university hasn't prepared many of my peers for the cruel and cold place it really is.

I remember my first week at university. The so called Freshers week. We were treated to a number of lectures about our new university life. Amongst the exhortations about attending lectures and seminars there was the comment that we'd make friends for life at university (okay, this was directed at the normal students and not me and I knew that). But nothing was said about the simple fact that our peers were not just potential friends BUT certain competitors. Yes, everyone in that lecture hall would be competing with each other for employment once the course was over. I wonder how many others realised that or even think in those terms today?

In a matter of months our courses finish. I'd hope that most of my peers are already looking for their first post university career break. Those that have might have received a bit of a rude shock. Jobs, decent jobs, the kind of jobs that they might have hoped for, are as rare as hen's teeth. Those employers who are seeking bright eyed young graduates are able to be as picky as they like. They can ask for and accept only the very best. The cream of the crop. The dog's testicles of the graduate world. They are the buyers and they have the advantage. We're the ones who have to sell ourselves to them. Competing with each other to win the attention and the approval of those who might deign to offer employment to the likes of us. And that will be just the start...

The Brave New World of Job Hunting

In a very short while all of us, in our final year of university, will be forced to face up to the fraught process called “job hunting”.

For the best part of three years we have all been languishing in the bosom of academia. Not concerned with the cruel and heartless world of commerce. Not worried about having to impress the boss each and every day. No, for most part my peers have been more interested in having a good time. But this time of lotus gathering is fast approaching its end and with it comes an entirely new set of priorities.

Firstly, there's the issue of appearance. Yes, how you look is going to have a major bearing on what you'll be doing a year from now. Unless you get “tricked” into signing on for another year of study to get an MA or MSC for which you'll pay handsomely but might find the return on investment rather dubious to say the least (I, personally, think that nobody should be allowed to go straight from a BA/BSc to an MA/MSc without a few years experience in the real world. It smacks of desperation on the part of academic institutions who seek to increase the numbers of bums on seats in these times of higher tuition fees). So, your appearance.

First things first, face furniture. During the last few years you may well have picked up a variety of exciting and unique piercings. If they are out of sight then they're no problem. If they're gracing the pock marked expanse of skin that you call your face then “Houston, we have a problem!” I'm not referring to earrings or even a discrete nose stud. I'm referring to eyebrow piercings, nose rings, lip chandeliers and the like. They don't make a very good impression unless you're applying for a job in a hippy commune or want to work in a piercing parlour. My advice is to take the metal stuff out of your face now and give the holes a chance to heal up. There's nothing as unnerving as interviewing someone who looks like an ambulatory pin cushion.

Tattoos, sometimes known as tramp stamps, are okay if you're looking for a role in a travelling circus or working as a “heavy” in a low budget British crime drama but not if you're looking for a career that'll pay you a real salary. I'm not talking about a discrete tattoo on an ankle or a buttock. I'm talking about tattoos that grace your face or your hands. They may make you look “unique” and “interesting” but they don't do it for corporates who want you to be representing them out there in the real world where appearances ARE important. If you have already besmirched your face with the tattooists needle then look into methods of camouflaging it or having it removed.

Men, and I use that term very loosely indeed, have you considered the advantages of shaving? Why not take this opportunity to learn the art of the daily shave? Banish the face fuzz to the waste bin of history and embrace the advantages of the clean shaven look. Also, have you considered getting a decent haircut? One that doesn't leave you looking like a refugee from a sheep shearing parlour?

Get a suit, a selection of plain shirts, a couple of ties and a good pair of black leather shoes. The equivalent for the ladies. When you walk in for an interview you want the interviewers to think of you as professional, smartly dressed and having made an effort. Turning up dressed as a tramp, smelling of last night's sick and sporting a black eye is not going to help your cause.

Right, interviews. First thing to remember is that you're there to sell yourself. Forget any politically right on ideas of “sticking it to the man” or thinking “everyone is equal and deserves equal treatment”. It's all a pile of moose droppings. What the interviewer wants is a warm body that can do the job, will turn up on time, knows how to behave in a working environment and won't be a right royal pain in the arse. You have to show you can fit in, match the culture of the employer and be ready to be exploited like a crack addicted whore working the streets around Kings Cross. That's what a job is, you exchange your soul for money. If you're lucky enough to get a job, especially in a field you want to work in, then I'd advise you to exhibit some deep gratitude because you'll be amongst the lucky few!

Oh, and before an interview it's a very good idea to do some research into the potential employer. Dig out the simple stuff that shows you have taken a real interest in their business. What do they do? Who are their customers? What threats and opportunities do they face? Showing a genuine interest won't do you any harm.

Feedback from employment interviews. Okay, welcome to reality. The UK, being a litigious country full of lawyers looking for work, is not the place to get real, useful and honest feedback. You cannot blame employers. Legal actions are expensive at the best of times (i.e. when you settle out of court). So if you don't get that job and you get a letter or email (or usually nothing at all but more on that later) don't expect to get anything other than a vanilla style no thank you. You might want to know why you didn't get that exciting job with the company car and top salary but they won't really tell you the truth.

Communications and the job hunt. I don't know why it is but many times during your job hunting quest you'll get no response at all to an application. Many agencies and companies now clearly state that if you don't hear from them by a certain date then you've been unsuccessful. Don't take it personally. In my opinion there are two reasons for this. One, the recruiters are too busy to be bothered with the simple task of sending out a “no thank you”. Two, the recruiters want you to feel like a soiled rag used for wiping down the urinals at a dodgy public toilet in the vicinity of Mayfair.

Looking for a job, normally, can be a difficult task. During the current economic crisis that difficult task can seem impossible. There will be plenty of people who'll just give up. That's their choice. My advice to you is to remember the advice of Sir Winston Churchill: “If you're going through hell, keep going!”

Whither University Education in 2012

The academic world faces a year of great change. Rises in tuition fees are going to have, I suspect, a cooling effect on the number of people wanting to study for a degree. . It’s going to be a dog eat dog world out there and only the most attractive universities are going to survive this educational bun fight.

What can be done? According to my various courses on marketing and advertising it would appear that the universities are going to have to become more customer orientated rather than product orientated. I.E. The desires of the punters (students) are about to rise to paramount importance.

So how does a university make itself more attractive to today’s modern young person? Well, based on my limited observations, I’d like to offer a few suggestions.

• Long weekends – I have noticed that many students enjoy having a good time. Partying, seeing boy/girl/goat friends. That kind of thing. Having to attend university on a Monday and/or a Friday can have a negative impact on these essential social activities. The solution?  It’s obvious, don’t timetable any academic activities on a Monday or a Friday and make sure this salient fact is prominently displayed on all marketing materials.
• Avoid mornings – I have noticed that 09:00 starts are as welcome as a dose of herpes. The punters, most of them, consider being required to rise any time before 11:00 as inhumane. I’d suggest that a forward looking, and client focused, university would do all in its power to ensure that no lecture or seminar be scheduled before the hallowed hour of 11:00. Possibly even later.
• Books – They cost money, they’re bulky, unfashionable and they need to be read. All of which makes any university willing to abandon the prehistoric book concept more attractive to the paying punters. Instead, e-Books should be used or, to be even more current and cool, single webpages with an entire semester’s worth of reading compressed into an easily understood and absorbed couple of hundred words. Let’s face it, any really complicated idea or concept can usually be condensed into a single sentence or paragraph – well, enough for the needs of the punters.
• Locations – Seminar rooms and lecture theatres can be, let’s be honest, unwelcoming and dreary places. They lack the comfort and facilities that a punter would expect. I suggest that universities remodel their rooms using bars, nightclubs and coffee shops as templates. Face it, if you have to turn up wouldn’t it be nicer to be able to enjoy the educational process while imbibing a delicious MochaFlocaBocaChino, pint of lager or cocktail? And think of the extra revenue streams for the university?
• Time – Why should a standard undergraduate degree take three years to complete? It’s utter madness in this age of instant gratification. So why not compress the entire course into a single year of academic effort? Gives the graduates a head start over those attending old fashioned universities that insist on sitting around on your arse for three years. Instead, you’d only have to sit around for one year!
• Assignments – You know what it’s like. An assignment is due, the clock is ticking and the pressure is building to underwear filling levels. Is that really how the punters want to spend their time at university? No, of course not. So how about a CRAP instead? CRAP standing for Continuous Regular Assignment Process. The punters will fill out an electronic form at the end of each week (Thursday) where they mark themselves and give a brief justification for that mark. Simple! No hassle. No endless documents to complete and no need for expensive tutors to waste their lives reading miles of drivel.
• Exams – Exams can be stressful. Trapped for hours in a drafty sports hall, forced to sit at archaic desks and scribble until fingers bleed. This kind of thing can put punters off. What to do? Instead of exams I propose the Personal Assessment Procedures (PAP) instead. The punter is encouraged to provide a written self-assessment of their abilities (it worked so well for mortgages) and a mark. We can, of course, trust the punters to be honest and accurate. Plus it will save a fortune in staff time as well.
• Promotions – You’ve seen them on TV and at the supermarket. BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) and the like. Why not apply it to university education as well? Buy one BA and get an MA course thrown in for free? Guaranteed minimum marks (say a 2:2 even if you do no work and spend the course in bed). Perhaps a loyalty points card, for each unit completed the punter gets points towards a night out?

Speaking seriously for one moment, I think that the next year or three could see a dramatic drop in the number of universities in the UK. If demand falls then closures will follow close behind.