The Durham graduate stereotype: is the lifestyle really all it is cracked up to be?
By Holly Simms
Application! Online interview! Assessment centre! Application tracking spread sheet! In person interview… This process of applying for as many ‘big city’ grad jobs as your laptop will allow you has been so excessively discussed in my house in the opening days of third year that is has become a white noise soundtrack to my day-to-day life. At a glance the opportunities appear endless for a graduate from an institution as supposedly esteemed as Durham. However, once it becomes clear how many people are applying to all of these, and just how many non-verbal reasoning tasks and virtual interviews you will have to force yourself through before you get anywhere near success, any sense of hope for your own prospects start to lose steam.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the remaining embers of hope you are left attaching to your future are stamped out the moment any older adult takes it upon themselves to share some pearls of wisdom about their first job hunt and subsequent time in London. ‘Oh well the recruiter at *insert bank/ law firm here* came to our university, took us out for a drink after a giving a talk and hired the most personable among us!’ A story such as this feels like a fairy tale to today’s soon to be graduates. The modern, more competitive, more online, and simply just dull process of seeking a city job has left many corporate aspiring graduates if their dreams of becoming ‘Mr Big’ in his Armani suits may be impossible. In today’s graduate climate, something a little more Mark Corrigan often feels a tad more tangible.
The next few years may be even harder than originally predicted for graduates to support themselves
The depressing tone of this line of discussion opens questioning as to whether this battle for a life in London is really worth it? As I speak to my peers, I am getting the feeling that the stereotypical Durham: graduate, get any city job possible that will pay an appropriate cost for your time, your sanity and most likely your soul, and live in London (ideally Clapham), pipeline is dwindling in popularity. This change in mentality does not only come from a lack of desire to work yourself to death and then have enough money to go on some cruises, but also from the reality that this simply isn’t broadly possible anymore. Kier Starmer’s election came with a sense of hope for graduates aiming to get on the housing ladder as he promised to stabilise and lower mortgage rates, claiming in his ‘fixing the foundations’ speech on August 27th, ‘this shouldn’t be a country where people are paying thousands more on their mortgage.’ However, despite these claims, across the last week the BBC have been predicting a dramatic rise in mortgage rates following a recent fall due to a cut in interest rates.
If this predicted rise occurs, the next few years may be even harder than originally predicted for graduates to support themselves, especially attempting live in London and other major cities. Even if you do manage to succeed in securing a job befitting a corporate dreamer, the combination of extortionate rent and mortgage rates may mean that the bottom rung of the property ladder is out of reach and it may be impossible to fulfil the so-called dream of becoming a young, pub going, run club joining, big city grad.
However, the good news is that the lifestyle in question is most definitely not the be all and end all. There are many other places you may want to live, and less social media catered lifestyles may lead to happiness all the same, whatever pace it takes to get there. Graduating is supposed to be an exciting time, and it really is okay to no have no idea what you want to do long term, and to be working in a field that isn’t your dream, but allows you sustain life as you make your way down the right path for you. Applying to limitless grad schemes is not essential for a Durham graduate, even if those around you may make you feel like it is.
On the cusp of my 22nd year, despite my friends constantly telling me quite how old I am, I know that there is hopefully a very long road ahead in which minds can be changed and no job or life choice has to be definitive. If the PWC graduate application process does not fall in your favour, there will be life on the other side, and it may even be more exciting and fulfilling than you expected.
Image: Gordon Griffiths/ Wikimedia Commons
