I didn't end up going to the interview, it would have been cheap of me to go there with no intention of working for them. I don't believe that they (XR Marketing) are a scam, I just think they prey on people who can't find work, targeting recent graduates and promising new recruits fast promotion within the company. There is plenty of unethical practice going on out there and plenty of desperate individuals who are susceptible to fall into the trappings of this type of employment.

So what should young unemployed people do? Unfortunately, here in Dublin for example, it is very expensive for a company to employ a person and more expensive to train a recent graduate. Considering the number of positions are still declining, it seems like an impossible task for most graduates to find work. What can be done? Workfare programmes in Ireland have been tried in the past and have generally been badly run and have cost more money to run than plain social welfare, but it was reported last month that Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Social Protection seeks to try and expand on these programmes, hinting at mandatory workfare programmes. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) have strongly opposed this plan and so political movement in this direction has been slowed. I understand both sides, the government really feels it needs to tackle the problem of rising unemployment and emigration, and they feel that its best served by trying to expand on programmes that have essentially been in place for years, but ICTU know from experience that these programmes did not work in the past and will probably only be beneficial to a minority of people.

The actions I would like to see would be for money to be invested into simple grassroots movements, where people can share their free time while they look for employment. They should be free to donate as little or as much time as they can, but we need a well developed central forum for this. A positive example comes from Portland, Oregon. A small group of people started a blog called wevegottimetohelp (now http://wevegottimetohelp.org/) which was basically a few people who had some extra time due to being laid off or were looking for work and were happy to donate their time and skills to the community. I know so many talented people with a lot of time and energy on their hands who could do so much help so it might be a good idea to start a WGTTH chapter over here and rebuild the country from the base up. Not only could we give a helping hand to those who are struggling the most, we can give real world experiences to young graduates who are our future leaders and policy makers.

I think when someone like myself gets a bit panicky about finding a job they apply for anything and everything. Gone are the days that you hold onto your dreams and have a few choice companies that you have your eye on. The result of this is getting rapid responses from what I can only describe as scam'ish sources. I got a phone call today from a very nice guy from XR Marketing, I barely remember applying to them but anyway, the guy was very impressed with my CV and as luck would have it I could come in to have an interview with the MD tomorrow. I had a few minutes of excitement before I went to do some research. I started googling XR marketing and the first google suggestion was "xr marketing scam". Great! I had almost guessed it seemed too good to be true, but I believed my CV was fairly impressive and wasn't surprised they were interested. I'm an idiot! Well it turns out that this crowd is part of the Cobra group, who I initially thought were the bad guys in G.I. Joe comics. Brilliant! I almost want to go down there tomorrow and record the interview. But its a bit like going to the Scientologists for fun, am I really sure I'm immune to their brain washing? It could end in disaster.

Ok, now I know I have to move on, but it's not that easy. I just spent the last year in Canada, and all I have left is credit card debt and a Canadian girlfriend who is still in Canada. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, I'd love to go back there, but my work visa has expired and I can't afford the flights anyway. It would be great if she came here, but she can't really afford the flights and what use would it be to come here when there's no work and we can't afford to get our own place. I'm quickly running out of options.....

Well I thought I'd start this blog as a way to track my progress from this situation. I literally have no idea what to do at the moment, so hopefully a new plan will start to take effect and I think it'll be interesting to see it happen. I told my girlfriend that I'd set up a blog to unashamedly ask people to donate a little money so we can both get our lives back on track. She said it was the worst idea she had ever heard. Well, I'm running out of ideas, so this is all I have.

I woke up this morning with what I was dreading but expected to find. My dreams of a successful future shattered in a few days, the letter proof that I had just missed out on the perfect job for me.

I went to Canada for a year to try and find work, my lack of experience held me back even though I went there to try find some experience. I arrived back home and within days I had landed an interview at a company I had my eyes on for years but had never applied to. This was it, I could see my future ahead of me, it was perfect. Then I hear that half the postgraduates that I knew had applied for the same job and they were meeting with a lot of them. But I kept my hopes up and prepared for the interview.

I find out the first interview was actually two interviews, meeting with both the head of human resources and senior members of engineering. It all goes as well as I can hope, I get along with everyone, the next morning I get a call saying I've been shortlisted to see the MD the following day. Full of confidence I go in there and start to feel at home, chatting and joking with the MD, starting to plan my commute there every day. All is good, but then I don't hear back from them. With each day, it sinks in deeper that I didn't make the mark, its gut wrenching. Everything falls to pieces...And finally today, the hammer lands:

"Further to your recent application and subsequent interviews for the position of Graduate Engineer with XXX, I regret to inform you that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion."