Graduating university is an exciting yet nerve-wracking time for students. Many leave with high hopes but no recent graduate could have imagined that a pandemic would halt those dreams indefinitely.

Career counsellor Dr John Taccori says some graduates, including those in the arts, manufacturing, entertainment, entrepreneurial, property, media, and sports sectors, have found it hard to enter the workforce in their chosen career.

“Job prospects are difficult for university graduates who were hoping to go into sectors that were hit hard by COVID-19,” he says.

Dr Taccori says new graduates should start thinking outside the box and focus on their transferable skills if they are finding it hard to obtain work in their chosen field.

“Traditionally nearly 50% of new graduates work in sectors that are totally different to their area of specialisation at university.”
Ellie Boxhall, a media and tourism graduate, is one of those heavily affected by the significant loss of job prospects in her area of expertise.

“The pandemic hit and the industry that I had spent four years working whole-heartedly towards suddenly didn’t exist,” she says.

“While I have come to terms with most of the impacts of COVID-19, the fear of limited opportunities still looms over me.”

Graduates like Boxhall are relying on volunteer work and networking opportunities to further careers during this troubling time, as both the state and national unemployment figures continue to rise. However, graduates seeking work in the ‘essential’ industries are feeling no shortage of work opportunities in the increasingly fragile job market.

“At the peak of the first wave of COVID, healthcare workers were very highly sought after, so I had high hopes of getting a job,” says Patrick Meany, a nursing graduate.

Nevertheless, those who did manage to obtain work during COVID-19 found other challenges to overcome within the workplace.

Caitlyn Van Essen, a graduate with a specialisation in criminology, was accepted into a paid graduate program but soon realised she would also experience changes because of the pandemic.

“As a graduate, our training was dramatically affected. We transitioned from monthly face-to-face training to now scattered online training throughout the year. Likewise, the workload was altered drastically.”

Van Essen is not alone in this experience, with many companies forced to change the way they train new employees and distribute their services to comply with COVID-19 health practices.

However, with Tasmania passing 60 days of no new COVID cases, many workplaces are slowly making the transition back to the office.