FOR university graduate Lynne Wallbanks, finding a job that puts her qualifications to good use is proving more difficult than studying for her degree.
The 22-year-old, of Mapperley Plains, graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a 2:2 in geography last summer and since then has been searching for a job – with no luck.
Miss Wallbanks, who would like to work in a sector that puts her degree to use, will be attending the Post's latest jobs fair tomorrow in West Bridgford.
She said: "I've been to so many job fairs recently with no success. Every time I go along I seem to be told that I'm too qualified for the positions because I have a degree.
"This puts me in a Catch 22 situation. I am desperate to work and I feel like I'm doing all I can to get a job but the right position just hasn't come along.
"It is very frustrating, especially after having worked so hard to get my degree."
Miss Wallbanks said she is attending the jobs fair, to be held at West Bridgford Community Hall, in Church Drive, West Bridgford, because she hasn't given up hope.
She said: "I know how many people are unemployed at the minute. But tomorrow I'm looking for something different, I hope. I'd like to work in conservation, or in environmental health, and use the skills I've acquired from my degree, such as working to a deadline and being really organised."
At tomorrow's event, organised by the Nottingham Post, Jobcentre Plus and Rushcliffe Borough Council, there will be around 3,000 jobs on offer.
Currently there are 17,211 people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance in Notts (3.4 per cent of the population) and a further 14,373 in Nottingham (6.8 per cent), compared with a national average of 4.6 per cent. But there are jobs available.
There are 5,268 vacancies at job centres in the county with another 2,610 in the city.
Miss Wallbanks, who says she is filling her spare time with exercise and reading, added: "I know what I would like to do with my degree but in the meantime I need to earn money and I would take a job in retail or something similar. It is just so frustrating being told you're overqualified when all you want to do is work."
Companies attending the jobs fair tomorrow, which starts at 10am and runs until 3pm, include Costa Coffee, Flaming Grill, Acromas, Fair and Square, Notts Police, Notts Fire and Rescue, the Territorial Army, Ikanos Consulting, Protocol, Blue Arrow, Eco Home and Nottingham Community Housing.
The event, which will be opened by Councillor Neil Clarke, leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council, is the latest in a series of initiatives promoted by the Post to tackle unemployment as part of our Get Notts Working campaign, which already promotes work placements and apprenticeships.
