Okay, okay, we know what you’re thinking. You’ve read the title of this blog post and your first reaction was “Has the Leaving School blog become one of those dodgy get-rich-quick scheme sites?” It’s not like that. Though what we’re about to tell you about could turn out to be a great opportunity for you…

Whether they’re school leavers or graduates, young people haven’t had it so tough in the job market for many a generation. Whereas in decades gone by there were often jobs aplenty for people in their late teens or early twenties in a huge range of sectors and catering to a diverse range of skills, this big ol’ recession that we’re fighting our way through has put the kibosh on that.

Instead of walking into a job, many young people who are leaving education are instead walking through the doors of their local temp agency or job centre, scratching around to find what work they can. There are certainly still great employment opportunities out there for school leavers and graduates alike, but they’re more limited in number than before.

So what can you do if you find yourself in this unfortunate position of being unable to secure a steady job? Leaving aside the temptation to just shrug your shoulders and give up, the most common response to this situation, and certainly an admirable one, is to doggedly keep sending out CVs and putting in applications. Even if it takes several months and hundreds of cover letters, you will eventually find something.

The problem with sitting around and waiting to hear from prospective employers is that you’re not necessarily developing your skills or adding anything impressive to your CV while you’re job hunting. If you’re not working at all, then you’re just creating a gap. And gaps on CVs look bad. If you’re working a menial part-time or temporary job, meanwhile, it could be that you’re doing something that isn’t really adding anything relevant or impressive to your CV that will help persuade employers from a sector you really want to work in that you’ve got the skills, drive and knowledge that they’re looking for.

This is where our crackpot scheme to look towards self-employment comes in. By taking matters a bit more into your own hands and becoming your own boss you’ll be committing yourself to doing something that shows real initiative and moreover allows you to demonstrate that you’ve used your skills in the world of work. Sounds better than another afternoon of watching repeats of Come Dine With Me, doesn’t it?

Now, your immediate reaction to this may be that while it all sounds good in theory, surely in practice becoming self-employed–even if it is just for a short period–will require far too much in the way of expenses, paperwork and connections to be a viable plan.

But you’d be surprised. Bear in mind here we’re not suggesting you set up a multinational firm or a hi-tech manufacturing plant; this is just about you putting yourself out there, performing jobs in an area that interests you or that you have the skills for. Depending on what you choose to do, the costs involved could be no more than a couple of quid.

Let’s give you some examples to show you what we mean. If you’re confident in or passionate about a subject you studied in the past, then becoming a tutor in it requires no more than putting some adverts on some tutoring websites and in local shops. If you’ve built websites in the past then some sort of simple web design service for local businesses is within your reach. If you’re a fitness buff then getting personal training or group fitness sessions in the local park are just a matter of doing a little bit of local and online marketing.

And the tax end of all this is pretty simple as well. It’s just a matter of visiting the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs website, following their self-employment guide and filling in an online form to register as self-employed. Just don’t forget to keep a record of all the money that customers pay you!

The key thing to remember with all this is that you don’t have to–and you shouldn’t expect to–become an overnight success story. Any self-employment venture takes time to get off the ground. But even if you get just a couple of clients, it’s something you can put on your CV that’ll set you apart from the other young jobseekers. And who knows, if you play your cards right you might find you’ve become a successful local businessman who rather than being a job seeker is looking for his own employees.