The Editor, Sir:

I am a recent graduate of the University of the West Indies who completed a degree in psychology with a minor in human resource development in July 2005. Not realising how difficult it would be to get a job in psychology with just a first degree, I still continued to complete the programme since the courses were so interesting to me. So in the end, I tried to focus on getting a job in human resources which I loved as well. I didn't know it would be this hard.

Then I tried getting jobs in customer service, since I already have two years in that field at a reputable bank (which, by the way, told me they have no vacancies now). I feel like I am stuck and fighting a losing battle. I can't get a job in HR because the positions are few and limited, and I can't get one in customer service to even get my foot in the organisation, because they say I'm overqualified.

Another statistic

I have heard the horrible stories of people who have left college, and have been at home for a year or more without a job, and it looks like I am becoming one of them. Each week I search and search, and send out applications endlessly. I have been on the all the recruitment websites you could possibly think of, Splash Jamaica, and many others. That never seems to work. I have looked through the directory, and applied to a vast array of companies, only to get back letters saying "We are sorry to inform you ... however, we will keep your application on file." Then I hear some of my old classmates talk about the jobs that they got through people they know in very high positions. If you don't have a link you can't go anywhere in this country. It is totally unfair! What about those of us who do not have links, and are just as qualified, or probably even more?

Senator Maxine Henry-Wilson (Minister of Education and Youth) stressed that all children need to get an education. In the advertisement on education she stresses "Your child must" as her punch line. But what is the point in this country? Our economy is getting from bad to worse; the high rate of unemployment is so atrocious! So parents should send their children to school so that at the end of the day they can't even get a job? The drug smugglers are making more money than ever; that's why people resort to crime to get immediate gratification rather than deferred gratification. I'm not saying I'm going to resort to crime, but I can totally understand why these people think the way they do. It is extremely depressing to be stuck at home without a job, and not making any money for yourself to survive financially.

Help us, it is depressing

I wish the Government would step in and help with the high rate of unemployment in Jamaica, because in the long run all this leads to is more poverty and crime, which are two of the most pressing issues in our country today. Why do you think so many people pack up and leave this country? I love my country, and would not want to leave even if I could afford to, but it is extremely depressing that I am stuck in this losing battle and gamble of trying to get a job in Jamaica.

I am, etc.,

K. ABISDID

kamz3@hotmail.com

Kingston 8