Questões de Inglês

Why inexperienced workers can’t get entry-level jobs

By Kate Morgan20th September 2021. “Entry-level” jobs used to be the way for new graduates to enter the workforce. But many are now requiring prior experience.

    As anyone who’s graduated from university or applied for their first job in recent years can attest to, something
new – and alarming – has happened to entry-level jobs: they’ve disappeared.

    A recent analysis of close to 4 million jobs posted on LinkedIn since late 2017 showed that 35% of postings for
“entry-level” positions asked for years of prior relevant work experience. That requirement was even more common in
[5] certain industries. More than 60% of listings for entry-level software and IT Services jobs, for instance, required three
or more years of experience. In short, it seems entry-level jobs aren’t for people just entering the workforce at all.
    And while that first job is harder than ever to get, it’s also more important than ever, says Alan Seals, an associate
professor of economics at Auburn University, US. It may be the bottom-most rung on the employment ladder, but a
worker’s first position sets the tone for their career.
[10]     “The most important time in your career is the first three years,” he says. “The quality of your first employer really
matters. So, how do you get that first job?”
    The simple answer is workers need something more than motivation or a college degree to enter the workforce
now, whether it’s lots of internships, or the connections to get around a complex application process without an
algorithm weeding them out. But not everybody has access to those advantages, and the result is that workers are
[15] being left behind. 

The rise of the internship

    An ever-growing internship market means more young people are fleshing out their resumes before they even
leave university, says Seals, who notes many students are now getting their first internship after first year.
    “Internships are now the entry level,” he says. “Most of the students in college are doing or trying to do internships,
[20] and now it’s increasingly common to do more than one.”
    Seales says this fact impacts the entry-level job market on multiple fronts. First, companies can save money by
using interns to do that work without having to pay junior employees; the more interns a company has, the fewer
entry-level jobs it’s likely to open.
    Second, because applicants with one or more internships on their resume aren’t tough to come by, those who
[25] don’t have internship experience are left out in the cold. That can happen to students who can’t afford an unpaid or
low-paid internship, or those who have trouble securing one.
    “In some cases, you need to have had an internship to get an internship. It’s also tough if you’re an ethnic
minority,” says Seals. A February 2020 study he co-authored showed that employers are “less likely to respond to
[intern] applicants with Black-sounding names” and much more likely to hire those who’ve had internships before.
[30]     Add to that the fact that the vast majority of internship opportunities are geographically located near major cities,
meaning those who don’t already live there or can’t relocate are out of luck. [...]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210916-why-inexperienced-workers-cant-get-entry-level-jobs. Accessed on: October 10, 2021. Adapted.

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Escaping from destruction

    Almost 80 years ago Snowdonia, a mountainous region in northwestern Wales, United Kingdom, prepared to keep a welcome in the hillside for some of the world’s most treasured paintings. Across Europe the advancing Nazis had already looted or destroyed millions of pounds worth of art. As bombs fell on London and a German invasion seemed inevitable, attention turned to how to protect the National Gallery’s collection. In 1940, Winston Churchill famously said of the nation’s art treasures: “Hide them in caves and cellars, but not one picture shall leave this island.”

    Experts scoured the UK for a hiding place — until they found Manod Quarry. Manod Mountain had been a working quarry¹ for over a century. Its excavations created a cavernous space at the heart of the mountain, and covered with hundreds of feet of slate and granite it was virtually impregnable to bombing. Also, its very remoteness made it easier to keep the mission top secret.

    Suzanne Bosman, author of The National Gallery in Wartime, explains that moving almost 2,000 works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Turner proved to be quite an undertaking. “Cold, damp quarries aren’t really good storage places for priceless works of art, so before they were moved in, six air-tight climate-controlled brick huts were built inside the mountain,” she explained. “In fact the conditions in which they were stored at Manod were considerably better than those in which they were exhibited at the National Gallery before the war, and the evacuation taught staff a lot about preservation, even after the war”, says Bosman.

    The largest paintings were packed in specially designed “elephant cases” and transported by road. The smaller paintings were transported in Post Office vans and delivery trucks in order to avoid attracting attention. However, Ms Bosman said, it did not always run that smoothly. “Van Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I is a monster, at 12ft by 9.5ft, and in its case, loaded on the back of the truck, it was considerably taller. On the approach to the quarry there is a tight S-bend, just where the road passes under the arch of a railway bridge. I liken it to trying to get a sofa around a corner on the stairs; there was enough height, but only if you could hit precisely the right angle.”

     Nowadays the quarry is in a poor state of repair and access is strictly controlled. Inside you can still see the marks on the wall where the paintings hung, and the floor is littered with the hygrometers and thermometers which would have controlled every aspect of the conditions. It’s such a shame that very few people will get to see it in the future. We’ve let a piece of our national heritage slip away.

(This article was inspired by a question from reader Doug Cormack who got
in touch to ask how the National Gallery’s collection came to be evacuated
to Wales during the war, and whether the paintings would ever come back
to Wales for a commemorative exhibition.)

(Neil Prior. www.bbc.com, 19.05.2019. Adaptado.)

¹quarry: an open excavation, usually for obtaining building material.

Leia um trecho do poema de Edgar Allan Poe para responder à questão.

Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone,
And all I loved, I loved alone.

(Edgar Allan Poe. www.poetryfoundation.org. Adaptado.)

Leia um trecho do poema de Edgar Allan Poe para responder à questão.

Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone,
And all I loved, I loved alone.

(Edgar Allan Poe. www.poetryfoundation.org. Adaptado.)

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Light and the body clock: the key to a good night’s sleep?

    The cycle of sleep and wakefulness is one of the key human behaviours. We spend about a third of our lives asleep and cannot survive without it. When asleep, our brain memorises and processes information. Our body clears toxins and repairs itself, allowing us to function properly when awake. Even short-term sleep deprivation significantly affects our wellbeing. One study suggested that after 17-19 hours of staying awake, performance on cognitive tasks may be similar to having had too much to drink.

    These effects worsen over time. But while scientists have long understood the importance of getting enough sleep, the key part played by light exposure can sometimes be overlooked. The reason light is so important is that it sets our body clock via specialised light sensors within the eye. Our eye detects the light and dark cycle within our environment and adjusts the body’s rhythm so that the internal and external day coincide. This is so powerful that people who have very severe eye damage can find their body clock is thrown off, leading to sleep problems.

    Today, many of us miss out on these environmental cues as we work inside. We have become a light deprived species, and this has far reaching consequences for the quality of our sleep, and consequently our wellbeing.

    Further research and greater awareness in this area could help individuals to make informed choices about prioritising their own sleep and getting enough sunlight. It could also influence the way that policies are developed by governments, educational institutions and workplaces. Minimising light exposure before you go to bed, and trying to get as much morning light as possible, are simple steps that could help most people to regulate and improve their sleep.

(Russell Foster. www.bbc.com, 19.05.2019. Adaptado.)

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Light and the body clock: the key to a good night’s sleep?

    The cycle of sleep and wakefulness is one of the key human behaviours. We spend about a third of our lives asleep and cannot survive without it. When asleep, our brain memorises and processes information. Our body clears toxins and repairs itself, allowing us to function properly when awake. Even short-term sleep deprivation significantly affects our wellbeing. One study suggested that after 17-19 hours of staying awake, performance on cognitive tasks may be similar to having had too much to drink.

    These effects worsen over time. But while scientists have long understood the importance of getting enough sleep, the key part played by light exposure can sometimes be overlooked. The reason light is so important is that it sets our body clock via specialised light sensors within the eye. Our eye detects the light and dark cycle within our environment and adjusts the body’s rhythm so that the internal and external day coincide. This is so powerful that people who have very severe eye damage can find their body clock is thrown off, leading to sleep problems.

    Today, many of us miss out on these environmental cues as we work inside. We have become a light deprived species, and this has far reaching consequences for the quality of our sleep, and consequently our wellbeing.

    Further research and greater awareness in this area could help individuals to make informed choices about prioritising their own sleep and getting enough sunlight. It could also influence the way that policies are developed by governments, educational institutions and workplaces. Minimising light exposure before you go to bed, and trying to get as much morning light as possible, are simple steps that could help most people to regulate and improve their sleep.

(Russell Foster. www.bbc.com, 19.05.2019. Adaptado.)