Our summer intern, Skye, is in the same position as over 314,000 UK students heading to university. We've asked about her perspective regarding her future and the criteria she envisions when entering the job market.
What is important to individuals looking to enter the job market?
For the past two weeks, we had the pleasure of welcoming back Skye as a summer intern in the London office. She first came to us on her work placement during sixth-form and this year she asked to come back once more before starting university in September.
As she is in the same position as over 314,000 undergraduates in the UK, we thought we would ask about her perspective regarding her future and the criteria she envisions when entering the job market.
‘Hi, my name is Skye, I’m 18 and about to start my Economics and Geography degree in September. I’ve just completed my supporting marketing internship at Saragossa and having been in the workplace I have been asked multiple times the scary question ‘What do you want to do after university.’ So, with that in mind, here is a selection of my priorities as a young person set to be on the job search in a few years.
- Sustainability and ethics: I echo the sentiments of a lot of Gen-Z when highlighting the importance of a company meeting my ethical standards. However, whilst older employees similarly consider this significant, for us it often errs in the direction of environmental justice, DEI, addressing moral blind spots, and generally feeling as if our job is evoking a positive change in the world.
- Stability: The scars of the pandemic on people my age are clear and are informing the decisions we make. Many of us saw parents lose jobs or take pay cuts, and others don’t remember a time when the news didn’t run daily stories of financial or political catastrophes. These contributing factors make the promise of reliable income and a salary compensating for a high cost of living pretty attractive.
- A positive work environment: Gone are the days of clinically white workspaces and the isolation of cubicle offices. The emergence of millennial-filled open-plan big-tech workspaces, complete with breakout zones and table tennis, has been romanticised by a lot of young people, myself included, and left its trace uniquely. This extends to an affection for fringe benefits – from free coffees to gym memberships – that make us feel as if our well-being is cared about. Extra points go out to any companies giving out prizes when quantifiable targets are met.
My experience at Saragossa has really helped me define what a positive work environment looks like, reinforcing the importance of individualised attention from leadership, recognition of achievements, and constructive feedback. This aside, my degree is three years long and, as we have all learned over the past couple of years, the economy and job market can change significantly, so it will be interesting to see if and how my priorities change over this time.’