Students are struggling to find jobs this summer. This may be related to the oncoming recession.
79.7% of students who responded to Critic’s online survey said that they were finding it harder than usual to find a job. Only 32.7% of respondents had actually found a summer job, compared to 50% of respondents who had been unsuccessful thus far. The rest had interviews they were hopeful about.
It seemed that students don’t discriminate on what type of jobs they are looking for either, with the most popular types of jobs being professional internships, retail, hospitality, and then fruit picking, which came in at 26.6%, 23.4%, 13.8% and 7.4% respectively.
A casual survey of students at the Starters Quiz revealed that even those applying for any and all available jobs are struggling, with the usual hospitality, service and retail industries being perceived as more competitive than usual.
One student, Emma, noted that the job market is currently oversaturated with qualified candidates. She said that there were over 700 applicants for one admin position she had applied for.
Another student said he was struggling to find enough hours, even though he is currently working two jobs. Similarly to Emma, he is attempting to find an entry level position in the hospitality sector. However, he is finding that even an entry level position such as that of a kitchen hand currently has applicants with years of experience in the hospitality industry.
In the words of another student, Peter, “oh… it’s so shit.”