ABSTRACT
Opportunities are not the same for all young people around the country. Some young people are fortunate to have role models in their lives, whether it is close family or friends, or receiving advice, support and guidance through their time in education. However, others are less fortunate and have found themselves in the queue to receiving job-seeker benefits, are unemployed, or are not in any form of training or education.
This chapter describes three pieces of recent research where young people share their journey of unemployment. The young people are of various ages, geographic locations and socio-economic backgrounds, and are unemployed from a number of positions, after school, further or higher education. They describe their experiences, the support they receive, their aspirations and the hurdles put in their way to find the quality and type of work they want. The research is summarised, compared with previous studies and recommendations are made to employers, educators and government agencies as to what type of support would be more beneficial to assist these transitions. Three areas of psychology emerge from the study findings that would help to increase our understanding of early job seeking and frame future interventions to improve successful outcomes. The young people involved in the studies have all found their transitions from education to be long and difficult and the voluntary participation in our studies empowered them to voice their experiences, feelings and attitudes about their journey
