Finding a job is such a struggle in today's landscape. I envy the older generation who just needed a degree and smart casual clothing to land their feet firmly inside their careers. Now the fresh grads have to squeeze past the competition to even get an interview. Alongside that, they battle against the gigantic size label that lands in their pathway - 'unemployment'. Such an ugly word ... but why? Because the word unemployment is filled with judgement at its core. It's even plastered all over the official definition ...

The idea of not being invested in or not holding value is hurtful, and frankly, unjustly simplifying the whole situation. It implies that you haven't tried; that you have failed to make your way through life. But that is - excuse my language - utter bullshit. That definition doesn't capture the internal struggle and complexity of transiting between one part of your life to the next. So with that in mind, I present to you the journey of unemployment in five simple stages ...

Whenever you flick through university catalogues, you'll always finds statistics of what  graduates are up to six months down the line. When I was applying to university almost four and a half years ago now, I remember how important I thought league tables and graduation statistics were. I remember considering them to be the holy grail of life and success. I paid extra attention to those statistics of where my peers - years ahead of me - were going, and what they has achieved. I remember thinking clearly to myself that the people who weren't employed simply hadn't tried hard enough. After all if you went to a good university and worked hard during those years, it is impossible to not get a job straight after completing education. That is the end goal right? A job? But I was entirely wrong.