Up For Hire.... Are They For Real???

I spent much of last week stuck in front of the TV watching BBC3's live series, Up For Hire, which set out to tackle the growing and very real problem of youth unemployment. Set over four nights, with live shows as well as pre-filmed segments, it presented its mission of getting young people into work, showcasing real-life experiences as well as offering paid work placements through industry partners such as Greggs and The Hilton Group. It sounded promising, even interesting, so on Monday night I plonked my bum on the sofa with some Dairy Milk, and started to watch. I'd already failed miserably to answer many correct questions on either University Challenge or Only Connect, so I was quite ready to watch other people suffer instead.



Based around the work placements for 4 young unemployed people, the show arranged for Ben, Kirsty, Chris and Sasha to experience a 40-year career in the space of a week or so. Starting out on minimum wage at Crealy Adventure Park in Devon, we saw tears, tantrums and badly made burgers as our two grads, single mum and teenage unemployed lad tried to get into the swing of the work. Over the course of the four days, they progressed through to management (of LUSH stores), and then onto being MDs and CEOs of corporations such as Liberty and AOL. In between these filmed clips, we were treated to a live audience debate (my favourite was the girl told she should be prepared to move for work even though she was searching for work in London... if you can't find a job there, where is better?!) and some words of wisdom from both entrepreneurs (James Caan, Richard Reed from Innocent) and celebs (Edith Bowman, Greg James). Even the deplorable Katie Hopkins from The Apprentice many moons ago showed up to wind up the audience. Although she was actually quite sensible, much as I hate to admit it, pointing out that "Micky Mouse" degrees such as Media should be removed and that academic excellence should be the sole aim of the degree system. The audience and presenters (the somewhat out of his depth Richard Bacon and Tina "I don't have to do anything except read out comments from the website" Dahely) debated issues such as relocating to find jobs, and whether degrees are necessary. We were also treated to filmed interviews of candidates who had applied for work placements through the BBC3 website, and told which ones had been successful. In between, there were little snippets of CV and interview advice from random advisors.

You know what? It was interesting, but not earth shattering. At the end of the series, we saw all four of our young 'uns being offered jobs, three by the people who'd mentored them as MDs, and one by a contact she'd met via her placement. What I found interesting that, despite all the advice offered on CV writing, interview techniques and so on, it was good old networking that got them roles. It's not what you know, it's who you know - and most young people never get the chance to meet the types of people who can give them a leg up in the career department, which leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. On the other hand, there were plenty of happy youngsters who had won placements for 3 or 12 months with household names such as Timpsons and Greggs, after applying through BBC3's website and acing their interviews. It does rather beg the question - why does it take the possibility of appearing on TV to push someone to apply for a minimum wage job serving cakes to customers,but hey ho, what do I know about it? Maybe the show goes to prove that young people need to reassess their expectations, and can't always get their dream job even as graduates.

As expected, the subject of self employment was brought up, as an alternative to spending months or even years searching for non existent jobs in your sector. This was pushed as a good way for young people to become employed, and obviously at a time when they have less to lose than later down the line, when mortgages and families need to be considered. What with the Young Apprentice having started over on BBC1 now, copying the new Apprentice format of winning cash towards starting a business rather than a job, maybe more young people will be looking at alternative ways of earning a living...

Although the show did address many of the problems surrounding youth unemployment, and offered solutions and advice for many, what it didn't - for me - achieve, was to explore the reasons so many young people are unmotivated and disenfranchised, and what can be done about that. It's all very well being a graduate on a work placement arranged by a TV show, and then be offered a good job on the back of that, but what about the long-term unemployed? The studio audience seemed to be made up mainly of graduates who had been out of work for a few months, and who had none of the issues affecting the long-term unemployed, disabled or disaffected youngsters from the wrong side of the tracks, and showed a pretty one-sided (read: middle-class) view of the issue.

Having said that, for all the recent graduates - and motivated non-graduates - still in the job market, the show offered a lot of useful advice and encouragement, as does the website. Check it out :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00k9c3r

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