First-Time Job Seekers
First-time job seekers often do not find employment easily regardless of the level of their education. They may have a slight advantage over older applicants due to their age because most employers prefer young employees who are less likely to be off work due to an illness, for instance. This is a form of employment discrimination which is, unfortunately, a reality in most parts of the world. However, first-time job seekers are more likely not to be selected for the applied job due to their inexperience. The fact that everyone was a first-time job seeker at certain point of their life including the employers is often of little help.
There may be a law obliging the employers to treat all job applicants equally but in practice, that is often not the case. Employers do not, however, openly discriminate against people with protected characteristics. This makes the employment equality law mostly ineffective because employment discrimination against people with protected characteristics including first-time job seekers is extremely difficult to prove. In addition to being considered inexperienced, female first-time job seekers may also experience gender discrimination. However, they may not be refused employment due to their gender directly but out of fear of getting pregnant shortly after being hired. Even more, there were cases of young women being requested to sign an employment contract by which they obliged themselves not getting pregnant for a certain time period which is, of course, illegal and is known as pregnancy discrimination. Since such employment contracts can help prove discrimination, most employers either deny employment to young women who are considered “at risk“ of getting pregnant soon, while the others may request from them to promise not to get pregnant for a certain time period making pregnancy discrimination very difficult to eradicate.
Like most other people with protected characteristics, first-time job seekers cannot do much about hidden discrimination other than hope that they will be given the chance to prove themselves as the employer is not discriminating if hiring an applicant who has more experience for the job. This makes employability of first-time job seekers even more challenging because there are very few jobs for which they would not have to compete with more experienced applicants. For that reason first-time job seekers have to do their best during the interview which is often decisive. The interview should be therefore approached with lots of preparation in order to make the best impression possible and to become considered as a potential candidate for the job. Since all first-time job seekers are in disadvantage when it comes to work experience to other applicants, they should emphasize other qualities they have whether it is a high level of education or any special skills other applicants may not have. They should also approach to the interview with a great deal of self-confidence because uncertainty may be misinterpreted as lack of the necessary skills for the job and avoid making an impression that they trying to outsmart the interviewer at the same time.