By Joe Twyman

And so the world of football is bidding farewell to Six Alex Ferguson. After a very long and hugely successful career he is retiring from his role of manager of Manchester United.

You may very well be wondering what this has to do with looking for a job (unless of course you’re planning to apply for the managerial position at Man U and are looking for advice). The reason is that Sir Alex understood the importance not just of preparation, but also pre-preparation.

In the football context he was one of the first British managers to place emphasis on physical conditioning far beyond simply what occurred on the training ground. Before Ferguson, Manchester United was famous for its drinking culture, but he changed all of that. Out went players like Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside and in came an emphasis on nutrition and sports science that was in many ways years ahead of its time.

Over the next few weeks we are going to explore many ways in which you can prepare to apply for jobs and prepare for interviews, but first we have to do what Sir Alex did and consider pre-preparation – specifically the five skills you should already have developed before you start even preparing to apply.

1.       Literacy

It probably goes without saying that it will be assumed that can will be able to read and write English. That’s a given – and if you’re reading this then you are probably most of the way there already.

Nowadays the spell check facility in word processors and internet browsers make it easy to spot spelling mistakes, but you need to make sure you do not get complacent. Wrong words and grammatical errors are all too common and you always need to be careful that silly mistakes do not creep in when you’re writing CVs, covering letters, application forms or anything else.

In a lot of cases one mistake, no matter how small, will mean rejection, so it goes without saying that you should get someone to check what you’ve written – particularly if your know grate sheiks in this area.

Remember, a strong grasp of literacy is the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit.

2.       Numeracy

In Britain (particularly) some people think it’s almost a badge of honour to say ‘I’m terrible at maths’, as if that is in any way something of which to be proud. It really isn’t.

While it is true that, nowadays, for most professional positions you will not need to be a mathematical genius, almost all roles will require an understanding of numbers. The result is that very few people will avoid maths completely in their career, no matter what area they work in.

This doesn’t mean that you need to be able to solve quadratic equations in your head while discussing the final points of calculus. What is does mean is that basic operations, averages, percentages, fractions and a bit of probability – essentially GCSE maths – are a pre-requisite.

3.       Presentations

Jerry Seinfeld does a whole routine about the fact that statistics consistently show public speaking is people’s greatest fear. Their second greatest fear is dying. Therefore, so the joke goes, most people at a funeral would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.

So public speaking is hard, but few employers will be expecting you to be able to perform in front of an audience like you’re Freddie Mercury at Live Aid – in fact I would actively advise against trying this. However, what will almost always be required is the ability to present to a small group and effectively communicate with your audience, getting your point across clearly and concisely.

4.       Microsoft (Windows, Word, Excel and Powerpoint)

You don’t need to be Bill Gates, but you need to know, for example, that Excel is not just for alphabetising lists and drawing tables.

Despite the growth of an array of new technology, including everything from iPads to Galaxy mobiles, Windows and Office are still the basis for most corporate IT systems and you will be expected to be familiar with at least the basics of file management, word processing, spread sheets, formulas and presentations.

5.          The Internet

The very fact that you’re reading this suggests that you either already know how the internet works or you have very pushy parents who are sick of you ‘treating this place like a hotel’ and went to the trouble of printing this out for you.

Either way, there is more to the internet than simply knowing how to find pictures of cats wearing Star Wars costumes, downloading music and uploading pictures of your genitals.

You will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of how the internet fits into the wider world. For example, how to search for data and sources quickly and effective, and also how to critically evaluate information found on the internet. Remember, sometimes things you read on the internet are not entirely true, as Abraham Lincoln once famously said to Kim Kardashian.If you feel you are perhaps lacking in one or more of these areas, don’t worry. Use the time you have now – any spare time – to learn and to practice.

For example, if you are still at university, take every opportunity you can to present in classes and seminars to gain experience.

If you haven’t known your way around a GCSE maths problem since you sat your GCSE maths exam now is the time to revise. The BBC Bitesize revision site is a great place to start.

If you don’t really understand Excel there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of free help guides on the internet, many with accompanying videos to guide you through. You just have to identify the areas where you’re not as strong and then work at it.

Getting pre-prepared is just the start, but it’s a good start. Once you’re there, you’ll be ready to go.

And you’ll be set for the next stage, but more on that next time.

You can contact Joe via twitter @JoeTwyman

My name is Ashleigh Hudson. I am 22 years old, I live in Sunderland and I am a full time apprentice for the Million Jobs Campaign.

I started work on the campaign just last month and it’s been a very exciting few weeks. For instance on my first day – I got to meet the Prime Minister.

I was asked to travel to London for a very important meeting and so I got the early train down to Kings Cross. Million Jobs were hosting a round table in Number 10 Downing Street and they wanted me to talk about life for young people in the North East; where rates of youth unemployment are the highest in the country. This was a big opportunity for me. I knew that I was the voice for loads of my friends, and people like us, who are desperate for a chance to work.

When I walked up to the big black gates at the end of Downing Street I was so nervous and I had butterflies in my stomach. I walked up the road, into the house, up the stairs and looked at portraits of all of Britain’s Prime Ministers. I got directed to a beautiful room. I said “hello” to the Number 10 staff handing out refreshments and then went about introducing myself to people.

Lottie Dexter, who runs the Million Jobs campaign, came out not long after and we all took our seats at a table. To my left was the Chief Executive of a technology company and to my right was The Baroness Stedman-Scott.

Lottie opened the discussion by talking about the problems for young people.Everybody had a lot to say and they all had strong opinions on what needed to be done…

…But they all went quiet when David Cameron (the Prime minister!) walked in. He sat directly opposite me. I was shaking. Nobody knew what to do. I didn’t know if I should stand up or stay seated. My mind went blank. All I could think was…I am sitting in front of the Prime Minister! This isn’t normal!

Ashleigh and other young apprentices in Sunderland

He walked in saying “Don’t stop on my account, carry on everybody” and we did just that. Lottie welcomed him and he gave his thoughts on the topic. When he finished speaking  he turned to me - of all the people in that room – and asked what I thought. I could not believe it. This was a world away from my normal life and, even just a couple of months back, I could never have dreamed of being in this room, with these people.

I had to make the most of it. I introduced myself to the group, smiled nervously and went on to say my piece:

“I have travelled from Sunderland where it is so, so hard to get a job and so many young people I know are really, really struggling. I left school aged 15, I ended up homeless and by 18 years old I was living in sheltered accommodation. After approximately one year of searching for a job, I gained an apprenticeship with a Housing Association called Gentoo where I am studying Business Administration, Level 2.

“It was really difficult for me to get started, but now I am on a good path. Lots of my friends are stuck and I don’t want them to get left behind. We need to do something about it.

“We are the future leaders. You have to look after us and we will look after you!”

The Prime Minister listened to what I was saying. I felt like I had made my point.

After all we know what the problems are and we must come together to solve them. But we need your help. If you know what it’s like to be unemployed, if you can remember how important your first chance was or if you believe in a bigger, stronger Britain than Join Us.

By Daniel Cooper

My name is Daniel Cooper. I hold a First Class degree from the University of Nottingham and recently completed an internship working in a Member of Parliament’s Westminster office.

I am also one of the 958,000 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training. In the government jargon I’m a ‘NEET’.

I’m desperate to work and I wanted to write about my experience of unemployment as it seems to be so far removed from the way that the media and politicians represent it. This week alone comedies such as ITV’s ‘The Job Lot’ have treated unemployment as a source of amusement, Channel 4’s ‘Skint’ portrayed benefit claimants as feckless “scroungers” and Boris Johnson used an interview to blame Britain’s “sloth” workers for our faltering economy.

After months and months of often unacknowledged applications I may not be in work but I’m no sloth. Like many graduates I’ve realised a degree means little in this economy and it is experience that counts. My problem is that I can’t get the job without experience but I need someone to give me a chance to gain that experience! I hoped that my internship would allow me to escape this catch-22 but it hasn’t. Unfortunately I’m not in a financial position to intern unpaid or take a post-graduate course to beef up my CV.

Although I am largely applying to more competitive industries nobody could accuse me of being a “job snob” but my degree is a hindrance when going for basic roles that I could have got as at 16 or 18 year old school leaver. Employers are rightly concerned that I see the job as a recession stop-gap and leave when a better opportunity arose – making the First that I worked so hard for redundant.

And we are not just competing against graduates from this year but previous years too. Older workers are taking a significant pay cut just to keep hold of their job. I now realise that with scores of applicants fighting over one job there is little incentive for employers to provide any work-place training. Instead I need to be “work-ready” from day one to stand any chance of employment.

I signed-on to Job Seeker’s Allowance in the hope it might help me find work but this only served as a gateway to the benefits system. If anything I’ve found that my local Job Centre Plus has been a hindrance. They are unable to fund training courses or provide any meaningful opportunities to improve my CV. There are no ‘carrots’ only ‘sticks’. I am forced to apply for jobs just for the sake of it – lots that I know I stand no chance of getting – to prevent my dole money being taken away.

And the benefits system is not quite as generous as tabloids would have you believe. My limited ‘income’ means I’m increasingly drifting apart from friends. Living off £8.08 per day is incredibly isolating and isolation is hardly a recipe for appearing confident at interview.

I have now been out of work for long enough that the gap on my CV since my last employment is becoming an issue. Some may say that honesty is the best policy but I’ve found that a gap of several months is a big turn-off for employers who rightly question what I’ve been doing for the past few months.

I hardly care about the money anymore. I want the self-confidence and self-respect that earning a wage brings. The quiet dignity of working life. I’m desperate for work and just want to be given a chance.  Who is going to give me that chance though?

Daniel Cooper lives in Basildon, Essex and is looking for work in London. He tweets as @danieljcooper0

By Joe Twyman 

In my previous post I talked about the fact that applying for jobs is so often a ‘numbers game’ and that the odds are regularly against you.

That means, of course, that the task for anyone hoping to secure a job is to do everything they can to turn those odds in their favour.

Quite simply the best way you can do that is to make yourself stand out.

Any potential employer could be looking through literally hundreds of CVs and so many of them will basically be exactly the same: the same background, the same list of qualifications, the same experience – essentially the same person and so no effective way to pick one applicant over another.

Therefore, at all times you should be thinking to yourself ‘What makes me different? What makes me stand out? What differentiates me from all the other candidates?’ And this is true for your CV, your application form and in any interview.

There are a multitude of different ways of achieving this and we will look at many of these over subsequent posts, but the fundamental principle of differentiation is the golden thread that runs through all of my advice to people looking to get a foot on the jobs ladder.

Having said that all, you still need to be careful you don’t make one of the three major mistakes so many applicants just like you make time and again.

Firstly, some people mistakenly think that they don’t need to try and differentiate at all. I am never sure why this is. Maybe they think they’re just special? Maybe they think that the law of probability (or at least celestial intervention) will mean they will eventually be selected? Who knows? The bottom line is they don’t bother, so they don’t get picked.

Secondly, some people attempt to differentiate themselves, but they fail. I am always amazed, for example, at the number of people who apply for a job in my department at YouGov and think that just having a degree in politics will sufficiently set them apart. Apparently they do not realise that 90% of our applicants have exactly the same and many have masters, even PhDs in the subject. You are not the only person to study at university, you are not the only person to be a school prefect and you are not the only person to go travelling to Thailand.

And lastly there are the people who manage to very effectively stand out, but for all the wrong reasons. Misspellings, failure to attach documents, even scary photos – none of them are a good way to get a job.

That’s what not to do. Next time we will start to look at what you should do.

By Daniel Jones, Lucie Rice & Sally Smithson

In April 2012, the three of us looked ahead to January 2013 and expected to be stuck in jobs we weren’t happy with, our hard work and time spent gaining our degree’s seemingly worthless and we would be sat wondering what might have been had we just giving our ideas a chance.

It IS January 2013, and the three of us have just introduced ourselves to the Prime Minister David Cameron and former Dragon and entrepreneur James Caan as Take A Hint Theatre Company Ltd.  To heighten the situation further, we are now singing a jingle to them that we created no more than five minutes ago before delivering a Dragon’s Den style pitch to Mr. Caan.  It is amazing how things can change through hard work and luck.

Hello there!  We are Take A Hint Theatre Company Ltd and comprise of three recent graduates of Liverpool Hope University where we studied Creative & Performing Arts.  Over the duration of the three-year course we became great friends and worked closely together in all aspects of our work.  It was during this time that we discovered our universal passion to use drama and music as a tool to educate, inform and most importantly to help others by making a difference.  Inspired by our lecturers and the practitioners that we studied, we dreamt of creating a theatre company where we could not only achieve these aims but also feel passionate about our work.

It is down to a huge amount of hard work, desire and motivation coupled with an immense amount of luck and support from the people around us, that those dreams are becoming reality and we now are directors of our own social enterprise.

Going back to April last year, we desperately wanted to create our theatre company but had no idea where to start.  The idea of running your own company can be very intimidating. Through a chance meeting we met a great mentor, Lynn McCann. Lynn’s sound advice and wisdom has been vital to us all and the importance of mentors to a new business shouldn’t be understated.  The three of us have been very lucky to have met a lot of very generous people.

To this end we were intrigued when we heard about the Get Mentoring project, where 15,000 volunteer mentors have been recruited and trained to support small business across the UK; with mentoring businesses are more than twice as likely to survive for more than five years.  This is great news for our struggling economy and the growing number of unemployed.

Without this support Take A Hint Theatre Company would not exist. We have created a repertoire of educational, thought-provoking plays suitable for all ages that can be delivered alongside a drama based workshop.  We also offer bespoke performances and workshops, so that our clients can ask us to create a package around any given topic. Film production is also something we are keen to explore and we offer ‘Living Prospectuses’, where we go into schools or organisations and create a DVD prospectus instead of the standard paper prospectuses.  On top of this we have also looked into creating jingles for companies and have recently developed a jingle for the Start Up Loan company.

The company has now been up and running for several months and we could not be happier. We have been into numerous schools to perform plays and to deliver workshops, we have created, produced and performed our own Christmas musical over two weeks at The Lantern Theatre in Liverpool and have successfully gained funding from UnLtd and Start-Up loans.

And we’ve got big plans, we want to spend time with young people in some of the worst off areas of Liverpool and figure out how drama and music can give them a platform to get their voice heard.    We will be producing work with Liverpool Citizens in support of Liverpool’s Year Of Dementia campaign as well as continuing our projects working with libraries and schools.

If you would like to contact Take A Hint to find out more information – call 07890 716950 or email us at takeahinttheatre@gmail.com.  You can also visit our webpage at www.takeahint.org.uk.

By Lottie Dexter

This morning, as the Chancellor was packing up his little red Budget box, bad news broke. The latest batch of jobs statistics revealed that unemployment is getting worse, for young people in particular.

Youth unemployment has risen, for the third month in a row, to 993,000 (that’s more than six times the population of Oxford!). Since the last count an extra 48,000 young people now find themselves out-of-work. This is not a blip but a worrying trend, as the youth unemployment figure has been rising for months now and shows no sign of slowing down.

More young people are unemployed, and have been struggling for longer. Of nearly one million young people without work 107,000 of these have been unemployed for over two years and 283,000 have been jobless for more than twelve months.

It was on this very bleak backdrop that George Osborne, or should I say @George_Osborne, made his way to the House of Commons to address the nation. He spoke about the need to secure ‘Britain’s future’ and  get ahead in ‘the global race’. Yet the Chancellor, who wants to build an ‘aspiration nation’, gave a Budget that failed to mention the obvious; our fuel for the future – our young people. Not once does the Budget reference youth unemployment; an issue that harms society, hinders economic growth and that voters rank as the third most important facing the country.

The Chancellor made a mere fleeting mention of apprenticeships, education and training. There were some green shoots of hope with the introduction of an Employment Allowance to empower more small businesses to hire by scrapping National Insurance contributions for around one third of employers. Lifting the tax threshold to £10,000, slashing corporation tax and protecting school spending are all nice, useful policies but they are not enough.

There was nothing big, bold or inspirational. Nothing to tell nearly one million young people, who are incredibly vulnerable in a prolonged economic downturn, that they are not forgotten. But the sad truth is that as long as the under 25s tend not to vote, politicians will tend not to legislate for them.

Yet if the Chancellor genuinely wants to build an aspiration nation, and put us on the road to global success then he has to get to grips with youth unemployment. It won’t take care of itself.

By Alan Mak

Napoleon famously and rightly said “ability is nothing without opportunity”. And as this year’s National Apprentice Week draws to a close, there’s no better time to remind ourselves that we all have a duty – all year round – to help Britain’s young people gain work experience, find a job and build a career. Put simply, we need to give young people a chance in life and an opportunity to succeed.

And we all need to do our bit. That’s why I was proud to host Million Jobs’ Valentine’s Day speed dating event last month, bringing together 40 enthusiastic young people with 25 of London’s top employers including Mastercard, Experian, Weber Shandwick, Clifford Chance and a Member of Parliament. In a series of six minute sessions with the interviewers the under-25s got a chance to pick their brains on recruitment, received top CV and industry advice, and perfected their interview technique. As a school governor in Tower Hamlets (one of Britain’s poorest boroughs) and President & Trustee of Magic Breakfast, a leading charity fighting child poverty and hunger, I see week in week out how believing in young people can inspire them to raise their aspirations and succeed in their communities and in the workplace. I’ve mentored a struggling local sixth-former whose hard work got her into university, and as a Speakers4Schools speaker I regularly talk to students in state schools across the country and hear about how their great plans for the future would be realised if only someone would give them a chance, with some work experience, job shadowing or an apprenticeship.

I’m passionate about helping young people succeed, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, because I know my own journey from my parents’ takeaway corner shop in Yorkshire to the City of London and from the classroom to the boardroom, was only possible because some inspirational people believed in me, and gave me a chance to show what I could do. Philip Ashworth, a partner in a law firm in my hometown of York gave me a week’s work experience when I was a sixth-former which helped me become the first person in my family to go to university to study law. Ed Vaizey MP, now the arts, culture and business minister, let me work in his Westminster office after I graduated from Cambridge and gave me the opportunity to be part of a high-profile project developing Britain’s aid, trade and development policy. Kate Robertson, UK Group Chairman of Havas Worldwide Group, one of the world’s leading advertising and communications networks, appointed me to her board, giving me my first commercial non-executive directorship, whilst David Jones, Havas’ Global CEO and co-founder of the global youth summit One Young World supported by Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, appointed me to its Global Advisory Board, whilst partners at Clifford Chance, where I started my City career, gave me opportunities to do things like attend the Davos World Economic Forum.

Giving young people skills, opportunities and the chance of a better future provides employers with talented, hard-working young people which in turn stimulates economic growth, builds social capital and strengthens our economy. The Government’s own National Apprenticeship Scheme is itself a good example of this, bringing together government, business and communities to give young people opportunities, and David Cameron this week promised to make apprenticeships the “new norm” for school leavers who decided against going to university and make “work-based training to sit “at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy”.  Apprenticeships are proving a popular way to harness the skills of young people, as employers from Starbucks and London Transport to Conservative MP Robert Halfon (who employed Parliament’s first apprentice) and City banks like Goldman Sachs get behind them to give young people job opportunities.

Today Britain is in a global race to succeed, competing in the international markets against fast-growth economies like the BRICs and the Next 11. So, we need to make the most of Britain’s most valuable asset – our young people. We need to make sure every school leaver has the chance to learn a trade and build a career for themselves to so that we as a country can create a world-class, highly-skilled workforce that can re-energise our domestic economy, and compete and thrive in the globalised world. The government estimates that more than 500,000 people started an apprenticeship between 2011 and 2012, and that is a promising start.  In the years to come we need accelerate this trend further still, so that every young person with ability has the opportunity to succeed.

To mark the start of National Apprenticeships Week the Prime Minister has pledged to make high quality training the ‘new norm’. And quite rightly.

Apprenticeships give a route map to the young unemployed. Over the course of their career apprentices go onto earn £100,000 more compared to other employees. They inject new life into companies (especially small enterprises) and hugely boost the economy; every £1 invested in apprentices contributes £18 to the wider economy.

That is to say nothing of the personal impact. Daniel Leech is an apprentice in the North East and he says that since starting as an apprentice he is “a much nicer person”.

“After leaving school I spent several years toiling with further education and dead-end jobs that offered little more than a measly wage at the end of the week. I had no desire to commit to the education path that I was pushed in to by career advisors, I struggled to hand assignments in on time and to ever apply myself any more than by giving the bare minimum that was required to achieve a pass.

Since gaining an apprenticeship I have been revitalised, I have proven to my friends, family and most importantly myself that if given the chance I can offer knowledge, commitment and a real passion for my job. I am a much nicer person to be around, I live healthier, I have a lot more energy and I involve myself in many more activities outside of work; rather than just revolving my life around a games console.

I believe the reason for my change in attitude is the daily interaction with those more qualified than I am and the occasional pat on the back from them to let me know I am doing well. In a short space of time I have become engaged and can now see a successful future in social housing.

This week a group of apprentices from across the North East have come together to organise the Apprentice Celebration Event (ACE). We want to promote stories like mine. There are thousands, if not millions of young people in their own unique position that share the same common themes of unemployment, disengagement and a sheer lack of opportunity.

We hope to raise the profile of Apprenticeships as a valuable option for young people with a conference that celebrates the great work current apprentices in the region have achieved. As well as an exhibition that will have top employers offering their own apprenticeship opportunities. “

By Chelsea Haughton

Today is St David’s Day. A celebration of all things welsh and a time for us to don a daffodil, sing the national anthem and, more often than not, watch an uncoordinated parade of enthusiastic youngsters shuffle down a local high street in homemade traditional dress.

But whilst we celebrate all the good things about Wales and come together as a community I wanted to point out one of the big problems in my area of North Wales. Wrexham is a national hotspot for youth unemployment. With over 25,000 18-24 year olds (that’s nearly 10% of our young people!) claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), youth unemployment in Wales cannot be overlooked for much longer.

It scars the landscape and is a very real and visible problem. The small gangs that hang around outside my local Coop at night and the swathes of young constantly seen outside the JSA building prove this.

These young people are forever being referred to as helpless and hapless when that simply isn’t the case. I just can’t accept that. I know talented, vibrant young people (qualified and unqualified) who are forced on to JSA due to lack of opportunity. Never once have I had a conversation with a young person who was happy to live off the State.

It seems to me that there is a severe lack of job opportunity in Wales. I’ve learnt this first hand after graduating and spending three months looking for work, any kind of work, I was lucky enough to find something in the area. Yet over half of my friends have relocated to English cities simply because that’s where the good jobs are.

A friend of mine has overcome the lack of job opportunities by taking on two freelancing jobs in our area. Although the lack of job security is a worry for her, she enjoys the freedom and flexibility that these non-contractual jobs give her. She’s also gaining great experience of the workplace in two vastly different positions.

But, aside from the lack of opportunities, there are big groups of young unemployed people I know that haven’t been taught the basics. They don’t know how to write a CV and have never had an interview.  I’m not just talking about 16 year old school leavers; this lack of basic knowledge is as prevalent amongst college and university leavers in my area too.

Yes there is help out there but there’s not enough of it. We need innovative and inspiring ways of promoting basic job seeking skills. We need schemes that put these out of work young people in contact with the best kind of mentors. We need initiatives that encourage more people to come and work in Wales.

In the poem Armes Prydein Fawr it was prophesised that, inspired by St David, the welsh would one day unite against a common enemy. Back then it may have been the invading English but today that enemy is youth unemployment and it threatens to further scar our country.