Recent graduates and former retail staff are encountering severe emotional distress after submitting dozens of applications with minimal return. Celeste, a 24-year-old graduate, became housebound and is now awaiting a chronic fatigue diagnosis after taking high-pressure cafe work following more than 100 job applications. In Birmingham, 26-year-old Lenny has spent three years outside steady employment and relies on odd gardening jobs alongside family support. Applicants also report that recruitment agencies increasingly conduct onboarding inductions for positions that do not actually exist.
Key points
Young jobseekers face severe physical and emotional strain while navigating prolonged bou…: Young jobseekers face severe physical and emotional strain while navigating prolonged bouts of unemployment.
Transitioning from in-person CV submissions to online portals has created frustrating and…: Transitioning from in-person CV submissions to online portals has created frustrating and impersonal waiting periods for applicants.
Inadequate state support and scarce opportunities have forced unemployed young adults to…: Inadequate state support and scarce opportunities have forced unemployed young adults to depend heavily on their families.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
‘There must be something I could do’ – Celeste, 24
“I had to quit and move back in with my parents because I had developed ME/chronic fatigue syndrome. I am now housebound and cannot look after myself. Although I cannot prove it, I strongly believe that prolonged period of high stress played a big part in the decline of my health.”
When Celeste, 24, graduated from the University of Edinburgh last year she spent two months applying for more than 100 jobs in the Scottish capital “just getting rejected or not hearing back at all from applications, 90% of which were waitressing positions”.
“It was a really desperate time,” she says. “I was paying rent all of that time, and it was one of the most stressful times of my life.”
Celeste had been doing part-time work in cafes since the age of 14 and eventually got full-time work in one, which she described as “very high pressure with terrible hours”.
She was feeling unwell before taking on the role, and became increasingly sick until she left to move back…
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