After Graduation

Hi there postgrad students!

How are your final projects taking shape? Ethics approvals before the summer break, final submissions right after, and then the most daunting step of all: what comes next after graduation? Sorry to bother with the insurmountable claim, it is not personal. I don't know the answer myself, and to be fair, I have applied to so many governance internships and part-time barista positions, changing my CV over and over and over again to match the requirements of the job, that at this point I'm pretty sure I must have presented myself as latte-art-cyber-specialist at least once. It has been really exhausting, not to mention the daily work of the masters. But I have had some learnings along the way that might be of help if you are looking for the next big step as I am.

A few weeks ago, I jumped into a book called "The Career Workbook", from The School of Life. This little manual is less of a how-to-do-it and more related to the “why” of getting a job. Its premise is that we often focus too much on matching skills to a job title (and treating the position as an end in itself), instead of thinking about the daily tasks that the job will have, and with that, the level of enjoyment and fulfilment that we will be able to get from them. The book presents a series of pleasure points of work, some sort of quasi-objective characteristics. I will share each in a bit, but the interesting part is that what is enjoyable about a job changes from person to person (and that is actually how the workforce should work) and also, the answers to joy can be (most times) found in our childhood. So I ask: what did you love to do when you were a kid? How did you spend your time? What are your most valuable memories? The pleasure points the book presents, which can give us a clue of our biggest source of joy are: pleasure of making money, of beauty, of creativity, of understanding, of self-expression, of technology, of helping other people, of leading, of teaching, of independence, of order and of nature.

I went through the whole workbook and for me, top priorities are self-expression, order and understanding. But even after learning this about myself, I was still applying to endless positions. I even subscribed to one of these AI automatic application sites. This is, of course, statistically wise, but it is not quite fulfilling. It wasn't until I got an interview at a job that I really really liked and it all went pretty well until, because of a geographical barrier, I wasn't able to continue the process. I was so frustrated because I was perfect for the job; I was just not standing at the right place. Or better said, at the place that they needed, because I am in fact in my right place. The thing about all these exhausting application processes is that they are designed and structured to make us feel that not getting the position is personal, like it’s our fault. But every position out there has a specific time, a specific budget, a specific description and it is impossible for us to control all of that and it is ok to let go.

This leads me to my third finding. Each application, each CV iteration, each refusal is training us and making us wiser for the next one. I saw a video saying that the version of ourselves after ten applications is way better than the version who has submitted just one. So, going back to the big next step, whether you are starting to think of it, are in the middle of application processes, or have already landed a position, this might be your sign to stop and think about what actually brings you joy, before getting fully committed to a fierce and competitive job market. You know, my grandma has this saying: if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life. So find what brings you joy, and then keep applying and continue growing so the right job finds the right version of yourself at the right place and at the right time. After all, maybe the latte-art-cyber-specialist search is really taking me closer to my dream job.

If you do not know where to start after graduation

You can visit UAL's Career and Employability website where you will find resources, workshops, 1 to 1 sessions and opportunities.

Post-Grad Stories

Post-Grad Stories is a thriving online platform of postgraduate voices. Here you can share thought-provoking experiences, practices, thoughts and articles about what matters to you.

Do you have a story you want to share? You can email us at pgcommunity@arts.ac.uk.