A year ago, four graduates spoke to The Irish Timesabout their hopes for the future, their career plans and job prospects. PAMELA DUNCANcatches up with them to see how they have fared
THE STATISTICS do not make inspiring reading for recent graduates: latest CSO figures indicate that 62,400 graduates are unemployed; an average of 110 Irish nationals are emigrating every day; and a report by the National Economic and Social Council predicts that there may be no net increase in jobs here until 2013.
While young Irish graduates are making the most of the opportunities that remain – taking up short-term contracts or availing of internships such as the recently established national internship scheme, JobBridge – for many, emigration seems an increasingly appealing option, at least in the short-term.
Gary Redmond of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) fears that we will lose these graduates forever.
“We’re really teetering on a lost generation. We are producing graduates of a very high quality who are leaving with degrees and stepping off the plane in other countries and walking straight into jobs.
“The huge concern and worry that I have is that these people won’t come back,” he says.
A year ago, The Irish Timesinterviewed four graduates from the class of 2010 to find out what some of the people behind the statistics felt their prospects were for the future.
In recent weeks, we caught up with them, to find out where they stand a year after graduating and how their experience differs from the Celtic Tiger graduates before them.
The Science Graduate
Marianne McGovern is a 23-year-old Science UCD graduate from Raheny in Dublin
McGovern recently moved to Northern Ireland to pursue a postgraduate course in dietetics. She secured a place after doing work experience over the past year shadowing dietitians in a Dublin clinic, but she says that the year following her graduation was, at points, disheartening and frustrating.
“I put in so many CVs: I wasn’t getting interviews, I wasn’t getting call-backs, there was just nothing . . . I was really struggling to see what I would be doing for the year and I was a bit desperate because I didn’t want to spend the year doing nothing.”
She says that every one of the nine people in her physiology class are now in further education, while many of her wider year have left the country.
“Every week there is a leaving party. A lot of people are going doing Tefl courses teaching languages. There are a lot of people doing hDips to try and go teaching, but they’re doing them in Bangor or in England.
“We’ve realised that we have to go different ways about it, that we’re not just going to get a job straightaway and we just have to deal with it and find our own way.
“It’s not as easy as it was, and a lot of our parents are supporting us or have taken out loans for us. We just have to deal with it really; there’s not much we can do.
“I do in the future hope to come back to Ireland, but I don’t see myself getting a position here straightaway, although I’d love to. That would be the goal.”
The Business Graduate
Ian Cawley (27), from Co Laois, has a degree in Business with French from Waterford Institute of Technology and a postgraduate LLB in law from the University of Limerick
Cawley moved to London earlier this year, despite being offered contract work in Dublin.
“The reason I came to London is because a lot of companies [at home] weren’t able to offer permanent roles.
“But I was probably going to go to London anyway, regardless of the economy, as the roles available here are a lot more relevant to the career path I wanted to pursue. I’d always wanted to work in commercial law and, more specifically, investment law, and London is really the hub for that.
“I started in one job in Dublin at the same time as a number of other people – a few of us are now in London, and it’s not always out of choice for everyone. But if you do have to go somewhere, it’s the closest and easiest place to go. I probably have more mates here than I have in Dublin; there are so many people I know from home over here.
“I’ve been lucky in one sense as I’ve been in work since I left UL. I know a lot of my classmates aren’t working in law at all. I know one who is Canada, another in Scotland, another in Australia – people have had to travel or emigrate.
“Those who stayed in Ireland are working in whatever they can get work in, while others are sticking at law but have gone back to education.
“I did expect things to be difficult leaving college because we graduated at a very bad time. It wasn’t all bad though – working on short-term contracts gave me the opportunity to work in different roles in different places – and in a way, I was surprised, as there are some opportunities out there.”
The Medicine Graduate
Alan Sugrue (26) is a junior doctor who was born in Limerick and grew up in Australia
Sugrue has just left the country to pursue a year-long Masters in London, having spent the past year working first in Galway and then Letterkenny.
“In terms of the pressure on junior doctors, I haven’t really had the experience of being on a team which has been short. I have covered a few shifts for people who have been on call where teams have been short but I think you do what you have to, to get on with it and make the most of it.
“I’m taking the time out to go to London to do a Masters in translational medicine in University College London. I enjoy doing research and I’m looking forward to the year out now that I have the option to go to London and experience a different city.
The year will probably update my knowledge of research and give me a broader understanding of how research happens and the processes involved.”
Sugrue says the opportunity to travel is a step many of his classmates have already taken, with many heading to Australia and New Zealand, but he says people have gone with the plan to come back after travelling the world for the year.
“In terms of getting experience abroad, I think that’s invaluable to anyone. I think there are a lot of countries out there that are pushing the boundaries of science . . . so experience in those countries is a good thing to have.”
The Education Graduate
Eimear Cassidy (22), from Co Cavan, graduated from St Angela’s College in Sligo with a home economics teaching degree
At the time of her graduation, Cassidy felt the prospects for her and her 42 classmates were bleak, yet nearly all are now in full-time work in Ireland. She is currently on a maternity contract in a Dublin secondary school.
“Most people might have chopped and changed with work over the year. A few would have changed jobs or worked in a few jobs but no one would have been unemployed for a long period of time. You have people moving from school to school, contract to contract.
“Most people years ago would have walked into permanent jobs, but now with cutbacks, it’s more a case of getting maternity leave and sick leave [contracts] and if you’re lucky, you might get a retirement. You’re literally waiting on people to retire now.
“The maximum contract is 22 [teaching] hours, but some people might have a 15-hour contract or an 18-hour one and would be looking to get supervision in school to bump up their wages. I feel very lucky to have full hours.
“I’m really happy with the situation I’m in. I have full hours and I’m teaching the subjects that I want to teach. I’m teaching in Ireland and I wanted to work in Dublin so it’s worked out perfectly from a personal point of view.
“I’d be hopeful to stay in Ireland and to have some sort of permanent job within the next few years. I hope in the next four or five years that I would get a permanent job somewhere.”
