Questions, Questions… “Where are the opportunities?” and “Which course should I study?”.

Head of Careers, Dave Kilmartin, and Careers Advisor Marie Gonnelly, Dublin Institute of Technology, discuss the impact of the recession on college and career decisions. Graduates, post graduates and those recently made unemployed are all pondering their options in a very depressed labour market. They are indeed facing very uncertain and unsettling times.

On the other hand some 70,000 students have applied through CAO this year for third level places while many other thousands are about to undertake post graduate study, part time and up-skilling courses. Questions such as ‘where are the opportunities?’ and ‘’which course should I study?’, inevitably raise further questions about which industries are presently struggling and contracting and which ones are more recession proof.

Some may be worried about choosing courses related to areas of the economy which have been most severely hit i.e. construction, built environment, retail, finance etc. Many may be now be considering careers that have traditionally been regarded as ‘safe’ such as those in education, healthcare etc. However, the world of work is changing and the notion of the ‘job for life’ is now gone. No career is recession proof. Students need to look beyond the current climate and not be discouraged by a course if they have a genuine interest in the area.

Careers advisors and guidance professionals are aware, when working with students selecting undergraduate, part time and postgraduate courses, that most students are about to undertake courses which are three to four years in duration. By then one would hope that the economic downturn will show signs of levelling out in anticipation of a gradual upturn.

It is important to bear in mind that things will recover and that opportunities will come back. The IT crisis of the early millennium saw many students afraid to take up IT courses resulting in a shortfall of high-end IT graduates which continues to impact the economy today.

Attitudes and feelings of current graduates

Not surprisingly, many undergraduates who are about to graduate are anxious about their career prospects at the moment. From evidence gleaned from third level careers services, Graduate Careers Ireland note the majority of students are quite anxious about the recession and increasingly their work involves giving them support and helping them to set short-term goals focused on building experience and skills.

Broadly speaking graduates tend to fall into three groups. The first group are those who are particularly anxious about the impact of the recession on their future; many of these are leaving it as long as possible to make a decision on postgraduate or work choices. The second group tend to make choices based on what they believe to be traditional, ‘safe’ bets and the third group of students (many of whom are younger) are looking towards postgraduate courses longer in duration so they can ‘ride out the recession’. While postgraduate options form the majority of queries, increasingly students are finding it difficult to get funding support.

Career motivation

While labour market information is important and can really impact on choice, to use it as the sole factor in making a career decision is potentially personally delimiting in the long run.Recessions, like booms, are cyclical. While it is very important to bear in mind the vagaries of the market place, the fundamentals of career motivations remain relatively consistent throughout economic cycles.

Career can be defined as a series of paid and unpaid work experiences during the course of our life. These experiences can relate to roles as student, worker, citizen, parent and so on. The factors which draw people to personally meaningful experiences usually emanate from intrinsic motivations – happiness is more likely if people choose experiences which sit well with their value system, play to their strengths, are interesting to them and suit their way of engaging in the world.

Career is and will continue to be a multi stop journey through life - not just a single decision to a linear career path. Self awareness – awareness of who one is and what is meaningful to self - will always be the bedrock on which good personal and career decisions are made.

The demands of the workplace

Workplace roles are in a constant state of flux. It is likely that the graduates of today will, in their lifetime, undertake up to three work related roles that don’t exist today. Looking ahead, it is evident that developments in technology, increased pressure on key resources such as oil, shifting consumer behaviour and demands, the worrying climate predictions, geopolitical (in) stability, right down to shifts in workplace practices mean that change is the only constant. Those who manage themselves best in terms of their environment and relationships will generally be happiest and most successful in terms of their career.

The modern workplace requires a marrying of academic ability and strong character. Possession of a qualification alone has never been a guarantee of a job. Graduates and school leavers today need to be cognisant that management of self, task and others will be key to career success.

The ‘T-Shaped’ professional, one who & has a strong grounding in their own subject knowledge, has strong problem solving skills and emotional intelligence, but is also capable of interacting with and understanding specialists from a wide range of disciplines will be the professional who succeeds in the future.

Choosing how to react

Given the natural state of flux of today’s social, economic and political worlds we can be sure that students and graduates need to be able to manage and negotiate change.; Change will bring challenge but also potential for opportunity.

The way in which the students and graduates position themselves in this world will be central to their personal career fulfilment. The foundation stone of making informed career decisions remains – seek a career that is personally meaningful. This will usually involve an expression of values, interests, personality and skills.

Knowing yourself will put you in a better position to manage change and assess experience and opportunity in a more meaningful way. Of course compromise is an essential feature of most decisions, especially when choice is limited, but compromising on something you really don’t wish to can lead to unhappiness and stress.

It is important to have a plan to face the short term reality while simultaneously viewing career in the broader trajectory of time and life roles.

Response

In response, and to support students during the downturn, Graduate Careers Ireland (GCI) is launching a student handbook entitled ‘Focus for success in challenging times- the career navigation guide for students’ on Tuesday 16th June, 2009 from 12.00 to 14.00 in Newman House, 85-86 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2.

The handbook draws on the knowledge of third level careers advisors, industry experts, and psychology /counselling professionals. The aim of the handbook is to give students the tools and strategies to empower them to take ownership of their careers in the coming years, and to navigate through the current economic climate.

Also, Career Services in the Dublin area and on the east coast will be holding a series of one day ‘Take Control of your Future’ workshops during the months of June and July. For more information on the events, please see www.graduatecareersireland.com

Dave Kilmartin (Head of Careers) and Marie Gonnelly (Careers Advisor), Dublin Institute of Technology, are members of Graduate Careers Ireland, the representative association for third level career services in Ireland, North and South.