Like the majority of my fourth-year friends, it is now mid-October, and I am already dreading going home for Christmas and hearing: “So, what are you doing after graduation?”
It is a perfectly reasonable question. After all, I am in my final year of university, and surely four years of higher education should have equipped me with some semblance of a plan. My family would be justified in asking, particularly given that I have made some rather spontaneous decisions throughout my life (including moving abroad, doing Race2, etc.). Yet, as much as I anticipate the question from relatives over Christmas dinner, it is one I have been asking myself for months.
What do I actually want? Where do I see myself next year, let alone in five years? And, perhaps most importantly, how on earth is everyone else figuring this out?
This summer, I had the opportunity to complete a merchandising and buying internship, my first proper nine-to-five job. I learnt about the fashion industry’s buying process, worked across different departments, and got a glimpse of what life beyond university might look like. For the first time, the abstract concept of a career began to feel tangible.
I could see myself working in fashion, particularly in a creative or communications-focused role. I love the combination of business, trends, storytelling and understanding what makes people tick. But I study IR, and I am not quite ready to abandon the possibility of a career connected to politics, whether that means working for an NGO, exploring intelligence, or finding some other way to put my degree to use.
Then there is the question of where.
Like many St Andrews students, I have flirted with the idea of moving to London. I love the city, and the prospect of starting my career somewhere new. It’s also comfortable knowing my university friends will potentially be there. Manchester has also crossed my mind. So has New York. And, of course, there is always the possibility of returning to San Francisco, where I grew up.
But, moving abroad is not quite as simple as booking a flight and finding a flat. There are work visas to consider, graduate schemes with varying eligibility requirements, relocation costs, and the practicalities of actually securing a job before arriving.
There is also the unspoken pressure to make the right decision. We are constantly encouraged to think about our futures, build our CVs, secure internships, network on LinkedIn and apply for graduate schemes months before we have even finished our degrees. By fourth year, it can feel as though everyone is racing towards a finish line that nobody has properly explained.
And, it is difficult not to compare. Someone has secured a graduate scheme. Someone else has an offer in London. Another friend is planning to travel around Southeast Asia, while somebody else seems perfectly content to move home and work out their next step later.
Meanwhile, I am opening LinkedIn before even getting out of bed, checking job alerts and wondering whether I should apply for more positions, apply for different ones, or abandon the whole process to travel for six months.
Recently, I have even considered taking a gap year, or at least a gap summer. There is something appealing about giving myself the time to travel, experience somewhere new and exist without immediately moving from one commitment to another.
I should probably clarify that I am not writing this from the other side of the graduate-job-search experience. I do not have a signed contract, a five-year plan or a particularly profound answer to the question of what comes next. I am very much still in the thick of it.
But, there are a few things I have learnt along the way.
Apply widely, but be intentional.
My current strategy is to cast a relatively wide net within the industries I am genuinely interested in. For me, that means fashion, marketing, communications and creative roles, while keeping an eye on opportunities connected to politics and international affairs.
I look at brands, companies and organisations I can actually imagine myself working for. I, then, search for their graduate schemes, internships and entry-level positions. This was the approach I took when looking for a summer internship, and it helped me focus my energy on opportunities that excited me rather than applying indiscriminately. There is a balance between being open-minded, and applying for a job simply because it exists.
Take the process one step at a time.
It is easy to look at a job application, and immediately imagine the entire process: the CV, the cover letter, the dreaded HireVue, the first interview, the second interview, the assessment centre, and finally the possibility of being rejected after weeks of anticipation.
Make the opportunities come to you.
I have turned on job notifications, signed up for email alerts, followed relevant companies on LinkedIn, and subscribed to job boards that advertise opportunities suited to my interests and eligibility. I check my emails and job alerts regularly so I can spot new opportunities early, rather than relying on a last-minute scroll through LinkedIn at midnight.
If you are looking for work abroad, particularly in the UK as an international applicant, it is also worth checking visa eligibility and sponsorship requirements before investing too much time in an application.
Allow yourself to change your mind.
I have spent years working towards a degree, building experience and trying to position myself for whatever comes next. It feels strange to acknowledge that, despite all of that preparation, I might not know exactly what I want.
But, perhaps, that is the point. An internship can reveal what you enjoy, just as much as it can reveal what you do not. A job you thought you wanted might turn out to be wrong for you. A city you never considered might become home. A gap year might be exactly what you need, or you might discover that you are ready to start working straight away.
But, maybe, that is what makes this stage of life so exciting, even when it feels completely overwhelming. For the first time, the next chapter is not already written into a timetable. There is no single prescribed route, no correct answer, and no guarantee that the plan you make today will be the one you follow tomorrow.
So, if you are also in your fourth year, staring at graduate applications and wondering whether everyone else has received some secret instruction manual, I suspect the answer is no.
We are all just trying to work it out.
And when Christmas comes around, perhaps we can give ourselves permission to answer that dreaded question honestly: I am not entirely sure yet, but I am figuring it out.