im scared and worried that highly anxious that i won't get a job when leave college this year i been at college 3 years since i was 16 years old im now 19 years old im doing voluntary work thursday ( severe learning difficulties centre/service  and friday (local nursery)

im scared i end up with no ambition and on JSA benefit which my worse night,mare i still live with my parents in family home so my twin brother as he deafblind i really hoping that volunteer work will offer with job opportunities but you can never be sure im frightened bad! i' involved with connexions (personal worker)

but scared all my hard work and efforts won't work im fail and let my parents and family down everythings so out of control at the moment my form tutor going to do more job searching in college im might start doing my research earlier than others to give me better chance in getting in somewhere!

but still no guarntee with this! ma hopes and future could be ruined and destrioyed im desperate to succeed in my life be as mainstream and normal as possible any body got any personal advice,tips infor tat worked for tem tat could help meout feel positive and upbeat not so alone and isolated from the working world!

i have loads of different work experiences behind me with school ,college and vol work! i won't let AS n MH probs beat me down!
will AS and MH probs affect my chances of getting a good job...? and how can i improve my chances...?

any books i could read on to help with find out more on this what i do where to go! i hope to have involvement from the NAS soon cant come soon enough though!

are you english? if so... what with the current economical situation, its far from abnormal to feel so. almost nowhere is hiring where i live... just how it is.

yeah, I'm in much the same situation - nobody is hiring at the moment.

You shouldn't be stresssing about immediate employment, espicailly in the current ecomonic climate.  You are doing the right thing by volunteering, all that is experience you can put on your resume, not to mention the contacts - most of the time it is who you know and not so much what you know

take a breather, I think you are doing great at 19, try to enjoy the time

My experience applies only to the United States but the recent graduates are likely to be brutalized, and especially in the liberal arts and social sciences.

Technical skills are very important.  Computer skills especially.  You are not likely to learn those in a college.

Social skills are important even more but you are likely to learn them with age especially if you develop friends, if you hang with the mature RAs in a college.

Might want to observe proper spelling and grammar when talking to the big shots.  Spell check a must.  

My conclusion, based on history: employers are halfway rational human beings, they do what they want to do when they can but do what they have to do when they must.  They wouldn't hire Rosie the Riveter before World War II but had to hire her during the war, and were happy to let her go after the war.  Find out what jobs are going begging right now (research the economy), find out what you can do (career assessment), and find out how to get there (research education).  The economy will change so researching the economy and education will be a continuing process....

yes im english and in UK cant get worrying out my life! it drives me mentally crazy,insane!

Shrek, you might want to pension Rosie the Riveter off now.

krackerz1590, it sounds as if you're doing/have done all that you can.  Now, the one thing that you have control over is yourself, so stop *stressing!*  It doesn't add anything to your situation and only eats you up with worry.  

And perhaps you should make sure, when sending in any resume for a job, that your grammar and spell-check has been used.  In my experience employers don't hire someone whose resume is difficult to read due to poor grammar and spelling.  

My advice when you feel worry set in is: slow down, divert your mind to think about something else, and give yourself permission to relax.  Worry isn't a solution to anything, so why indulge it?
  
Alison

There are worse fates, trust me. At least you're eligible for JSA. Myself, I only qualify for contribution-based JSA, which means that it will stop at the beginning of next month.

Voluntary work is not the right thing to do. Every volunteer worker puts someone out of a paid job. That's why unemployment is so high. If you show a potential employer that you're prepared to work for free, why on Earth would they hire you for a wage?

It depends on the employer, if you volunteer to work for free in a for-profit commercial operation then you're a fool. On the other hand, if you volunteer for a charity, a scientific research project or a political organisation then the cause is what matters and not personal profit.

Working for a charity can also show you have good initiative and give the same kind of experience that a paying role provides if you get the right voluntary role.

Yeah, I'd agree with soem of those exceptions. Volunteer work for science research puts a scientist out of work, however - or did you mean taking part in (eg) medical experiments, rather than actually doing the work?
The problem is we now have people who have substantial part-time jobs in supermarkets, libraries and so on who are claiming JSA and keeping other people out of work. Basically, the taxpayer is paying the employer's wage-bill while the employer takes the profit and hides it in tax-avoidance schemes

internships... are better than doing nothing and not feeling good about oneself...

If you don't feel good about yourself unless you're being exploited, you have a serious problem!

Volunteer work for science - I meant both as a subject and in terms of helping out in the actual  research, this doesn't put scientists out of a job as there aren't any serious voluntary roles out there for leading research projects. Even when charities fund scientific research, the core science team tends to be paid a salary at market rates.

As for people on JSA doing "voluntary" work in supermarkets etc, I completely and fully agree with you.