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I remember eons ago most offices had an "office junior" - a sort of "go-fer" - go for this and go for that. They'd look after the switchboard when the operator was otherwise occupied, they'd do the basic filing, they'd get tea or coffee for the boss, put the stamps on the envelopes, and generally do all the menial tasks to keep the office functioning whilst all the time learning new skills.

I don't know when it was, but somewhere in the past many years this office junior role disappeared.

Unemployment for young people is still high. I guess it is not "cool" to take menial jobs - and there certainly aren't the office junior roles that had certain prestige for the younger ones.

I spoke at an employment forum recently - and the younger folk felt that the office junior role did exist - but we "older" folk remember when almost all offices had these juniors. I go in and out of many offices and often the youngest worker on staff is around 50 years of age. It costs too much to hire these young people - the "old" office junior was really lowly paid - but it provided incentive to work hard to get the skills and the promotion. The system worked.

I hope with the current high employment figures that this role might return - for we know that workers are working longer hours under more pressure than ever before, so the office junior could be of great benefit.