Month: April 2017

Our interview with Alfie Lau, a UBC alumnus and journalist by profession, offered us informative insights into both the opportunities and challenges that can face young adults as they transition from post-secondary education into the complex and specialized job markets of the modern economy. Although Alfie completed his undergraduate degree some 20 years ago, many of his stories and experiences remain relevant to our own concerns and aspirations as undergraduate university students in the present day. While youth unemployment and underemployment numbers may have skyrocketed in Canada since the year of Alfie’s graduation in the summer of 1993, our interview revealed that feelings of uncertainty or lack of direction in the transition period from school to work are not an issue reserved only for the millennial generation. As Alfie described to us, his own path from university into his eventual profession was both uncertain and non-linear, a story which both echoes and embodies many of the difficulties now faced by educated young adults in the oversaturated and competitive work environments of 2017.

To construct a more comprehensive understanding of the specific role that university education played in Alfie’s eventual career success as a sports journalist, one of our first questions to Alfie centred on the nature of his career aspirations – or lack thereof – as a first-year student at UBC. Echoing the sentiments of young adults across the generation gap, Alfie described how his first years at UBC were not necessarily driven by aspirations to achieve success in a specific professional field, as he was at that time unsure of his own interests or passions. Rather, Alfie was extremely adamant in expressing how his path through university helped to shape and consolidate his individual strengths, allowing him to explore and discover both his likes and dislikes in different academic and practical fields. By taking a wide array of classes in different disciplines, comprised of varying demographics, Alfie was able to develop a breadth of perspective that augmented the skills and knowledge he acquired in separate but complementary fields of inquiry. He stressed for us the importance of considering education as a grounds from within which to cultivate individual qualities or to connect with other people, listing off the multiple mentors and “soft” skills which he acquired and developed throughout the four years of his undergraduate degree.

As an Arts alumnus, the acquisition of “soft” skills through participation in the latent curriculum at UBC is something that Alfie found to be incredibly important later on in his chosen professional field. As he described to us, qualities like time management, sociability, communication skills, and adaptability, were all inevitably developed through the years of his enrolment at university, and all contributed later on to his success in a diverse and fast-paced industry that tends to reward initiative and flexibility along with reliable, stable performances at work. These types of skills proved invaluable to Alfie in a job market that often inexplicitly functions on the basis of social capital and networking ability in the cultivation of individual opportunities. In many ways, Alfie’s description of his time at UBC stressed the importance of certain facets of UBC’s hidden curriculum over the actual “hard” skills he was taught as an English major, a point which often reoccurs in discussions that centre on the value of an Arts degree in a society that so often paints CEOs and software engineers as the ultimate points of aspiration for ambitious young adults.

While Alfie did consider his university education to have played a fundamental role in his eventual successful entrance into the job market, he was also quite willing to speak about the feelings of uncertainty and trepidation that often accompanied him both during and after his years as an undergraduate student at UBC. He explained to us that while school did provide him with a repertoire of interpersonal skills, it did not necessarily deposit him at the end onto an easy or linear road forward into secure employment. In fact, he described specifically how the months after his graduation were spent in fluctuating periods of under or unemployment, and how his eventual career as a journalist was preceded by 5 years of what he described to us as “soul killing” work in corporate communications. Alfie’s choice to transfer his writing skills (then used to file quarterly reports) to the more exciting and eclectic field of journalism was facilitated by both luck and personal initiative, combined through the multiple opportunities provided by his far-reaching and diverse social network. In making this transition, he was clear that he did sacrifice a certain measure of predictability and financial security to pursue a profession that he ultimately found to be more personally rewarding.

The types of risks or uncertainties that are associated with pursuing ones passions are omnipresent in the competitive job markets of the modern day, and Alfie’s story provides an effective recount of how personal application and a willingness to learn, in combination with a certain amount of luck and pre-existing social capital, can produce individual opportunities for advancement. In closing, Alfie left us with a striking piece of advice that seems applicable to any situation, either within or outside of the educational and professional institutions that shape so many of our interactions throughout the changing years of our lives. Alfie explained to us that an individual’s attitude can drastically effect or alter the nature of their experiences and opportunities both positively and negatively, and one of the greatest skills he brought out of his years as a UBC undergraduate student was an ability to approach new situations with initiative and an open mind. In his own words, successful learning “requires a willingness to just put yourself out there… it’s easy to be 1 of 300 students. It’s much harder to be the one in 300 who speaks out. Find people who are different from you, and learn from them. Those are the people who are going to teach you the most.”

Generation Lateralization

by Rachel Jin, Emma Tkach, Mackenzie Cameron, Micah Solis

In the employment market today, Canadian youth are often referred to as “Generation Jobless.” With an unemployment rate of almost 15%, and an even scarier underemployment rate (the rate of graduate students in low-skilled jobs often unrelated to their degree), this social problem is becoming crippling to our economy and society. Burdened with debt, working in minimum wage jobs, and caught in a time of rapid globalization and technological advancement, it is often overwhelming to consider the transition from university to the seemingly bleak work world.

In an interview about this transition and her career, Ava gives us insight into her rather maze-like journey through various institutions, interests, and jobs throughout her career and her perspective on building skills laterally and the role of university in people’s lives.

Instead of going straight into university after high school, Ava originally attended a smaller college, which she acknowledges largely helped her in building maturity and transitioning from a young, confused high schooler to her adult self, discovering her independence and passions. Her time in college, as Durkheim would argue, helped socialize her for “life in broader society,” and upon entering university, she was prepared for the transition. At UBC, while she considered several disciplines including sociology and law, she decided to complete a Bachelor of Arts combined major in Political Science and History, which gave her a strong foundation for pursuing her Bachelor of Education, and later, a Master’s in Clinical Counselling. Ava’s journey, however, was far from straight-forward or linear. From pursuing acting jobs during her studies to volunteering with at-risk youth in the Downtown Eastside to working as an online therapist through Zoom Therapy, Ava was exposed to a variety of people of different cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and psychological conditions. What is perhaps most remarkable about Ava is not simply that her lateralization of experiences has allowed her to gain expertise in many fields, making herself more employable, but rather the fact that her creative and business minds have fused to find a chain of opportunities within this lateralization that seamlessly inform each other. Ava admits, for example, that working with high-risk youth in a program called TREK 2000 left no room for insecurity, and she was forced to be completely authentic. She also has a successful career in acting, and as any good actor knows, creating engaging characters requires the ability to empathize with various struggles, desires, and actions in order to motivate their behaviour with a personal authenticity and vulnerability. Interacting with diverse individuals and portraying diverse characters has helped Ava develop a deeper understanding of personal emotion and the human condition, later giving her a more compassionate and empathetic interpretation of her patients when she became a clinical counsellor.

Analyzing Ava’s story using the sociological imagination, her personal journey can be translated into looking at the wider postgraduate student population. Like the young Ava, many young people today are faced with insecurity and indecision about their futures and struggle with the question of how to combine their interests, passions, and skills into one hybrid career. When asked for advice to university students, Ava suggested that contrary to popular belief, a more traditional, linear educational path is perhaps less valuable given the demands of the modern work world. Perhaps the key to career fulfillment is not to focus on the normative career path of education to degree completion to stable long-term job. The reality is, the large majority of today’s youth will switch companies, positions, and even careers a number of times throughout their lives. Having a varied skill set to pull from is now far more attractive to employers than a straightforward degree with little life experience. In addition, it is important nowadays to build one’s skill-set in a more “lateral” sense, gaining experience and forming networking connections in a variety of areas and disciplines. As a result, even if one career path does not work out, there is no risk of losing one’s personal identity as a diverse skillet enables the pursuit of multiple different paths.

This relatively new approach to education and career pursuit demonstrated in Ava’s story is a drastic change from the traditional role of education as an institution. Traditionally, the narrowly generalized core functions of the education system are Socialization, Selection, and Legitimation. From this perspective, the role of the university would be to give students knowledge of skills and norms to integrate into society, select students for designated careers, and assign official credentials to legitimize achievement. This system, however, is being both deinstitutionalized and expanded. In terms of the deinstitutionalization of the traditional career path, there are important changes occurring surrounding the norms of education and the employment market. Instead of a university degree guaranteeing students a stable job as it may have done for our parents or grandparents, education today is only a piece of the puzzle. While the role of an undergraduate degree, whether in Arts or elsewhere, still provides us with a bureaucratized sense of legitimacy and is an important stepping stone towards our career goals, life experiences and involvement in both our local and global communities shape our values and skills to properly prepare us for integration into the work world. Thus, the role of the education system is being expanded in this essential way, perhaps adding a new Hidden Curriculum to the role of the university: diverse experience and human interactions.

Although formal university degrees were necessary certifications, the diverse opportunities that Ava pursued such as acting, volunteering with at-risk youth, and online therapy work were what made her a unique and valuable candidate to employers and opened doors for her to pursue her passions and interests. From a sociological perspective, Ava’s experience can be seen as an example of young people in the modern employment market, where the ability to combine a varied skill-set is essential to integration into the work world.

 

Our group had the privilege of interviewing Debbie West, an alumni of UBC who has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology, as well as a Masters in Anthropology and Masters in Social Work. Currently employed by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) as a therapist at her own private practice, Debbie West helps individuals heal from trauma and manage depression, anxiety, and loss. Her interest in exploring one’s identity and one’s “true-self,” as well as her desire to help individuals overcome personal struggles drew Debbie to the field of therapy and eventually, to set up her own practice. During the interview, it became evident that her love for art (painting, writing fiction and poetry) is an important part of her identity and thus, is a special component to her counselling practices. Debbie’s unique transition from her education to her career dispels the misconception that your university degree defines your career. Debbie’s path illustrates that giving your interests and passions the room to develop throughout your degree will help you navigate your education such that it leads you to a career that is personally meaningful to you.

 

Post-secondary education was not the norm in Debbie’s family. The concept of pursuing post-secondary education for Debbie was not discussed in her household. However, Debbie was driven to learn, even if it meant deviating from her family’s beliefs and expectations. From a sociological perspective, she may have made this choice because post-secondary education is often required to compete in the labour market. Even though Debbie entered university as a mature student, she expressed that she often doubted herself; perhaps being an older student and lacking the support from her family alienated her, which deterred her abilities to relate to her peers – a concept demonstrated by the homophily principle. Further, there were  times when she questioned whether she could handle the workload and demands of university. Nonetheless, her passion for learning and perseverance  resulted in the receival of a dual bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology. Therein, she wishes her first-year self had been more confident, and advises current first-year students to believe in themselves.

 

Supported by her professors, Debbie decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Anthropology at UBC shortly after receiving her undergraduate degree. During her Masters, Debbie had the opportunity to work at the UBC Hospital as a social worker where she developed clinical skills and realized her passion for helping others to overcome trauma. Spending time in the acute psychiatry ward, interacting with patients and families she was motivated to pursue a second Master’s degree in Social Work. Debbie was confident that a Master’s degree in Social Work could open doors to a career she loved. Additionally, she required the Master’s degree to support the work she was doing at the hospital.

 

Debbie’s transition from university to career overlapped with her university life. She was already working in the hospital under the condition that she was going to get her masters in social work. She said that acquiring her degree enabled her to succeed in her job as it made the transition between the two very simple for her. When asked what advice she would give to students who are graduating now, she said that the most important thing that has changed is that the world has become smaller with the implementation of technology and communication devices. She advised that students value the relationships that they make and that their network will play a large role in a student’s career path. This can relate to Activity 1, where we had learned the pervasiveness of networks in our lives. What we learned in class was reaffirmed when we heard Debbie, someone currently working in the field reinforce it.

 

Currently, working as a counsellor, Debbie’s unique experiences and background, including battling cancer earlier in life facilitates her ability to empathize with her patients. She enjoys working with patients to help them overcome difficulties they’re facing as she considers it an honour to be a part of people’s journeys and transformation. She also works with the VCH, where she treats patients who suffer from addiction. A very broad social issue, addiction is treated in a highly individualized and personal manner, as no two cases are the same. Therefore, as a therapist, Debbie takes on large social issues but hones in on each individual’s experiences. It was obvious that Debbie thoroughly enjoys her work and feels a sense of satisfaction in doing so. She expressed that she’s always looking for a way to propel her career, especially during periods of stagnancy. When asked how her career would change had she not been already working at the hospital at the time of getting her Masters in Social Work, she said she would have most likely worked with nonprofit organizations.

 

Although it wasn’t a norm in her family, Debbie’s self-motivation enabled her to pursue and accomplish a double major undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees. Her unconventional education path is a testament about how following ones passions can lead people to a career in which they have valuable contributions to offer. While many students in university follow a linear path, the branches in Debbie’s educational path have helped her thrive with a career that she loves. Debbie’s transition illustrates that your post-secondary education helps define your career, but not to the extent that most students believe. With that said, Debbie’s career also demonstrates that your background doesn’t define your success. Rather the unique barriers one faces, be it gender, race, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation, will play a pivotal role in how one navigates and defines their success. While each individual faces unique barriers, exploring the intersection of your passion, experiences, and your work will set you apart in the workforce. Debbie’s story is a reminder that university is an opportunity for self-exploration, finding your interests, and meeting like-minded individuals. Therefore, as students, it’s important for us to acknowledge our passions, to have the courage to accept challenges throughout our degree and our careers.

The alumni we interviewed, Jake, had a path from education to the workforce that was not one set in stone. In fact, one of the biggest challenges for him was overcoming his uncertainties about his career. Despite these obstacles, it was clear that Jake’s education choices stemmed from a place of socialization, selection and legitimization. His education environment, as well as self-motivated attitude equipped him with the necessary hard skills and soft skills for a smooth transition into the workforce.

 

Jake’s education before post-secondary was private, providing Jake with access to an abundance of resources, which could be have contributed to his success in the education system and would have been an example of differential preparation. Jake mentioned, however, that despite the prestigious education he received, that his personal ownership of learning is what equipped him with different skills and experience, social skills being one of his most valuable take-aways from university.

 

He expressed that first year navigation from dependence to independence can be eased by integrating oneself into extra-curricular activities as it can provide a sense of belonging and direction. As a proactive member of the student body, Jake volunteered for a variety of organizations and participated in recreational sports. This contributed to his informal learning, where he has the opportunity to learn from his peers. A political club in particular gave him opportunities to put theoretical concepts taught in the classroom into practice by participating in local, student politics.

 

His interest in politics continued into his decision to pursue law, which was also instigated by family expectations to build his credentials. He prioritized the legitimacy of his credentials, where school prestige played a large role in the institutions he attended. All the while, he contemplated pursuing other disciplines such as medicine and outdoor recreation. His final choice of a tertiary (service) occupation aligned with social expectations. In Jake’s case, his law degree provided him with the certifications to obtain a job in law. Due to the desperate call for lawyers at the time of his graduation, he was able to find work instantly. Whereas today, more and more credentials are necessary to obtain the same job that only required a bachelor’s degree in the past.

 

While Jake practiced law for a short time, it was not the right path for him and he decided to continue his education by enrolling in a business management program at Harvard Business School. Jake’s exploration of multiple academic paths exemplifies the sociological phenomenon where people now explore multiple career paths before deciding what to do. This occupational fluidity is now the norm. Finding a career in today’s society depends largely on the credentials that an individual holds. This overall increase of accredited individuals has resulted in the filtering of qualifications, and spurred on an overall more competitive work market. Jake reflects this general trend of moving towards a knowledge society, where economic growth positively correlates with labour productivity.

 

Jake now runs a conglomerate, where his roles vary every week. This month alone he negotiated a trademark agreement abroad, discussed financial strategies with a commercial bank, supported a film company owned by his group, and made time for a family vacation. While Jake admits that aspects of his career path made him put his social life on hold,  he is now happily married with kids. Being a parent he sees the importance of providing his children with quality educators.

 

Jake’s philosophy on education it is preparatory for one to start a career, but that there is also an element of “fake it ‘til you make it.”  An emphasis was placed on the importance of being a well-rounded degree individual, with an academic and work portfolio that showcases diversity. Jake. encourages students to test their boundaries and pay more attention to opportunities than just their grades alone. He challenges the societal norms of intelligence and sees the institution of schools as a place not only to growing in terms of gaining knowledge, but as a place of creating experiences and developing key social connections.

 

Jakes human capital grew by engaging and interacting with people involved in a variety of interests. Jake accredits his success now to the hard skills he gained in the rigorous academic setting, but mainly to the soft skills he obtained participating in extracurriculars. These two kinds of skills, along with an ideal job market for his field of study made the school-to-work transition a relatively smooth one for him.

 

For this assignment, the alumni we interviewed (hereafter will be referred to as X) is currently employed as a project manager for a team-building company. Prior to X’s current job, X obtained a number of different degrees and worked in a very different field than they do now. Initially, X attended UBC in order to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Education, specializing in teaching French Immersion at an Elementary level. X also received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a Critical Studies in Sexuality minor. However, they saw getting a degree in Psychology as simply a prerequisite for getting a Bachelor’s degree in Education, remarking that they “did it for fun” and went about working toward this degree with a “‘let’s try it’ mentality”. After gaining qualification, X spent five years as a teacher, but realized that the education field was not for them. One problem X faced was that everything they did prior to this realization was geared toward being employed as a teacher. While teaching, however, X noticed that they enjoyed planning the extracurricular events students would take part in, such as Sports Days and talent shows. In order to explore the fields of event planning and business, X went on leave from teaching for a period of three years, and is currently in their second year of leave. X then found multiple volunteering positions that would allow them to gain event coordination experience, and later became involved with a party supply company. In addition, X is currently a part time student at BCIT to study and gain experience in event planning and marketing.

As a group, we started by analyzing the alumni’s transition through a structural functionalist perspective. Structural functionalists see education as an institution with the purpose of providing individuals with means to obtain careers in specialized fields. However, the extent to which education leads to a predetermined career can be limited. For example, X states that specific personality traits and gaining practical experience makes a more significant difference when working as a teacher. In order to be successful as a teacher, it is crucial that one is able to handle stress and engage in emotional labour – the process of managing and controlling one’s feelings in order to achieve what is required of them. X notes that these skills were not taught, nor mentioned at UBC, where the focus was mainly theoretical. It is important to note that education does hold significant value, as many fields want their prospective employees to have background knowledge in addition to necessary skills and experience. However, X’s case illustrates how education does not always provide the foundation for a stable career. A degree alone is not be sufficient for a smooth transition into the workplace.

The reality of the structural functionalist approach is also limited once the prospect of career-switching is considered. Namely, career-building for many people is no longer linear, and often includes job shifts, or in the case of X – complete shifts in careers. Durkheim’s functionalist view of everyone studying for one specific job does not account for changes in career paths, unless perhaps in the sense that it leads to people leaving careers they are not suited for. Durkheim also points out that mechanistic societies (such as Canada) are characterized by a complex division of labour. This is functional because workers are no longer as instrumental since substitutes are easily found, but once career linearity is abandoned, this means some people face the danger of falling through the cracks once they no longer fit into the idealized division of labour.

In a sense, such failure of perfect division of labour is an evidence of how rationalization of education and workforce can go awry. The education system is in place to transition students into more efficient workers, but in X’s case the message professors gave them in university was that they would need to work for 5 years to see if teaching was truly a good fit. Considering they gave up teaching as soon as 5 years passed, this was hardly a rational decision as it only led to frustration and waste of time. Another example of such ‘irrationality of rationality’ evident in X’s account is the notion that X feels alienated in their current job due to the highly competitive and hierarchical bureaucratic environment. X said they felt uncomfortable, after years in teaching which they saw as being more focused on teamwork and collective efforts. While seen as justifiable and rational, encouraged competition among workers may ultimately hinder functionality as it induces feelings of discomfort which may lower workers’ motivation. Again, students are not explicitly taught to deal with such environmental demands, making the education-career shift more stressful.
In addition, by living in a credentialed society, there is a belief amongst students that grades and getting a higher education are the two most important factors that matter within the realm of academia and career. X’s own career experience shows that although this current perception of the importance of educational credentials is widely applicable, it is actually limited. Only when X decided to switch careers did they realize that social capital, the collective value of all of one’s social network, can at times be more important than educational credentials. X studied 3 classes in BCIT regarding events planning and coordination in order to get credentials. Although this helped them know more about that field, what ultimately aided them in landing a job were the connections (mostly weak ties) that they made while volunteering. Since the events industry in Vancouver is small, everybody knows everybody and companies hire people through their social network- through “word of mouth”. Moreover, our alumni shed light on the fact that degrees provide a claim of competence and status but they aren’t necessarily what gets an individual a job. Social capital also offers various benefits, one of which is the advantage of weak social ties – the type of social ties that can help one gain access to more possible employment opportunities.

Sarah* grew up in Surrey, British Columbia where she attended Sullivan Heights Secondary school. She came to UBC in 2005 graduating in 2009 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Anthropology. Sarah had part-time experience in fast-paced environments, through this she learnt she wanted a career in an office-setting. During her university career, she held a part-time job doing transcriptions for movies which gained her typing experience, that she later transferred to the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF). At RHF, she started doing part-time data entry and clerical work during her third and fourth year. After graduation from UBC, Sarah moved to a full-time position as an Assistant of Human Resources Operations and Finance at RHF while continuing her education at Kwantlen Polytechnic University to get her diploma in HR. She completed her Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) exam and felt she did not need to continue in her diploma program. Once her contract ended at RHF in 2012, she moved to YWCA as a HR Coordinator, gaining the experience she needed to move back to UBC as a HR Coordinator in Enrolment Services in October 2015.

Looking back at her first-year self, Sarah gave us advice to be easier on ourselves during our time at UBC and advice on how to get ahead. Something she would’ve differently done was to take more than 4 years to complete her degrees. As she said, going from a full-time student with a part-time job to a full-time student with a full-time job was too taxing on her wellbeing. She also regrets not taking time in her youth to travel when the opportunity presented itself, such as, GoGlobal or work coops that UBC or her high school offered. She was so focused on finishing school in the 4 year time frame that she felt that she missed out on a great experience that most of the friends participated in. Lastly, Sarah emphasized how much her extensive work experience helped secure a full-time position after graduation. She told us that gaining transferable skills was crucial for our future endeavors. And that we must use our social networks as much as possible, not only to lean on throughout our studies or our transition into careers, but to help us get ahead and create links in the working world.

Sarah’s degree has played somewhat of a role in her current career. But at large, we would say that it was just an accumulation of transferable skills that led her down her career path. It seems that it wasn’t so much about having an arts degree that might have been what launched her career or held it back. Firstly, Sarah started gaining real-life working skills prior to graduating from UBC, at RHF where she was doing data entry and clerical work. She was able to get this position because she had gained required skills like typing and authoritative skills from previous jobs. And once she graduated with a diploma, Sarah was able to move up in her job because of her new position in the world, with a post-secondary education. As we all know a post-secondary education in our society is seen a valuable and respectable, therefore enabling Sarah to move up from her current position. It gained her more authority and independence, as she was no longer seen as a student. However, Sarah’s personal degree did help her in her position as a human resource person. Her Political Science major helped as she said it was a field that analysed power relations, which helped in her understand workplace relations. As well as her Anthropology minor, a field that studies human culture, helped her understand people she would work with and come to interview.

As we understood the transitions of Sarah and her friends, we found that there were two distinct groups that emerged after graduation; One being the people who figure out what they wanted to do during university and figured out a degree they enjoyed that would help them: such as Sarah, who always knew that she wanted an office job, liked the business side of political science and gained the experience prior to leaving university. Whereas the other group didn’t figure out what they wanted in a career by pursuing post-secondary education. So, they held many different jobs throughout university and they got a degree in something they liked, or were good at. They continued to wander after school while travelling or holding odd jobs here and there to try and figure out their interest. As for Sarah personally, her transition was much smoother. Having started at the RHF prior to graduation, she was successfully promoted to a full-time position after graduation. Sarah found the transition from university to society was like the transition from high school to university, as she described it. Like we said, she already had an idea for what she wanted to do with her life, and had gained skills that she needed to help her get there. The biggest emphasis she had during the interview was on gaining transferable skills while you have the time to do so. Had Sarah not gained the skills she gained during her university experience, she may have never gotten the job at RHF which was where she began her HR career. She believes that that was why her transition to the working in today’s society was so smooth, because she had already acquired the skills necessary to compete in the working world. And while some friends couldn’t stick to one job for the required time to gain those skills, those who did, like Sarah, moved into the working world with ease.

Through our interview with Sarah, we found her experience from education to work to be relatively smooth. She held a stable part time job since third year that transformed into a stable full time job after graduation. Sarah never experienced long bouts of unemployment and was relatively lucky with employment opportunities after one had ended. However, society shows us that it is not that easy for recent university graduates. Finding stable employment is difficult even with a undergraduate degree, and not many are as lucky as Sarah when it comes to the transition of university to the work force.