10 year forecast: social justice – will the job market ever be fair?

“It’s not who you know, it is what you know”. 

In an ideal world the next ten years will see the opportunity for students to get jobs to be based not on their connections, but on their qualifications and personality. It will be based on them as a person, not who their father or mother is, or who they work for. To be frank, this information should be irrelevant. 

I strongly believe that people should make their own way in their careers, and stop relying on wealthy peers to get them a job. The class system that we live in today should not mean that the wealthier students and people applying for jobs can automatically get a job, yet it does. As LinkedIn said in this decade, in 2016, 70% of people in their survey got a job in a firm because they already knew someone working there. Whether this is a family member or a friend, this is wrong. If their uncle works in a managerial position for Google then they should not automatically gain professional employment there. By all means they should apply, but the approach to their application should be equal in comparison to all other applicants, this is only fair and just.

As LinkedIn said in this decade, in 2016, 70% of people in their survey got a job in a firm because they already knew someone working there

Ideally, this system of entering work would completely eliminate the bias issue of people getting jobs because of who they know. But we do not live in a fairy tale, we live in a reality where the best that can happen is that policies accumulate and new opportunities open for students who would otherwise not get the same chances as other student when applying for jobs. It is a hard system to combat, and the policies implemented should be done so with great care and consideration. While a more rigorous interview technique would prevent people from getting a job based on who they know, this may equally deter the less confident students from applying. Therefore, there needs to be some thought put in to what policy could be successful to combat this issue, but our system of employment needs to be updated and balanced.

class comment Equality interviews job market Justice

Last modified: 4th December 2019