The four years we spend in the sheltered comfort of university don’t, unfortunately, last forever. This reality can be a source of anxiety for many soon-to-be graduates, and not unjustifiably so. For a large part of our time at university, we’ve been warned of the difficulties of the current job market and been told to bulk up our CVs as much as possible, all in hopes of securing a coveted grad job.
Surely one of the benefits of belonging to such a renowned university as the University of Edinburgh is that it has a plethora of resources and support systems available to make the transition from university life to the ‘real world’ just a bit easier. After all, is that not one of the main goals of higher education?
The Careers Service stands out among these university resources, as it prides itself on supporting students to take their “next steps with confidence”, no matter what stage students are at. On its website, graduates can find information on grad schemes, how to look for grad jobs, and advice on how to draft applications. MyCareerHub, its job-search website, contains a variety of job postings that are approved by the service. However, many students are simply not aware of its existence. As a long-time user myself, I frequently find myself telling my friends about its usefulness as a job search tool.
Every year, the Careers Service also puts on a series of careers fairs with employers from a variety of sectors. Though these can be extremely helpful for students still unsure about what kind of career they want, one wonders how much impact a ten-minute conversation can have on someone’s future, especially if that conversation was started just to grab a free chocolate bar. Having attended one of these fairs myself, I was impressed by the vast number of employers in attendance. However, the majority are in sectors like tech and finance, leaving students dreaming of a job in some humanities fields, perhaps feeling slightly neglected.
Individual societies also play a role in discovering new career paths. Student-led groups frequently organise speaker events to give students the opportunity to network and gain insight into different industries. Of course, this does mean some of the pressure to prepare graduates lies on individual societies’ shoulders, and not with the university itself.
I spoke with Nicole Chan, who studied Linguistics and English Language and graduated in July of 2025. She currently works for a non-profit organisation with which she had already been involved as a student. Her path from university straight to a full-time job is nothing short of impressive, especially when considering the state of the job market today.
Nicole tells me many of her friends struggled to find work after graduation: “they were scrambling for jobs in Edinburgh, they were scrambling for jobs back home.” She also speaks to the added pressure for international students, who not only seek a job but one that will give them sponsorship to remain in the UK. When asked how helpful the support from the university and her course was, there was not an overwhelmingly positive response. She tells me that though students on her course received emails about talks to discuss career options, not many attended because “it was just a talk.” Would more interactive workshops or networking events incite students, in that case?
Nicole herself attributes her current job to the connections she made while at university. She says: “I was lucky that I had an alumni [connection] that was already working in the current organisation that I was […] My alumni [connection] was happy to have me on the team.” This further pushes the narrative that is not what you know, but who you know. She expresses gratitude for the fact that this non-profit had a “path after you graduate,” and says that those who didn’t have society connections are struggling now. This only adds to the pressure students feel; now, not only do we have to achieve highly in their degree, we must also have a bountiful portfolio filled with extracurriculars and a network of professional connections.
Entering the job market is intimidating. We can only hope, as students, that the establishment we’ve entrusted with our education can also step up when we’re ready to leave the comfort of this institution and prepare us with the tools we need for the rest of our professional careers.
Image by Mark Chan for The Student.