When the class of 2009 were making their CAO choices some three or four years ago, Ireland was a very different place. How could they have guessed, as they ticked architecture, business, law or marketing, that they would be leaving college with very small chance of employment? How were they to know that no matter how good their degree was or how hard they worked, it would be irrelevant in a downturn?
This is a generation who has never known anything but good times – rows about car parking spaces in colleges rather than protests about grants were a clear reflection of the country's affluence. School leavers' course choices were not dictated by economic necessity because there was zero graduate unemployment. This is no longer true for any sector, whether it's one acutely under pressure, or not. The new graduates face stiff competition from the ranks of those recently made redundant, who have years of experience under their belt.
During the 'brain drain' of the 1980s, scores of third-level graduates sought employment abroad and by the end of the '80s, some 30% of university and college graduates were leaving Ireland. This time round, the situation is a little different. The downturn is global; the job prospects outside of Ireland are limited.
According to Michael Gleeson of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, graduates who are looking to emigrate are considering Australia and Canada although some have had difficulty in finding employment in Australia. "There's a definite increase in graduates looking to do a masters, which is a deferral of sorts until the jobs market improves," Gleeson says.
It's an option cited by many of the students the Sunday Tribune spoke to. "I know a lot of people are saying they're going to stay in education as long as they can and ride out the recession," says Barry Cunningham, a final-year law student in UCD.
Ronan Keddy, a final-year business and economics student, also at UCD, agrees. "People aren't optimistic about finding work. A good few people are going to do a masters and then maybe take a year out and hope that in three years' time, things will change. They want to stay away from the working world for as long as they can and that's what lecturers have advised us to do. The best thing now is to travel or do further study because, for us anyway in the finance sector, there are very few jobs, very few opportunities."
Media is another example of a sector where career opportunities are poor. It's an industry with a limited number of jobs, but the recruitment of young journalists flourished during the boom years as media outlets expanded. However, the downturn has hit the already stretched media industry hard.
Traditionally, students from the final-year journalism degree course in DCU will work a 40-hour week internship at a media organisation and are paid, if not fully, then in some part. However, that has changed utterly for the first time this year, with nearly all of the internships (called an Intra placement) going unpaid.
Juliana Dolan, a final-year journalism student at DCU, is pessimistic about her immediate future in employment. "For the past two years I've been working unpaid in a radio station," she says. "I've been going in on Sunday mornings to work as a runner, hoping that they'd give me a job when I graduated. The station has taken on a lot of DCU journalism graduates in the past, and that was my thinking behind doing it for so long. But recently they've had to lay off a bunch of people. I'm still working unpaid and the chances now of getting a job are pretty slim." Dolan never intended to do the masters that she has applied for, but now she feels that it's the only option.
Her classmate Dawn Wheatley has also applied for a post-graduate course. "I never wanted to do it straight after college, but the way things have worked out, I picked one I wanted and am happy to do it now. When I went to meet the head of the course he said that I may as well come out of a recession with something extra, hopefully when things pick up. It's basically another year where I don't really have to think about what will happen."
With so many final-year students opting to hang on to their college years instead of blanketing the country with CVs, at least third-level teachers are busy. Etain Kidney, a lecturer in business and marketing at DIT, says that if her students are not leaving the country, they're getting back into education.
She has seen a spate of students opting to enter a new course after they've finished their degree and others trying to up-skill by taking on additional courses. "The most interesting trend is people going back into education. Some people are panicking and trying to up-skill too. I've seen some people doing three diplomas at the same time, just so they can stay in their jobs."
Also evident, Kidney says, is a change in attitude to the end of college life. Whereas previously finishing college was celebrated by students, Kidney says that the bleak economic outlook has changed that. "Students seem more depressed. They aren't as excited about finishing their degrees as they used to be."
CAO offers last year reflected the current crisis. Students are steering clear of property, building, construction, engineering, and architecture. There has been an increase in interest in medicine, due to the introduction of the more achievable HPAT aptitude test. There has also been a growth in primary school teaching applications, which has traditionally been a reliable option, although this year's school leavers may be put off by poor employment prospects.
Looking at the predicament that the current crop of graduates find themselves in, what areas should secondary school students think about? Science, green technology, agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and horticulture are all seen to be areas of growth but Michael Gleeson says that when it comes to career advice, he would encourage students to do a course they're interested in: "I would give them the facts but would advise them to pursue their dreams because in four or five years' time, the economy may have improved."
Collins wants to enter the workforce as soon as possible. Having spent last summer working in l'Ecrivain restaurant, he believes he is very employable. "At the moment I'm not considering emigrating – even though skilled chefs are said to be in short supply in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There are still jobs being advertised here too and with my degree I can enter at a higher level such as a chef de partie," he says. "I'm not overly concerned about getting work. I'm very optimistic. The recession has to end sometime."
"I knew it would be tough to get a job in newspapers. Jobs haven't been abundant in the past few years anyway but the last three or four months have really scared people. It's going to be practically impossible to get work. Everyone's bricking it."
Unlike many of his classmates, Dunne has decided not to go down the route of further education. "Everyone keeps talking about doing post grads – that costs the guts of ten grand. I don't know where most of them are going to get that. I certainly don't have it."
Although Cunningham had originally intended to study English and Irish, he doesn't regret doing law. However, he acknowledges that employment prospects aren't great. "We're being encouraged to apply for internships. You work for two or three weeks doing clerical work just to get your foot in the door – you wouldn't have had to do that a few years ago." Cunningham hasn't yet decided what he will do. "I'm applying for masters courses and I may take up one of them. But my first plan is to take a year out and travel with two of my friends, maybe to Australia."
O'Brien knows that it's going to be a struggle to find work. "It said on the INTO website that 800 out of 2,000 qualified teachers will get a job in September which I think is quite a frightening figure," he says.
He has a (non-teaching) job lined up for the summer and is crossing his fingers that he finds a teaching job by September.
"If I don't get one, I genuinely don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not really in a financial position to go travelling. I'd have to find something at home, even if it wasn't teaching related. I'd do anything I had to."
After graduation, Clinton is thinking of travelling but he has also applied for a masters in quantitative finance at the Smurfit Business School. "When we started they told us there was 100% employment from our course. Now people are going into accountancy but the course is not really relevant to accountancy. It's disappointing but I'm not ready to start work now anyway."
"It's obviously a worry for graduates but listening to everyone talking about how bad things are really isn't helping anyone," Neylon says. "My course prepares for a career in property valuation, property development, auctioneering, investments and so on. Obviously, in the short term, the job prospects are poor, and many in our class are undecided as to what to do next year.
"Long term, due to the cyclical nature of the property market, there is scope to earn a good living when things pick up again."
"I picked the course mainly because I had an interest in the world of business when I was leaving school. Three years ago, it was the big thing to go into banking," Keddy says.
He realised two years into it that he didn't want to work in business but he says this has nothing to do with the current economic environment. "I might go back and do a post grad in primary school teaching. I hope they don't start cutting back on the number of people they take in. Apparently in the '80s they stopped letting graduates do primary school teaching. I hope they don't start doing that but that's what I want to do."
McLoughlin, who has six years' experience as a science teacher, returned to college because she was interested in furthering her career. "The main function of the degree is to protect public health. The most likely employer would be the HSE, which is not recruiting just now," she says.
"Finding work in the private sector is the next option, with companies involved in food safety." After graduation, Joan says she will become more focused on getting a job. "Even though I will have both a qualification and experience, I will have to work hard if I get to interview stage. I know it will be so competitive out there."
"It doesn't seem like there are many jobs out there," Caroline says. She might travel but has been advised that teaching degrees in countries such as Australia and America are four years long, so the three-year St Pats' degree mightn't be recognised in those countries.
"Otherwise, there's substitute teaching, although that might be reduced now because you used to get a sub if you were sick but now you have to get a cert from a doctor, so there will be fewer subs. I wouldn't like to rely on it. But it's a job at the end of the day."
Mooney took a year out of the seven-year course in 2005 and got a job immediately in an architectural practice. "Back then, you had a choice of jobs. But 2009 is not 2005. There is general acceptance that there is no work out there, with up to 48% of qualified architects now unemployed.
"I'm interested in aid projects with organisations such as Médicins sans Frontières, which have a construction and design element related to my degree. Working on something like that is a more appealing prospect than just being on the dole."
MacNeill has applied for a masters in commercial law and says that employment prospects are "fairly shaky".
"One of our lecturers told us that in the years gone by it was almost like a conveyor belt from UCD into one of the law firms, but it seems to have slowed down a little bit. I'm sure there will be some kind of job somewhere. Since the year dot there have been peaks and troughs and we're in a trough at the moment but it can't be too long until there's another peak so I wouldn't be too worried."
After achieving his honours degree in physiology from UCC, and having taught abroad and in Ireland, Rouse realised that he really enjoyed working in the classroom and started in St Pat's 18 months ago. He's pragmatic but hopeful about the future.
"I would imagine that to get a permanent position or a position that could eventually be made permanent will be difficult."
Rouse says that if he doesn't find a job, he will work in some aspect of education, whether that's volunteering with community groups or work organisations. "I'd be interested in working if you can get social welfare at the same time," he says. "And hopefully it will stand to me and I'll be in a better position the next time I apply for a job."
Quaine knows that finding work will be more difficult than it was in the past but he's still optimistic. "Firms are still hiring, there are still interview processes going on and if you're prepared to work hard enough and if you're good enough you'll get somewhere. There's no point in being too pessimistic about everything. There are still opportunities for those who are prepared to work hard."
Quaine, who is interested in the areas of intellectual property, data protection and technology law, has applied for a number of masters courses. "Hopefully, I'll get accepted for them and pick one. I've got a couple of internships for the summer and hopefully they will lead to something."
"Regardless of what the economy is like, in journalism especially you always have to start at the bottom."
Additional reporting by Valerie Shanley and Una Mullally
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