As we enter autumn and tentatively step into the start of another academic year, I find myself reflecting on the year that has passed since my graduation from university. I graduated last July from the University of Manchester with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and French, and despite my best efforts, I have yet to put it to use.
Would I find a job after graduation?
I want to say that I was ill-prepared for the reality of life after university, but I think I was more blind to it. I convinced myself that things would be straightforward enough and that after a few weeks, or maybe a few months, of job searching, I would land something that would smoothly transform into a career.
However, more than a year later, I can confidently say that has not been the case. Things have only seemed to get more difficult. I am (painfully) aware that the degree I chose was by no means vocational (no, I don’t want to be a teacher), and throughout my time at university, I was repeatedly reminded of the potential hardship awaiting me by seemingly anyone who had the opportunity.
Still, I always hoped that academic achievement and a genuine passion for my subjects would be enough to transcend assumptions about humanities students’ employability. Over a year on, and I hate to admit it, but there have been more than a few points this year where I’ve found myself agreeing with them.
A Bachelor’s in French and English doesn’t seem enough
Having spent four years studying and achieving a 2:1 degree with a distinction in spoken French, I had hoped to find a job in writing or translation. Initially, I was eager to start the hunt. This eagerness quickly faded as it became apparent that a bachelor’s degree was simply not enough. I would need at least three or more years of experience and several extra qualifications just to be considered. Jobs that once seemed possible became impossible, and my cover letters turned into thinly veiled pleas, promising ‘quick learning skills’ and ‘excellent adaptation to new environments’ – if only I could just please be given a chance.
Housing crisis and student debt
But the struggle isn’t just about finding a job. Leaving university means leaving something behind. It’s about setting aside a certain newfound freedom and knuckling down to carve out a life for yourself – and it’s hard. With the cost-of-living crisis, housing crisis, job crisis (too many crises), and the roughly £40k of debt accumulated during my studies breathing down my neck from the moment I returned my rental robes, leaving university no longer feels like the exciting next step. Instead, it feels like immense pressure that only worsens the longer you float between hospitality roles or unpaid internships.
Your friends become rivals
The feeling of instability, of fearing you’ll be left behind, becomes even more pronounced when you compare yourself to the people who were once your comrades – friends who used to sit next to you in the library with their heads in their hands. Now, they’ve become rivals, people you compare your failures to as they somehow secure the golden 9-to-5 and adapt to ‘real’ life like ducks to water.
Watching your peers move and grow would be wonderful if your own life didn’t feel so stagnant – if you hadn’t had to move back into your family home, even if it is with parents you love. But things will never feel quite the same after tasting the freedom and maturity you had living with your friends as a student.
University education – privilege or burden?
I’m aware that having gone to university is an unmistakable privilege, and this article may just seem like the entitled whining of a young woman who wasn’t prepared for the realities of life. However, when there was a time not so long ago when university was free or substantially cheaper, when having a degree was a golden ticket and finding a job wasn’t the kind of cat-fight you have with ‘100+ other applicants’ on LinkedIn, I do believe it has resulted in a generation of disenfranchised youth who feel as if their lives are slipping away in the decade when they are only just beginning.
I don’t want to be pining for a version of my life from only a couple of years ago, already framing them as ‘the golden years’ when I still have so much more ahead of me. Perhaps it stems from the potential flaws in asking for a decision on our life’s direction so young, or perhaps it’s a matter of inadequate preparation for the real world.
The reality of navigating the job market
Or maybe the job market is just impossible to navigate and overcome. But the transition from being a hopeful student who genuinely believed the world is their oyster to being a graduate who feels as if the walls are slowly closing in is the stark reality for many young people in my situation, and I can only tell people to keep going, that things will change, and they will get that job! Just as long as it’s not the same one I’ve gone for…
