While the notion of a “lost generation” has featured prominently in discussions surrounding the effects of COVID-19 on young people, this expression has its roots in the years that followed the First World War.
Often quoted by prolific figures such as Hemmingway, the “lost generation” reflected a troubled youth for whom global war had cast a shadow of disillusionment and uncertainty.
Comparing a pandemic to a global war is to compare apples and oranges. However, like it did 100 years ago, the current situation has left many of today’s young people with a sense that the future holds more questions than ever before. While I have had the privilege of a university education, I am, in my own way experiencing what it means to be lost in the turbulent first half of 2020.
Back in late 2019, with my final year in full swing, I began to apply for grad schemes and pad-out my address book with industry contacts within both advertising and marketing. As the new decade arrived, my many subsequent hours spent on trains to London, riding the tube, and pounding pavements were resulting in fruitful conversations which grew my lofty ambition of establishing a career immediately following my graduation. I had submitted grad scheme applications and had progressed to the final interview round of an opportunity with a great company which would have marked the beginning of a promising career. As February became March, I felt unstoppable as the career I had been working towards for several years was within touching distance…
And then the ground shifted completely.
March saw universities across the country hastily closing their doors. Many students, including myself, retreated home to wrap up dissertations and final assignments in makeshift home offices. Not long after lockdown was announced, I received the email I feared from the company that had progressed me to the interview stage of their grad scheme. They regretfully informed me that the current situation prevented them from continuing the intake process and that they would be in touch when it would be safe to recommence it. A second company, whose process I was at an earlier stage of, sent an email out advising that their grad scheme would be cancelled this year to “hopefully reopen in 2021”.
With the challenges presented by adapting to working from home, I also found that some of the contacts I had acquired in London were becoming increasingly more difficult to get in touch with. The prospect of future conversations and offers of work experience were vanishing at the same rate that city offices were being vacated.
This deep uncertainty that I now faced, and how I would tackle it, led me to recall a quote from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club that “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything”. Now, while the extent of what I’ve lost pales in comparison to what others have lost during this pandemic, the disappearance of where I thought my near-future was headed has been replaced by new opportunities. With the reality that my professional career is now going nowhere fast, I have truly had valuable time to reflect on who I am, what I want, and how I am going to pursue it. In meditating on these questions, I’ve subsequently chosen to, I believe, enhance my future versatility by pursuing postgraduate study.
While I had not previously desired to follow this route, I will soon have to compete with graduates from 2020, who, like myself, are now severely lacking the prospect of any career-launching entry-level jobs. Then, there will be those graduating in 2021 who will also be seeking work in the post-COVID-19 environment. I believe that in 2021, having twice the number of graduates searching for work in a recovering jobs market will significantly lessen opportunity. If I can expand my academic qualifications further, then perhaps I can improve my odds further down the line.
Despite my new-found sense of purpose in following postgrad education, some questions still occur to me as we begin to emerge from our home offices into the ‘new normal’. Will there be jobs for graduates at organisations looking to scale back their workforces? Will salaries be depressed? How might prospects be curtailed? And at the most personal level, what becomes of my future?