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‘I grew up believing there was a pathway to success: work hard, get a degree and build a career. The reality is very different’

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CROYDON COMMENTARY: Last week, a review commissioned by the government warned of ‘a lost generation’ of young adults facing long-term unemployment. Here, NEELAM AHMED, pictured right, explains the heartbreak of life as an out-of-work graduate in 2026

A friend recently sent me a graduate job advert. By the time I clicked on the link half an hour later, applications had already closed.

That moment captured the reality of searching for work in 2026. Opportunities exist, but so does fierce competition. When people ask what I do for work, I usually tell them I’m freelancing. It’s easier than explaining that I graduated three years ago and still don’t have a full-time job.

At 26, I have become skilled at avoiding the question.

Most of my friends are building careers, travelling, getting engaged or buying homes. My time is spent doing job applications, receiving rejection emails and with long periods of uncertainty. I am one of the young people who are labelled as a NEET: not in education, employment or training.

That label’s never felt right. It suggests inactivity or a lack of ambition. My experience has been the opposite.

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Since graduating in 2022 with a journalism degree, I have spent the past four years applying for jobs, volunteering, completing work experience, rewriting CVs and cover letters, and trying to break into an industry where entry-level opportunities often demand experience before they offer opportunity. Like many people my age, I grew up believing there was a pathway to success: work hard, go to university, get a degree and build a career. The reality has felt very different.

Last week, former minister Alan Milburn released his interim report for the government on Britain’s growing number of young people classified as NEET. Around 1million young people across the UK are now not in employment, education or training.

In Croydon, youth unemployment stands at 15.8% – the highest rate of any London borough. And London has the highest youth unemployment rates in the country. Behind every statistic is a person.

I graduated during the covid years, so am part of what has been described as the “Bedroom Generation”. The years that should have been spent building confidence, making contacts and exploring careers were instead spent staring at screens. University was spent attending lectures via Zoom. Networking opportunities disappeared. The transition from education to employment felt less like a pathway, and more like a cliff edge. What frustrated me most was the assumption that education alone would open doors.

I come from a working-class immigrant family and was the first woman in my family to attend university. Nobody worked in journalism. Nobody explained graduate recruitment, networking, internships or industry contacts. Many people inherit professional knowledge through family networks and social connections. Others have to learn it through trial and error. I learned much of it through rejection.

Warning shots: Alan Milburn’s interim report has shocked many with its findings

When I eventually secured a placement at Channel 4 News, I felt proud, but also out of place.

After years of struggling to get opportunities, I found myself questioning whether I belonged there at all. Prolonged unemployment has a way of damaging confidence.

Perhaps the hardest part is the uncertainty. It is waking up every day without knowing whether your next application will be successful, or when your circumstances will finally change.

This is where discussions about youth unemployment often fall short. The stereotype of a NEET is someone who lacks ambition or motivation. But many young people under that label are applying, interviewing, volunteering, networking and retraining. They are not disconnected from society. They are struggling to gain a foothold within it.

Simon Hinde, programme director of journalism at the University of the Arts London, believes the term NEET is misleading. “I think it’s quite reductive,” he told me.

“It carries a sense that people are somehow content not to be working. It ignores the fact that most young people are desperate for work and are trying very hard to find it.”

There is no single reason why Britain’s NEET population has grown. Covid disrupted education and early careers. Graduate jobs have become more competitive, while employers increasingly expect experience before offering employment.

If 1million young people are now classified as NEET, the question is no longer whether individuals are trying hard enough. The question is whether something deeper has changed in the relationship between education, work and adulthood.

The acronym may be useful for policymakers, but it tells us very little about the lives behind the statistics. Years after graduating, I am still writing, volunteering, learning and searching for opportunities. I am still trying to build a career.

And I am still knocking on the door, hoping somebody eventually lets me in.

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