Why Slumpwise?

Slumpwise is a great first project for Open Society. It’s high-profile, and will generate dialogue and positive action around an issue that Open Society is involved with addressing: youth under employment.

However, that is not the main reason why we feel it’s a valuable  project. At the end of June, over 500,000 students will graduate and enter an already incredibly competitive job market. Some will continue with further study, others will land jobs in graduate schemes, but the vast majority will spend the Summer pondering their careers. Decisions involving work are not easily made, and can be intimidating. How are you supposed decide when there’s so much that you haven’t tried, or know nothing about?

When graduating, you can be made to feel that your best chance of landing a good job is in a graduate scheme at a large company . These are incredibly competitive; often you will be competing with 50 other equally qualified candidates for one position. This failing, you can search for jobs on the Milkround E-newsletter or The Guardian Jobs website, but the popularity of these sites ensures competition remains high. These two options exhausted, many people turn to post-graduate studies or opt to travel for a period, avoiding the job market until they see an improvement.

But with some searching, you soon realise the wide-range of opportunities available to a young person looking for work. Groups like the Ideastap (www.ideastap.com) and Shutterbox TV (www.shutterbox.tv) will provide you with first-hand work experience in the media and creative arts. Compass Youth (www.compassyouth.blogspot.com) will provide you with free training in how to run a campaign, and Worldwrite (www.worldwrite.org.uk) will push a camera into your hand and send you out filming documentaries. Flying Start (www.flyingstartonline.com) will mentor you and provide you with support for your business idea, and Enternships (www.enternships.com) will find you work experience in a small but growing company. With so many options out there, joblessness is no longer an excuse for inactivity.

These options though, are relatively low-profile and unheard of. Whilst conducting research for Open Society, I stumbled across more and more of them, each time amazed that no-one knew of them when I mentioned them to friends. This became the main idea behind Slumpwise: to showcase the full range of options available to young people looking for work and experience.

Anyone looking for a job or struggling for ideas will find something for them at www.slumpwise.co.uk 2-4pm Saturday June 12th.