It looked like they would never have it so good, but all has changed utterly for last year’s third-level graduates. Three of them talk about employment and emigration . . . and the art of compromise
Orla Kennedy started her six-year architecture degree at the height of the construction boom and never had a problem getting work; until she graduated. Now working as a temp in administration, she is one of many Irish graduates struggling to use their qualifications and reconsidering their future in Ireland.
Joe Cosgrave spent four years studying civil engineering, but it was only in the last six months that he started to get a sense that all was not right with jobs market. He arrives at this interview carrying a well-thumbed copy of The Builders, Irish Times journalists Frank MacDonald and Kathy Sheridan’s analysis of where it all went wrong for the construction sector.
“I had been working in a housing estate in the summer before my final year, and there were people coming in buying properties off the plans, pointing to the drawings with the biggest gardens, money-no-object.
“Engineers were so badly needed on site that qualified people could come and go as they pleased. It was a cushy number. By Christmas of 2007, things were starting to change.”
When Cosgrave graduated in November last year, he didn’t even consider looking for job in engineering. He took a job in Turkey, teaching sailing and working as a nanny. He’s back in Dublin now, but as he believes that looking for work in the area of civil engineering will be thankless, he’s decided to head off to Melbourne.
“I have no regrets about studying engineering. It was a really interesting course and I am still fascinated by how things work. But for now, there’s just no work in Ireland, so I’m taking to opportunity to see the world.”
One of Cosgrave’s friends who managed to get a job in Dublin has since been sent to Glasgow to work, as he has nothing to do here. Others have left for New Zealand and Australia.
Kennedy and Cosgrave have written off 2009 and are thinking of ways to make the best of bad situation.
Bernard Ferris, a 2008 graduate of mechanical engineering in UCD, is more hopeful for the year ahead. He’s the only one at the table wearing a suit, for starters. Ferris has managed to secure a job in the energy business, in a company that is actually growing.
“During my last year of study I took a research role in UCD, on a project called Energy Needs Ireland (ENI). It’s an interesting idea in that it brings undergraduates and graduates together with industry to look at specific areas of energy that are important to the economy. While I was working at ENI, I was offered a job.”
Ferris feels lucky to have hit the ground running in November; many of his friends who graduated from other disciplines are spending their time watching daytime TV, he says.
Adjusting to unemployment is very difficult, says Orla Kennedy.
“During our summers in college, we could pick and choose jobs in architectural firms. We had no idea what was coming. The first couple of months after graduation were really strange – we were not used to being idle.”
The worst aspect of the slump, says Kennedy, was the feeling of being alone or, worse, being to blame. “Architecture was one of the first areas to be hit and we felt very isolated – why were we the only ones without jobs? Pretty soon other sectors started to slow down and then it didn’t seem so bad anymore. When law and business graduates started to hit the wall, I started to feel better. We’re all in this together, and somehow that’s not as hard to deal with.
“I think the number of people out of my class of 60 who have managed to secure work in architecture in Ireland is in single figures,” says Kennedy.
She is determined to realise her career ambitions, despite the negativity. At a recent visit to a FÁS office she was rewarded with the following advice: “You’re an architecture graduate? Have you considered going to Australia?”
“Trouble is, there’s no guarantee of work in Australia either,” says Kennedy, much to the amusement of Joe Cosgrave, who’s packing his bags for Melbourne next month. “Might as well have a crappy job somewhere nice,” he counters.
A co-graduate of Kennedy’s came to architecture as a mature student, giving up a well-paid job in the hope of something better. Emma Murtagh (not pictured) quit her job in an office at the height of the boom to pursue her dream job. Now she’s a qualified architect working as a waitress.
“It’s so frustrating,” she says. “I worked as a waitress 10 years ago and now, after a career and six years in college, I’m back where I started.” Just this week Emma received word that she had secured work teaching architecture to gifted six to 12 year-olds in DCU. “By the time they graduate perhaps there will be jobs again,” she says, ruefully.
All the graduates at the table agree that they have been betrayed by their expectations. No one expected anything other than jobs on demand. Six months later reality has hit and they are starting to get creative.
“My medium-term plan is to work as a temp until I have saved enough money to fund an internship in Europe, preferably Scandinavia,” says Kennedy. “In the meantime, I continue to enter architecture competitions and work to keep my portfolio up to date. I want to be ready for the upswing.”
She wants to work in Ireland eventually, but she worries about her colleagues. “I think we will probably lose a lot of talent this year, and they may not come back. It’s such a shame when the State has invested so much money educating them. I think that short, Government-sponsored internships for architects would be a good idea at this point. It would keep the skills in the country.”
Civil engineer Joe Cosgrave plans to spend 2009 focusing on his new interest – creative writing.
“I love engineering and I hope to work in the area some day. I can’t now, so I’m seizing the opportunity to try something different. I will travel and write for the year and see what happens after that.”
Bernard Ferris feels confident that his job will still be there for his by the end of 2009, but he is already dreaming of setting up his own business. “I love the idea of taking on that challenge, even though the lot of the employer is not an enticing one at the moment. That’s a good way off, but it’s certainly a possibility.”
Ferris also has a deepening interest in politics and has considered running for office. Like all the graduates gathered, has become more politically aware in the last six months.
“In college, we were wrapped in cotton wool. Now we are exposed. I can see now what has happened to Ireland. I think we sold out, shot ourselves in the foot.”
Kennedy is hopeful that she won’t be temping for too long, but she has learned to value the fact that she is earning, and that she is busy.
“One set of skills is not enough – we have to seize every opportunity and experience we get, even if they are not connected to our primary qualification. If you only know how to do one job, you’re vulnerable. Everything’s changed – you need to be flexible and creative to get a job now.”
Joe Cosgrave
Joe Cosgrave went to school in Glenstal Abbey. He graduated with a civil engineering degree in Trinity College Dublin in 2007.
Since then he has worked as a nanny and a sailing teacher. Few of his friends have managed to secure work in engineering in Ireland so he has decided to leave for Melbourne, Australia.
Cosgrave is hoping to get work in engineering there, but he's viewing the year as an opportunity and will not be too disappointed if he can't.
He is interested in creative writing and has his own blog (www.ltmcsmash.wordpress.com).
Cosgrave is not political, but feels disenchanted with the way the country has gone, quoting WB Yeats when he says that we have "fumbled in the greasy till" and are now paying the price.
Orla Kennedy
Orla Kennedy did her Leaving Cert in Our Lady's Bower in Athlone and got the points for her dream course; six years of architecture in UCD. All through college she had her pick of summer jobs in architectural firms, getting the chance to design and see her projects come to fruition. She graduated in November 2008 and has not been able to find work in the area since. She has taken a temping job in a building management company and continues to search for a job in her chosen area. She is now saving to leave Ireland and take an internship in Scandinavia, the home of her favourite designers. She hopes to return one day and set up her own furniture design business.
She says that if the Irish Government offered State- sponsored internships she would stay.
Bernard Ferris
Bernard Ferris graduated from UCD as a mechanical engineer in 2008 and started a job straight away, working in the energy sector.
He went to school in CBS Tralee and has always had an interest in numbers and science. He's interested in business and politics too, so he's keeping an open mind about the future.
Ferris is keen to involve more Irish students in engineering and science, and got his job through his involvement in research in the Energy Needs Ireland project in UCD.
He says that many of his friends who graduated from various disciplines are now unemployed and he believes that Ireland has "sold out". He plans to set up his own business or go into politics in the future.
THE IRISH TIMES STUDENT ROUNDTABLENext month: The Bebo Generation – how a group of Junior Cert students see their future
