3 Huge Reasons Why Qualifed Recent Grads Can't Find Employment

The problem plaguing recent graduates is we are all over-educated and underemployed. I have been actively searching and applying for jobs since I graduated in 2012; I'm still complaining and am still unemployed. This problem is growing quickly and students generally don't realize its reality until their final years in school.

Unless someone gives you that perfect job for your graduation present, chances are you will end up spending a lot of time trolling employment sites — and most likely, to no avail.

I remember my first visit to one of those stuffy employment websites. I optimistically believed each advertisement seemed like the golden opportunity that was tailor-made for me. But, I received a fast slap in the face.

After about of month of applying, I had not received a single response from any of the 40-plus applications for which I had painstakingly written cover letters.

Which brings me to my first problem I have with the current job market:

Do HR departments exist anymore?

Understandably, businesses receive hundreds — or, sometimes, even thousands — of applications for job vacancies, and no one expects to receive a personalized, "I regret to inform you" email from the CEO.

Though, would a generic, run-of-the-mill, "you did not get the job" response to all applicants who did not progress be that difficult? That is generally what the HR department is for – or, are they too busy watching YouTube videos to give us the responses we crave?

This leaves us waiting and wishing to hear anything back at all, jumping with excitement each time our smartphones alert us to new emails.

But, in reality, when this happens, it's just another online shopping newsletter, rubbing it in that a site is having a sale and we have neither money nor jobs.

It has gotten to the point that I applaud a company when, after I submit an application, I receive a response that says something along the lines of, "Thank you for your application; if you do not hear from us in three weeks time, your application has not been progressed to the next stage."

Is it sad I'm in a place in life that a deadline for rejection makes me happy? All I can say is it is certainly better than radio silence.

In one instance, I was asked to come in for an interview. This was an exciting moment; progress was made. I was no longer sharing my aspirations with my computer screen; I was making actual human contact in the working world.

Once the interview was done, which was comprised of an hour and a half of grueling questions and a cognitive test to finish up, I went to wait for the email that would either send me into fits of happiness, or land me back in front of my computer applying.

A week had past and I still had no response. I assumed the company was still interviewing, so decided to give them another week. The second week passed by and I still received no email.

It has now nearly been six months since the face-to-face interview, where I met the managers and other workers within the company, and I am yet to receive any message about the position.

Not only is this blatantly rude, but it is also incredibly unprofessional. So now, all I can do is dream of the day when I am in a position of power and this not-to-be-named company wants me to write for them, and I can simply not reply to their email.

Petty? Perhaps, but satisfying? Most definitely. A bit of politeness never hurt anyone.

Despite the annoyance of not getting a response, there's one aspect of this whole "finding a job" debacle that irritates me the most...

Nepotism

Nepotism is all around us. You see the people who were in your class and didn’t work nearly as hard as you did moving up in the corporate world with their fancy new jobs and high weekly salaries.

You ask them, hoping they hold the golden ticket to your next opportunity, "How did you get the job?"

And then, they reply, "My uncle works in the company." The avalanche of fury comes down on you, crushing any hope you previously held.

If all these well-connected people get first dibs on possible jobs, then what is left for us? The hard-working students?

There have even been instances – no names will be mentioned – when mutual friends have been given 100k+ opportunities in far off, mystical places without qualifications, without relevant experiences and without even a goddamn résumé.

How is possible, one may ask? Their dad’s, friend’s goldfish from college is head of the company, and just happens to have a spare position available [insert unimpressed emoji face here].

And, let's be honest: It's very rarely the regular Joes and Janes who get these A-class careers handed to them on silver platters; rather, it’s the ones who, well, have silver platters – and maybe a platinum MasterCard to boot. Need I say more?

About the time I realized I wasn’t going anywhere, I decided it was necessary to look for someone to help, in the form of the ever patronizing...

Recruitment Agent

A family member put me in touch with a recruitment agency that was meant to throw opportunities at me as I danced around the pile, each plump for the picking.

I was quick to learn that recruitment companies really aren’t looking to throw you a bone, or push you in the right direction, but rather, make some money by pimping out the masses to each company in their books.

Safe to say, the snippy email responses, the lack of answers to each of my nervously-posed questions, did not embody me with fuzzy feelings or respect for the company, but rather, resentment and a ticket back to my go-to: the Internet.

So here I am, back to the drawing board and venting my frustrations to whoever wants to read about it.

So, if any readers out there want a witty — yet, sometimes sarcastic — writer, who will happily sell out and write for the "man" if money is involved, please -- oh, please -- give me a call.

I’ll be here, behind my computer screen, still looking for work.