Youth unemployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina: How many NOs you(th) can take?
Imagine a wall of panels, 10 metres long, with more than 100 rejection letters from various institutions. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost 60 percent of young people are unemployed.
Staff from the centres provided opportunities for informal and formal education, training on CV writing, IT literacy and English language courses to more than 40,000 young people ages 16 and older.
Imagine a wall of panels, 10 metres long, with more than 100 rejection letters from various institutions. A 26-year-old history professor, Dušan Jokić, is the creator of the exhibit. He and his colleagues, all college educated, were applying for jobs for more than two years – submitting applications, sending CVs, never losing hope. Always the same answer: No.
With time, their hope got thinner and the pile of rejection letters grew bigger. Not losing his sense of humour, Dušan decided to demonstrate how difficult it is to be a young person looking for a job in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He decided to create an exhibit and share the results of his job hunting with the world, inviting young people to bring and post their own rejection letters. Dušan himself has collected more than 100 rejection letters in last 8 years of his job searching. It was the most unusual exhibition. Contemporary art. Installation. Real life. Call it whatever you want, but it was definitely not a common thing to see.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost 60 percent of young people are unemployed.
To show what it feels like to look for a job, here is an example about two young women, Sanja and Bojana, who are almost the same age and one major difference. Sanja is unemployed. Bojana is a career advisor, helping Sanja to find job. In response to high youth unemployment, a United Nations programme, funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, helps young people find jobs and develop their skills. The programme set up 17 centres across the country to provide education, consultation and providing information to young people who are looking for a job opportunity. Bojana is one of 59 career advisors, who have already helped more than 3,700 young people find their first job in the last three years. Staff from the centres provided opportunities for informal and formal education, training on CV writing, IT literacy and English language courses to more than 40,000 young people ages 16 and older.
Can we stop for a minute and ask ourselves how many rejections can youth take without giving up? Bosnia and Herzegovina knows well the dangers of hopelessness. Brain drain and loss of talented young people is damaging our society notably. Today, more than half of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina say that they would immediately leave the country if they had the chance – because there are just too much rejections they can take.
