Graduating into a Pandemic

written by Josh Ewell

Photo: Two senior students at a graduation ceremony at Wuhan University, CFP, 2020.

Finding a job after graduation is always a number one concern of those coming to an end of their university experience. However, for those graduating this year, the Covid-19 pandemic means they are entering a job market which is much more unstable.

Since the introduction of tuition fees in 1998 (and highly unpopular trebling of fees in 2010) students have been encouraged to see their education as an investment, balancing the cost of a marketised degree against the potential ‘profit’ of enhanced earnings in their future career. The cohort graduating in 2020 face the worst of all worlds, having taken on high levels of debt to find that there are limited opportunities for personal advancement.

A poll by the careers website Prospect.ac.uk found that 26% of students have had work experience or an internship cancelled and just under 30% have had a graduate job offer delayed or withdrawn.

Wider research suggests over 60% of students feel negative about their job prospects, as the economic fallout from the virus and government’s ongoing ‘lockdowns’ become clear. This is further corroborated by the attitudes of major firms: around 40% say they are unclear about how many students will be recruited in the coming months, with 15% stating they were reducing their intake of new employees.

We spoke to one such student, James from West London, who started studying Economics at Cambridge University in 2017. He was due to graduate this year and has completed his degree. Yet, still, no formal ceremony has been held to ratify his graduation due to ongoing concerns with the virus.

James hoped to find an entry-level graduate role within the finance sector but remarks that the job opportunities available are very sparse. He says the difference in the finance job market before and after the pandemic began is discernible: Covid-19 has had a massive negative effect on the ability to find employment, especially for new graduates. He also knows people who have had post-graduation jobs offers simply withdrawn due to the economic crisis.

At the moment, James has taken up a job tutoring younger people on A-Level work and university applications but admits this is just for financial independence after university. He raised an important point that job-searching is not just about finding any job but about finding a job in a sector you are suited for and that you wish to pursue long-term. As many other stu-

dents would find, he wisely stated that he did not want reers pages, detailing the ramifications of the pandemto compromise drastically in the field in which he want- ic and how students can best adapt to job-seeking in ed to work in and pursue a job that he ultimately would this new world. not enjoy in long term prospects. A more concerning point James also raised, was the service, saying it had been very helpful and professionplight of some of his friends who are international al over his first two years at university. He had secured students, often from beyond Europe. With ongoing a 10-week internship within finance in his second year changes to the immigration system, exacerbated by and found this experience to be valuable and stimuuncertainty over the Brexit negotiations, many feared lating, cementing his decision to enter into this sector that they would be forced to leave the UK. Current pro- after graduation. posals suggest that students, beginning in 2020 and going forwards, will have up to two years to find a job However, during James’ final year at Cambridge, the on a student visa after graduating, but international careers service underwent some changes. Around the students graduating this year have only a limited pe- onset of the pandemic, they switched to a new website riod of four months to find work or face deportation. called ‘Handshake’, similar to a LinkedIn-style social netHe also relates that even for British graduates, the crisis work rather than a traditional jobs board for graduates. is having certain negative impacts. He speaks of people As opposed to being able to search through and apply from other parts of the UK whose real goal for career for jobs, the website is now based on building a profile advancement was to move to London, which offers with your experience and interests, in order to try to more opportunities for graduates than some other re- attract potential employers. For James, the Handshake gions of the UK. For people aiming to move to London, website, with its focus on social networking rather than he speaks of ‘urgency’ in trying to find a job and not get connecting graduates to job opportunities, meant it left behind, but says they too, like others, have difficulty was more difficult to actively search and encounter in finding jobs. jobs. Despite this, such employment-orientated social However, searching for a position amidst the job mar- a post-Covid world, as more of life is carried out virtualket is not the only option. James knows many people ly rather than in person. who have considered gaining further qualifications in James speaks positively about the Cambridge careers media platforms are likely to become more prevalent in this period of uncertainty, with many of them applying Hopefully, graduates can adjust to a new world where to Masters courses for the upcoming year. However, he technology is key to finding stable and long-term embelieves that postgraduate application processes were ployment. As the UK GDP fell by 20.4%, the country is becoming much more competitive. Many students had undergoing the deepest recession since records began similar ideas about staying in education and upskilling and the worst amongst the G7 nations, it seems the whilst the worst of the economic crisis raged and then economic fallout from Covid-19 will continue to haunt attempting to secure a job after it had subsided. us for some time to come. Examples of its impact are evident right across the economy, not just for students, Despite uncertain and shifting times, university careers with around 650,000 existing job losses from across a services have done their best to respond to the ‘new wide range of sectors and 48,000 Further Education apnormal’. These included offering services specific to ap- prenticeships cancelled. For students graduating this plications made during the pandemic, such as advice year, or in the next several years, they can only hope for on how to approach online interviews and test centre a sharp, ‘v-shaped’ recovery which will bring the British exams. Universities such as King’s College London and economy, and students’ hopes, back to some sense of Edinburgh have added new features to their online Ca- normality.