With no employment prospects, Emma applied to do a Masters degree in Popular Literature, in the hope that the specialisation will enhance her employability

Even offering to work for no pay did nothing to improve Emma Keaveney’s prospects of getting a job when she graduated this year.

Like a lot of her contemporaries, on leaving college the 22-year-old was open to taking up an unpaid internship that would have provided valuable experience.

Emma, of Killaloe,Co Clare, finished a four-year degree in English Literature and Film Studies in Trinity College this summer.

Ultimately, she hopes to have a career as a writer, working in film or television. But, as her final year rolled on, Emma got a sense of the lack of opportunities in the workplace for the class of 2009.

"A lot of people were looking around for internships as we came up to our finals. I was willing to work unpaid, but no one was being taken on.

"In one company they said there were already too many people doing the work of a few."

Emma was aware that not having chosen a course with a vocational focus, such as teaching or nursing, she was less likely to walk into a tailor-made career, but she didn’t expect to be surrounded by such a level of uncertainty on graduation.

"People are unsure as to whether to stay or whether to go. A lot of people I know are biding their time to see what will happen."

With no employment prospects, Emma, like a lot of her friends, finally applied to do a Masters degree in Popular Literature, in the hope that the specialisation will enhance her employability.

"I hadn’t intended doing a Masters degree immediately. I wanted to get out and work and earn a bit of money.

"But, I wasn’t going to get a job within the next couple of years."

So, Emma sat down with her parents and decided that it would be better to continue her studies.

Katherine Donnelly