Remember Renton played by Ewan McGregor in the movie Trainspotting. McGregor’s character was seen running around trying to find his way through life, the movie was laced with drugs, recklessness and an underlying tone of a lack of choices. Trainspotting became a cult classic in the 90’s, it made McGregor a household name, it created an awareness of the affects of drugs on young individuals and it raised questions about societies youth. So what has changed since then…
Take Notes- A youth crisis is on it's way!
Not much it seems with education, money, employment and life choices, still being crucial issues striking the decision makings of many a young individual and not just in local environments but on a global scale. Global economies are failing to cater for young individuals who in the future will be handling the reins of these actual economies. University debt, savings, unemployment are just hyped up words that are being used flirtatiously instead of addressing a problem that is youth unemployment. Instead the challenge that is youth unemployment has now collapsed into a sphere that is a youth crisis.
In twenty years time the planet could quite literally be a mishmash of economic jargon which is not to say that it isn’t currently but it could get worse. Meaning youth unemployment could engulf economies and leave the world in a mess with little or no guardians to watch over the world’s finances. The current financial crisis and the rise of the technology generation has unveiled the iron clad fist that corporate entities once held is now a very limited open palm of transparency. Companies are being questioned more, their financial wellbeing along with their operations are under scrutiny and even the media the biggest scrutiniser of these entities are not even safe. Therefore you can understand that entities, economies, governments and the like are too busy trying to safeguard themselves than deal with this now growing crisis. However as always the youth will sort themselves out, as they did in the 60’s, the 70’s, somehow in the 80’s, the 90’s and so on…
The scary part is that nothing has changed regarding the youth, even with movies like Trainspotting back in the 90’s still ringing a siren in our heads with those famous words “Choose life”. There is something haunting about the fact that at some stage something has got to give!
So instead of waiting and letting a youth crisis spiral out of control, surely the youth can actually make the efforts to remedy the situation by being proactive, here are some ideas that the FirstStep.me team have put together that could work and help stem the crisis!
1. Get better informed and checking your social media updates or your friend’s latest post is not what we are talking about. Between traditional and new media platforms there is a wealth of information available to young individuals out there. It’s up to the individual to seek the information and conceptualise it into the answers they are searching for. From researching a career plan, looking at job options, making use of the financial guides, finding out what is happening in the world today- these are just subjects that can take you one step ahead.
2. Get Educated, if dressing in decent jeans gives you "street cred". Then getting an education is up there with the term "work cred". Employers want to see individuals who have committed themselves to some form of study and even if you study whilst you are working the idea is to balance theory with practical experience.
3. Be proactive and look for a job, if you cant find a job then start your own business-be enterprising- if you cant find an opportunity than create one yourself.
4. Get finance savvy, if you are looking for funding for your education and you can’t access it, then start saving, an education is like any asset. Also negotiate with your university/college about payment plans, speak to your bank about better student loan rates and if possible get a part time job to correspond with your studies. Every penny counts so don't waste your money away! If you are in need of finance for your business there are ways to do this as well- from investors, bank facilities, and of course actually doing sales, these are just three of many options that are available to start-ups. With a little bit more research you can find available options, you just have to look and ask the right questions.
These are just four suggestions tips, ideas, concepts, whatever you want to call them, if they provide the push for the planet's future that is needed then the nail has been hit on the head! A wake up call for the youth is needed desperately, unemployment is just a tip of the iceberg, young individuals worldwide need to start focussing on their future in a critical and urgent manner, before this youth crisis becomes worse and starts to resemble something uncontrollable.
Cool Links:
Get better informed: Reuters
Get a job: Monster
Be creative and get your upstart idea funded: kickstarter.com
Trainspotting on IMDB.com