UAL's Career Fair Review - Painfully Mediocre
Picture this, I am a University of the Arts London graduate. One of the top two in the world for Art and Design. I eagerly accept my debt and future interest for a chance to work at Google, Apple, or Disney. Turns out, it is a bit of a stretch because being hungry and ambitious is not a valid résumé, and the companies that greeted me at the fair want me to be a receptionist or cope with a part-time job.
We've gone undercover to see what graduates were getting themselves into when they RSVP for the event.
The event
This was part of the Creative Opportunities Unlocked (UAL's newsletter) and it happened on Wednesday 23 October, 11.30 am -3.30 pm, at Central Saint Martins.
The reception was kind enough to let me use their bathroom (apparently career fair goers don't deserve to wee?), and after that, I was quick to mingle into the eager graduate crowd.
The lines were long, students were excited to get a good internship, and companies sent their best introverts to explain why minimal or unpaid work is good for you, with their quirky humour of how hard it is to repeat the same thing. Meanwhile, the cleaner getting paid less simply toughs it out on campus.
That's it...?
Because it's 2024 and we're still in a recession regardless of what people tell you, we have not yet recovered from 2020-2022, and yet the university chooses not to support you if you are a graduate from this period. (But the debt is still valid, of course.)
The variety of choices as a creative was very slim—two stands for fashion designers, one for VFX artists, and the rest were for something you could make money on the side with.
I'm not saying the presence of hospitality and other non-creative roles is necessarily a failure of the universities or fair organizers. These roles can offer valuable work experience, transferable skills, and a foot in the door to larger companies. Many successful professionals start in seemingly unrelated jobs and use those experiences to pivot into their desired careers.
BUT—there are thousands of businesses and start-ups in London looking to re-brand so letting irrelevant career opportunities set up a stand in a "prestigious" university doesn't make sense. Seems like a disappointing outcome to supply students with a variety of choices, further steering them into paths they didn't need to get a huge student loan for.
Learn from the past
Randy Pausch, an American educator who ended up working in Disney, Co-Founded ETC (Entertainment Technology Center) did a lot of things differently such as the “Edutainment” method of using video game simulation technology to teach people useful things. Pausch had big companies such as EA and Activision guaranteeing that his students get hired in a written agreement.
His collaboration with big companies like EA and Activision showed how industry partnerships can directly benefit students by ensuring they land jobs straight out of university. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, revolutionized entire industries by valuing creativity and innovation above all else. Imagine if companies today adopted their philosophies—valuing potential, passion, and creativity over rigid qualifications. We could foster a generation of truly inspired creators.
Both Pausch and Jobs were passionate about creating, and think about how companies could improve hiring just by taking their qualities into consideration.
What they're doing right
UAL gives a lot of freedom and equipment for students to work with, the social aspect like having a lot of young people in one place can be great with testing or researching that particular audience.
You've got mentorship programs. But they are dividing students based on race, gender and age which further complicates the issue instead of solving it. The intention should be to level the playing field, not create more silos. Real change comes from inclusivity and recognising everyone’s unique potential, regardless of their demographic
If we allow young creative individuals to prove themselves, look at their excitement and their CV like Randy Pausch or Steve Jobs did, and disregard the corporate mentality, we might just enter our best economic decade. Let's get big brands passionate about hiring local talent, or pride ourselves on being a great VCs and Startups hub so that our talent pool knows who to go for.
Universities could benefit from opening doors for fresh talent instead of pushing cookie-cutter paths that barely need the degrees they've awarded. The approach needs to evolve, valuing raw creativity and ambition. We could see more innovation and a richer economic landscape if they just give these young minds the respect and space to flourish.
It's a win-win: fostering creativity and driving economic growth. Imagine how invigorating the job market could be if more companies adopted this mindset.