Seventy-Five

I'd like to think the neglect I showed this dole-doldrum-dampening side-project implied that my job-seeking efforts were focused and unrelenting, leaving me little-to-no time to document my tribulations. Truth of the matter is the process is a slow one, and the ascending potential story arc offered by each job application often disappeared in the clouds, failing to return to earth - or my gmail inbox. And nobody likes half a blog post now, do they?

It has now been five weeks and one day (that's day 80+31) since I started a new job in an office in town. Not exactly one that's going to require ordering the 500 business cards advertised on TV3, but as my criteria consisted solely of an agreement whereby somebody would pay me currency to spend between 35 and 40 hours a week to stand or sit in an environment of their choosing, we'll take it as a winner. 

Again, in an ideal world, I'd have used this 31 days in employment to evaluate my time on le scratcher in a comprehensive manner, picking out the motifs of the life on welfare. In this, the unideal world, I've come to realise that when you're on the dole, at least you're receiving cash every week. When you start a job, and that job requires you to work a month's back-pay, you're not going to be receiving any cash for a fair while. It was only after I'd filled in the Department of Social Protection's online form to say "HERE! Welfare Office! I don't need yo' money no mo'!" that my new co-workers suggested that it would have probably been a good idea to keep claiming the dole until my first pay-day, and then return the payments in increments taken out of the monthly pay. It's probably a good idea, especially for people with families and mortgages, rather than trying to last a potential eight weeks before being paid. It can be a bit of a deterrent for some people, this period without payment, so the formalising of this idea into a... 'more legal' scheme might be an idea.

As I was saying, an ideal final post on this subject might answer the question: How easy or difficult is it for young graduates to find employment in Ireland in 2013? Obviously this is a multi-faced question, and a loaded one at that, taking into account the presumption that young people seeking employment are all graduates. I'm also going to remove the option of emigration from the equation - this being a closed system which doesn't reflect the reality for most people.

To start with, the main thing that tips the easy-hard scale on finding a job is lowering your standards. As I've said before, when times are shite, not everyone can have their dream-job. There's less money floating about in employers' accounts, so they're that bit more scrupulous when taking on new staff. If there's an entry level position in a job that might be considered that bit more desirable for jobseekers (for reasons other than the pay), they'll know that the remuneration can be lowered because of the competition that will be generated by the lure of the role itself, potentially lowered to the level of the dreaded unpaid internship. So the less attractive roles are often the ones that pay more consistently - at least at entry level.

Secondly is the mindset. I suppose it's very easy for a man who was on the dole for 75 days to get on his high horse and say that jobseeking is a marathon and not a sprint. Actually, I kind of thought it was like loads of little sprints myself. I'd imagine over a longer period of time, no matter whether you view it as loads of little sprints or a long marathon or an obstacle course of networking and nepotism, it can get exhausting. Even over my brief time on the dole, there were days were I'd think "Fuck it. Cans are four-for-a-fiver. €188 is more than I need. This is my life now, and I'm never writing another cover letter again." But it was the waves of the days where I'd sit at a laptop filling one application after another until even a automated response came back that were the most fruitful. And in the end, the result of these periods of productivity was that interviews came like all the buses at once.

Another thing that I remember that came into play in a less prominent way was not being afraid to stick your neck out - in terms of following up on applications. It's been well voiced that an email, or ideally a phonecall, to follow up on an application or an interview shows that a candidate has a desire to get the job. And from a more pragmatic HR perspective, giving someone an interview is a good way to stop them pestering you about their job application.

Aside from the jobseeking side from things, time on the dole always depends on the context. Obviously I was not the only person I know claiming welfare, so there are people to talk to and relate with about it. "When's your signing-on day?" became the analogue of "How many exams have you got?" from college. There's a sub-culture. Flip, you don't even need that 'sub-' prefix if you're going by the size of the queue outside the welfare office in Bray the other week. The sub-culture's bible is probably the weekly Lidl brochures that come through the door or with the paper, and it's currency (aside from the €188) is knowledge of deals, discounts and any other methods imaginable around paying full price for any service or product.

An appreciation of free entertainment is also a mutual characteristic.

Dublin really isn't a bad place to have a lot of free time - The National Gallery, The National Museum, The National Library, The Natural History Museum, and the new Science Museum are all within the same square kilometer, and are all free. Also in there is the meeting point of the folk who are apparently trying to row us out of our jobless mire. I had thought that a letter of invitation was required from your TD to gain access to the Dáil, but there are actually walk-in tours for citizens, you just need to bring photo ID. They're run a couple of times a day, and it's probably best to just ask the guards on the Kildare St gate about the times. I know many people might think this stuff is a bit touristy, but really: when else are you going to do it?

Truth be told, everyone fantasizes from time-to-time about having a period of no obligations, with nowhere to be, and no accountability, maybe as a way to make headway into an oft-deferred project, or maybe just to sit and think about shit for a while, so in that sense, it's nice. Even when taking annual leave or holidays from a job, most people like to 'make the most of these', manifest as them getting their annual dose of vitamin D in  a warmer climate somewhere. So just sitting still while the working world buzzes away in the background can be alright.

The best usage of this time, I think, is to work out plans - however general - for a way to enter back into the working world in a way that will least likely result in a return to the dole. Even if this means taking my earlier proclamation that 'your dream job isn't a paid one' with a pinch of salt, there's something out there for everyone that's at least on the path towards a vocation, and that pays money. It's just a matter of wading through the rest to find it.

Good luck sure.

Day 42

Another day, another fruitless fish-net trawled from the sea of online jobs postings. Along with the floating rubbish that comes with it: unpaid internships. Gah!

They're part of the furniture now in the jobseeker's environment. They can be dressed up as fancy schemes or with decorative language - JobBridge, traineeship, pseudo-slave, whatever - but it's more or less like fishing for junk: you might pull one in for closer inspection, but the majority of the time, it's just what you expected.

It would appear that with the decline of the global economy came the simultaneous decline in the ethics of employment. Yes, it is capitalist at its core for the employer (free labour? Yes please), but for it to be sanctioned - and in the case of JobBridge, paid for - by the government is disappointing, to say the least. The private sector has really had the government bent over a chair with this scheme - apparently without even asking. "So we'll pay for your workforce for a while, but you're probably going to give them a real job and start paying them after a few months, right?", says Gilmore, red in the cheeks, but not in the idealism. "Eh, yeah, sure. We'll sort something out." says the private sector, and then changes the subject.

'Something' turns out to be a reference and a pat on the back six months later, as you scurry out the door - to your next unpaid internship.

Day 35

On Monday, I went to a recruitment agency. I've dealt with this particular agency before, and the kind of jobs they hook people up with is the kind of work that 30 years ago, they would have thought we would have robots doing by now.

I don't really mind this. Maybe it's not ideal, but, as the recruiter at the agency was told, I'm not really sure what, exactly, would constitute 'ideal'. "Does it pay in money? Then yes."

I was in the office for about 45 minutes, and I was the only person to enter the premises during that period. This could mean a) a lack of jobs at the agency, or b) a lack of people looking for work. There were plenty of positions advertised in the window, so to the casual observer, human beings would appear to be the rate-limiting factor in this particular case.

I'm certain, in the 21st century, much of a recruitment agency's business is conducted online, rather than in blink-and-you'll-miss-it offices in obscure suburban towns, but perhaps this has an inhibitive effect on job seekers: if there's no personal contact, the overall effort that goes into a job application will likely be lessened. Standard CV. Template cover letter. Really, there's little difference between applying for jobs in bed and not applying for jobs in bed. For employers, I'm sure it's difficult to shortlist a selection of candidates from a pile of CVs belonging to a group of faceless somebodies. Even an applicant that's been annoyingly calling the employer for five consecutive days asking about the status of their application has a voice to put to the name. Getting a face, or even a voice, known to the employer is definitely a plus.

Of course, if it's already known to them, even better. There's probably a bit of an onus on Irish people to move away from the whole 'jobs for the boys' approach to employment. Having said that, while it's not quite nepotism, 'networking' seems to be an appropriation of the spirit of this culture. It's even been internetified, through LinkedIn and other similar sites. But really, I suppose despite all sorts of legal measures to impose some sort of objective structure on the process of interviewing and hiring, being closer to the employer puts an applicant at a higher likelihood of getting the position, and this is only natural. Having some sort of connection to a potential employee acts as both a reliable referee and an incentive for the employee to carry out the tasks of the job well.

Still, unless you've been clicking 'yes' to every friend suggestion thrown your way on facebook, there's obviously going to be dark corners of your contacts cupboard. No harm in the odd cold call every now and then.

Day 31

Day 31 is an odd milestone to start an account of something. I signed on for Jobseeker's Allowance on Friday the 1st of February, 2013, four weeks and three days ago. Today, Sunday the 3rd of March, is day 31. I could have started writing about it straight away, but I hadn't really settled in to the role. Honestly, I'm setting an 80 day time-margin to sign off the dole because it works well  as a title for a blog, but ideally, I'd like to get a job a bit sooner - the longer you're out of the game, the harder it is to get back in.

This is not the first time I've signed on, but it is the first time that I have done so without any clear idea of what was next. The previous occasion, I had finished a stint working overseas, and was starting a master's course the following month. Now, I've finished an internship in the same subject area as the master's, and am trying to work out my next step. Stay in Ireland, and try and get something consistent while paying off the debt worked up during university, or try to get a position abroad somewhere? I think it's not an uncommon predicament for young people in Ireland.

There seems to be quite a consensus in Ireland at the moment that there are very few jobs going for recent graduates, or for young people in general, and that the main options for these people are either to emigrate or to claim welfare payments for seemingly endless periods of time. While the unemployment figures are relatively high, and the numbers leaving likewise, I'm sceptical of this view, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the generation of young people in Ireland is one of the best educated cohorts ever. Yes, there are early school-leavers as with any society, but the accessibility of education in Ireland is world-class, and this has definitely been a factor in the investment by foreign organisations and companies in Ireland, albeit aided by an enticing corporate tax rate. So even recently, with hikes in dubious 'registration' fees charged by third level institutes hindering the accessibility for some, the massive turnout of a well-educated graduate cohort seeking employment is a major incentive for companies and organisations to conduct business in the country. And they are still arriving.

Secondly, the narrative of 'hard times' dominates the collective concious of Ireland, making inactivity or stagnation the norm. This has consequences for everyone in many aspects of everyday life, but no area more so for young people than in employment. There are of course the ramifications of the global economic downturn for employers, resulting in the loss of employment for many, purely because of the lack of expenditure available to these employers. But the narrative of hard times has meant that cessation of employment, or reduction in numbers recruited, has become an easy strategy to reduce expenses for companies and organisations that previously may have been less inclined to resort to these options. In practice, this doesn't mean there are any more jobs out there, but workers and their unions are more accepting of cuts and forced redundancies because the environment would suggest that it's the done thing. Similarly on the employee end, whereas prior to the downturn it was perhaps less socially acceptable to claim unemployment benefit for extended periods, nowadays being on the dole is a product of the times in which we live, and the social pressure to rapidly seek new employment is not absent, but certainly less present. There remains the same financial pressure of course, particularly for the generation before, those who may have invested in property or started a family, but for those without any major financial commitments, €180-odd a week isn't too bad. I'm not sure I have the gumption to call this an incentive to be unemployed, but it is hardly conducive to filling the gaps in the workforce.

Finally, a point that I think stems from the first two. Partly given the highly-qualified position of the generation coming onto the jobs market, partly because of the limitless aspirations of the Celtic Tiger mindset, an attitude of finding 'a job' has become finding 'the ideal job'. This is really the first generation that have been told from the get-go that they can do anything they please with their lives. So why do something you dislike, when you can bide your time until the perfect job falls into your lap? This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when things are the way they are economically, not everybody gets to do something they love for a living. There are jobs out there in Ireland. Good jobs, that may not be the best-paid, or be the most direct path to the top, or even sound impressive or interesting. But they are there, and for a large portion of the population, they are good enough or better, but for many of those who are unemployed, these roles, although many of them respectable jobs and careers, just don't cut it, and so are dismissed.

These are just some things that have struck me about the jobs market of late in Ireland. Obviously there are multiple other factors at play, but these, I think, are the ones that don't tend to be spoken about.