Degrees that "open doors": how university prepares you for everything and nothing simultaneously...

Linkedin-Merchant (definition #5)

NOUN

1. Someone that carries out an alarming number of skills courses after having realised that their BA has left them with no demonstrable skills or experience to even be CONSIDERED for an entry level graduate position that allegedly requires "no-experience".

• My internal monologue: "He'd completed Google Garage by the middle of second year and he's done so many IBM courses that they've probably offered him a position by now, or given him a cease and desist letter. He is such a Linkedin-merchant!"

We're back and I can only apologise for the extremely protracted wait. I wish I could tell you that, in true Linkedin-merchant fashion, I have been having a "productive yet restful break" filled with self-discovery, TED talks and networking events but I feel slightly nauseated just typing that. In fact I was picking up a load of overtime because I decided to move to Canada for three months at the end of September and it turns out central Montréal is very expensive. I have also had the characteristic reduction from my University housing deposit for reasons that remain unclear. We will leave that there to prevent nosebleeds and mental breakdowns. I have just taken a new job in Hurley's bar on Crescent Street and am settling in to this beautiful city reasonably well. More on this in another post.

Moving swiftly away from my slightly but hopefully not completely cliché travel plans, I'd like to draw attention back to the title of Post #4: 'Degrees that open doors'...

I started writing this post in the wake of GCSEs and A-Level results having been released and the next steps concerning higher education were on many students', teachers' and parents' lips and it took me back to not only when I was applying to university but also reminded me of the dream that I was sold approximately five years ago. Now a few weeks into the first term of many people's final year at university, it seems equally fitting to discuss that now.

"Languages degrees are great, you can do so much with them, they open so many doors!"

There I was, nonchalantly telling everyone that would listen that languages would drastically increase my employability and that the working world would fall at my feet when I graduated. An oversight to say the least... The first inkling that this would not be so easy was when I took the very indie and alternative decision to work during my year abroad rather than study. I quickly realised that to go into a role that Exeter University classed as an "appropriate professional level", any modicum of experience would go a lot further than one year of a four year degree that on the surface does little more than allow you to communicate with the rest of the more qualified applicants native to the relevant country. This only solidified when I started applying for graduate jobs in creative fields that asked for demonstrable experience and/or interest in a field that I was only really learning about through self-guided research (Googling).

Business and Econ graduates aren't that qualified either! So many people go to university now that it is more difficult to set yourself apart. Aside from the nepo babies that get internships at their daddy's firm, it can often feel like we are qualified to do absolutely nothing and we are destined for failure.

So what's the alternative?

To be completely candid, I don't know. Unfortunately, as a completely clueless graduate who decided to move countries on a random Monday in September, I am probably not best placed to advise you on how to improve your career prospects going into the real world. However, what I can help with, is a suggestion on re-evaluating your experience and what it means to go to university.

What I find we forget is that, despite the belief of every higher education advisor ever, university is not a direct means to an end or a path to a career, and that's fine. At its core, your 3/4 years of post-secondary academia means embarking on a journey that for many means living away from home for the first time, taking on challenging but interesting subject matters and training your mind to allow yourself to question the world around you. I think sometimes we need to look at our experience more holistically and see it as an opportunity for personal development. I'm sure any grads that read this will see their first year self as a relative stranger. Looking back on my own journey, I wished I'd enjoyed those development processes more and seen them as a bigger achievement and spent less time wondering when I was going to use my Sociolinguistics of French module in my day to day life. The opportunity to discuss these kinds of concepts with world leaders in their field is such a fantastic opportunity and, perhaps more critically, an opportunity that we worked damn hard to get. We should relish it more, rather than constantly looking forward.

There are plenty of opportunities to develop skills that may enhance your employability prospects and I would never discourage anyone from taking them if that's what they want to do. However, the word WANT is critical here. There is absolutely no point in forcing yourself into things that you don't like doing and taking time away from your studies and mental stability because some Tik Toker with a trust fund told you to. I applied to a few jobs this year knowing I didn't want them and as much as I can mark them down as "good interview practice", you will never show your best self if it's not something you can really see yourself doing and therefore that usefulness is limited.

The takeaway here? Do what you love, the skills will come. Your degree probably doesn't open as many doors as they told you on the open day and it can feel super difficult to get motivated when the odds are seemingly against you. The path to well-paid and challenging work is definitely not as simple as it's made out to be but we're all in the same boat. You are not a failure because an ignorant person at a party asked you what you can do with a degree in languages (not projecting at all).

So, next time you get rejected from an entry level grad job due to "lack of experience", try to enjoy what's in front of you. Soak up as much useless information as you can, do the things you want to do, don't be so career focussed. There is plenty of time for the rat race and university is such a unique experience, try not to wish that time away. This also applies to the time after graduation, we're all running our own race and there's no such thing as a bad experience. Anything you do will make you a more well-rounded and experienced person with lots of depth to your personality.

Keep going, network, we're all good. See you in the next one. Hopefully won't be 3 months this time.

Your favourite LM,

AT