Young people need resilience to get jobs – this is how I built mine

This week, news broke that more than 500,000 young people aged 16 to 24 have never worked. Nearly one million are neither in education, employment, nor training – and aren’t actively seeking a job. Keir Starmer warned of a potential “wasted generation,” with one in eight young people out of work or study.

Youth unemployment in the UK currently stands at 14.5 per cent, compared to the overall unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent.



Since Liz Kendall has been peddling her wares about benefits and the rising cost of welfare, there’s been a surge in media chatter about youth unemployment, young people on welfare, and disability benefits. And, as always, this discourse is framed as if those who rely on state help are somehow a drain on society.The usual mythology is being spun: that these people are lazy, undeserving, or simply unwilling to work.

But if we strip away the rhetoric, the figures tell a different story, one that forces us to rethink how we prepare young people for employment. I’ve heard anecdotally from peers and friends that young people are struggling more than ever with the transition from adolescence to adulthood.if(window.

adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }Yet with high levels of youth unemployment, instead of meaningful discussions about the barriers young people face – such as poor local job markets, difficulty securing work experience, lack of quality vocational pathways, and the rising retirement age pushing older workers to stay in employment longer – we get soundbites about a supposed culture of laziness.

But here’s the truth: we’re not very good at preparing young people for work, especially those most vulnerable in society. Schools focus on academic achievement, yet many graduates leave without the practical skills or workplace experience to navigate employment.Unless you’ve been working from a young age or have parents who instilled a “strong work ethic”, entering the job market can feel like being thrown in at the deep end.

I know this because I’ve lived it.I was a model student: straight As, played the violin, danced, acted, played sports – the whole shebang. School gave me structure, and I thrived in it.

But when I turned 18, I moved out three days after finishing my Leaving Cert (Ireland’s A-level equivalent) and was suddenly, like everyone else, responsible for myself. I got to work. I rang what felt like every pub in the West of Ireland until I landed a job, and I haven’t stopped working since.

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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }But it wasn’t smooth sailing. I started university studying law, only to realise – within the first 15 minutes of my first lecture – that I had made a terrible mistake. I hated it.

And I failed rather spectacularly. I didn’t sit my exams, I didn’t tell my parents, and I spent months floundering, not knowing what to do next. But even in that failure, I kept working in bars and restaurants.

Those jobs gave me financial independence and, crucially, a sense of self.The following September, I went back to college. After scrolling through a list of courses, journalism caught my eye, and I decided to take a chance.

This time, I knew right away I was in the right place. I worked full-time while finishing my degree and was one of the only people in my class to graduate with first-class honours. But more importantly, I had built resilience.

That said, when I finished college, I found it next to impossible to break into the industry. I moved to the big bad smoke that is London, sent out what felt like hundreds of applications, and was met with silence. No replies, no straight-out rejections, nothing.

I thought that juggling jobs, alongside my degree plus my newfound resilience, would be enough to land me a job. It wasn’t.In the end, I only got a job out of sheer luck, after spotting a recruiter’s LinkedIn post and reaching out to them directly.

And that’s the point. Resilience isn’t the same thing as employment, but it helps. Learning to fail, learning to get back up, learning to carve out a place for yourself in the world – these things are invaluable.

And work, for better or worse, is what we spend most of our lives doing. If you’re lucky, you’ll find something you love. If you’re not, you’ll find something that sustains you.

Either way, the ability to bounce back, to keep going, is what ultimately makes the difference.This isn’t to say that work is the only thing that defines us, or that those unable to work due to illness or other circumstances are any less worthy. But for those who are struggling, who feel lost, who are paralysed by the fear of failing like I was, know this – failure isn’t the end.

You have potential, even if you can’t see it yet. And resilience, frustrating as it may sound, is built in the moments when everything feels like it’s falling apart.if(window.

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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }All that said, it’s not as though if young people were only more resilient, they’d stroll straight into a job.

So much of the youth unemployment conversation is framed as if young people are incapable, coddled, or simply not trying hard enough. But the truth is, many are desperate to work but face systemic barriers.#color-context-related-article-3603257 {--inews-color-primary: #3759B7;--inews-color-secondary: #EFF2FA;--inews-color-tertiary: #3759B7;} Read Next square ROSE O'SULLIVAN I'm 27 - and my friendships have suddenly become a series of shallow catch-upsRead MoreInstead of demonising them, we should be asking: how do we equip young people with the tools to navigate the working world? How do we bridge the gap between education and employment? And how do we ensure that, when young people do stumble, as we all do, they have the support to get back up again?This means making workplaces more inclusive for everyone, including those with disabilities and mental health conditions.

Accessible recruitment processes, offering proper training, support, and mentorship to ensure all employees, regardless of their circumstances, have the opportunity to thrive. Creating an environment that welcomes and accommodates different needs isn’t just about fairness; it makes businesses stronger and workplaces more dynamic. If we genuinely want to tackle unemployment, we must build systems that work for everyone, not just those who fit into a narrow idea of what a “good worker” looks like.

Because if we don’t, all we’re doing is setting young people up to fail..