The Job Seeker’s Tale

My name is Sophie Talneau. I’m 28. I graduated from one of the best business schools in France — yet I’ve been unemployed since 2001. Only a few years back, I would have been considered a problem child, slightly on the margins of society, and I would probably have been deemed responsible for my own situation. Unfortunately, today 22.5% of French youths under 25 are looking for a job. So my only fault is to be part of a generation that’s out of luck. Yes, I belong to the most educated age cohort ever and at the same time, paradoxically, to the one that is having the hardest time clinching their first job. Sure, it’s not fair. But that’s the way it is.

So who’s to blame? First, the economy. Growth is at half-mast and doesn’t generate enough jobs to absorb newcomers into the labor market. Also, companies — which seem to lack long-term vision — prefer keeping their current employees (when they do keep them) over taking on inexperienced young people who will need to be taught everything. That takes time, and time is money. And oh, yes, I forgot: recruiters insist on young graduates with five years of experience. You might as well look for an extraterrestrial!

And if I were a boss, I would add that since social charges are far too high, I would rather outsource certain services to India and hire top-level engineers for a salary a fraction of what I’d have to pay in France. I do know that a great number of French researchers are going to the United States because they can’t find work at home; that London is popular among young graduates working in finance; and that one of my best friends will soon emigrate to Canada because she hasn’t found a job in human resources and her husband would rather set up his business over there. Could it be that France has become a Third World country incapable of providing its young graduates with work? And what happens to a country that can’t hold on to its best talent? I dare not imagine. Besides, who has time to think about the big picture when they’re constantly looking for work?

A job seeker’s daily life is a real obstacle course. For certain posts, a company may receive more than 500 applications for one job. The consequence? Candidates are treated like numbers by hard-pressed recruiters afraid to make the wrong choice. It’s all a little bit like the reality TV show Survivor, where the strongest — but not necessarily the best — takes the prize home. You have to be able to (over)sell yourself, not to lose hope when you see refusal letters piling up. You have to fake motivation and enthusiasm at your 50th job interview, after long months (or years) of unemployment. You can’t be too demanding on pay, you have to be willing to go anywhere, and accept lousy work conditions.

But even when you agree to all this, you can’t be sure to nail a job. One day, I registered at an agency for an office job, a position far below my qualifications, just to put food on the table. The agency replied that considering my profile and excellent degree, I wouldn’t have any difficulties whatsoever finding work. I wish. I even know people who erase their degrees from their résumés so as to not frighten recruiters. And then there’s the mismatch between the labor on offer and the demand for it. While we desperately need plumbers, nurses and builders, the national employment office overflows with communication and sociology graduates. I don’t know what the moral consequences for my generation will be. Mass discouragement? Resentment at the previous generation, made up of those who won’t hire us? Cynicism? Revolt? A little bit of everything, certainly, added to that terrible feeling of powerlessness and frustration facing a phenomenon that overwhelms us.

So what can we hope for? A miraculous turnaround? Two-digit growth? Foreign companies settling down in our country? A providential government that would find the magic solution to unemployment? Very unlikely. French unemployment is structural. It goes beyond economic issues. Right now, our main source of hope seems to be that our parents’ generation will — finally! — retire and leave the place to us. And then, of course, there’s the possibility of writing a book about all your job interviews. But that’s another story.

— Sophie Talneau is the author of On Vous Rappellera (We’ll Get Back to You)