The Job Market Is Weird – Why Are So Many Jobs Unfilled?

Why aren’t y’all taking these jobs? Is that a phrase you never thought you would hear? I mean after all unemployment is rife, right? Well here’s the thing it might not be quite as clear cut as that.

Reports are saying that more than a thousand jobs for graduates weren’t filled last year. That’s a staggering amount. Despite this though it would seem firms are set to increase the number of graduate positions available by as much as 7.5% which is good news if you are in your final year.

It’s all good though. This is a sign that the job market is in good stead. Employees wouldn’t be committing to creating new positions if they weren’t seeing the benefit of doing so.

But what’s the reason? Money?

One of the reasons is the fact that there will always be some graduate roles that are just difficult to fill. That’s life. Typically these might be unpaid internships. Nobody likes working for free. Although quite a lot of graduate positions have a starting salary of up to thirty-five thousand a year. That’s no mean amount of money.

Is it down to laziness

It’s such a cliché and a throwaway to accuse millennial’s of being lazy! Granted some of them are. But by the same token, there are a lot of grafters in this current generation too. But could the entitled few have a significant impact on the people taking up graduate positions? It’s highly doubtful that it would at least not to the point of it making a great difference.

Do people not have the skills to pay the bills?

Could it be just that the people coming out of university aren’t good enough? Well, it would appear not. Apparently, the number of positions going unfulfilled due to this reason are really small. While it may be the case that odd positions with very niche skill requirements are left unfilled, usually there are people with the appropriate qualifications to fill positions.

So if it’s not about effort or money what is it?

I’m glad you asked, (Okay so technically I asked myself, but that’s how rhetoric works!) It’s pretty widely speculated that the reason for these positions going unfulfilled is the fact that graduates are just more selective then they used to be. This in itself is quite revealing. Is there a bigger variety of things a graduate can do these days?

It would appear so. The success of TV shows such as the apprentice and Dragon’s Den has shown people that you can still make it as an entrepreneur in this country. Plus in many creative disciplines such as writing and design, Freelancing is becoming increasingly popular. The allure of being able to work from home and effectively be your own boss is great for a lot of people (hell, that’s what I do and I love it)

But isn’t this a bit of a nightmare?

Long-term is having these positions going unfulfilled a bad thing? Probably not! It’s always better to have too many jobs than too much workforce. The last thing our country needs is to have a bunch of its brightest minds wasting their talents doing nothing and figures suggest that isn’t the case. The fact that these roles aren’t being filled suggests that these students have better things to do. Perhaps some of them being put straight into more senior positions. And why not? Quite often having an injection of youthful energy into the workforce can help to lift an organisation. Also, it’s very good news for you guys having a wealth of choice when you leave university!

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