After I graduated, it took roughly 18 months before I found a job in an area relevant to my field of study, journalism. Throughout my search, I continued working part-time, and later full-time, at the job I had had while at high school and then university. I was a library assistant, and I was unhappy.
Even a decade and a half later, I can still remember how I felt at the time. It was a mixture of anxiety, frustration and self-doubt that felt like I was trapped in a straight jacket. It was like a dark cloud that fogged my vision, and I was desperate for my life to start.
I’m sure you may have felt something similar after your graduation, and as you can probably guess, I, like you, did eventually find a job. After going through a few additional hoops, I landed a position as a communications officer at foundation year provider. There’s a direct line between that role and my current position at QS and I’m always amazed at how many others in global higher education also found themselves in the sector by chance rather than design. Perhaps you didn’t plan to work in international education either?
However I got here, my life had finally started, although, in a case of bitter irony, I now find myself occasionally reflecting back on those days working in the library and wishing I could go back. If youth is wasted on the young, wisdom is wasted on the (slightly) old(er).
If we look at the circumstance in which I was trying to find my first professional job, there are many similarities to present. I started my post-graduation job search in the middle of a global financial crisis. At the same time, a global pandemic hit, half a decade after another pandemic had threatened my region, the Asia Pacific. My home country, Australia, was about to begin a period of political turmoil that would see the Prime Minister’s office become a revolving door.
There were lots of external factors out of my control that put pressure on me finding my first professional job and I certainly was not alone. Out of my graduating class, very few ended up working in communications or writing, only a handful worked as journalists, and a substantial number did what most people do during times of external uncertainty: they furthered their education.
And yet, looking back on that uncertainty and those emotions that I can still feel if I try, I’d pick then to find my first job instead of now.
This is an overarching theme of this month’s QS Insights Magazine. Our cover story, “Degrees of Doubt”, really explores some of the alarming statistics around employment opportunities for recent graduates. The good news is that there are things that universities can do to help boost employment rates and demonstrate value.
It should come as no surprise, then, that some of the undergraduate students we spoke to on summer break are already working towards finding their first job.
In the same vein, we also look at how literature, acting, film and comedy can help business school students prepare for the boardroom, while also looking at whether creative arts programme culls are cutting off more than we realise.
Last month, we told you about how zombie research might be infecting your academic library and impacting your research. This month, we meet some of the hunters trying to put a stop to the zombies.
There is plenty to explore and understand in the July edition of QSIM.
And to help you decide what to read, we've included brief summaries at the start of each article. Let us know what you think!
On a final note, this is the final edition of QSIM with Afifah Darke as Deputy Editor as she will be moving onto bigger and better things next month. Afifah joined QS back at the start of 2022, and has been the driving force ensuring that this magazine reaches your inbox on time and packed with high quality writing and content. She will be deeply missed, and we wish her the very best of luck in her future endeavours (and hope that she will still come back to write an occasional article).
Stay insightful!
Anton John Crace
Anton is Editor in Chief of QS Insights Magazine. He also curates the Higher Ed Summits, EDS and Reimagine Education conference at QS Quacquarelli Symonds. He has been writing on the international higher ed sector for over a decade. His recognitions include the Universities Australia Higher Education Journalist of the Year at the National Press Club of Australia, and the International Education Association of Australia award for Excellence in Professional Commentary.