We're very excited to tell you about The Graduate Alphabet: An A-Z for Life After University.
Sarah-Jane from our friends at LICC compiled various graduate voices that make up the book, and has written a few thoughts:
I want to talk about the big G… Graduation. Oh yes, that mixed marker that signals, ‘Yes I did it!’ and equally, ‘Argh what on earth am I going to do next?!’
Most students don’t really want to talk about life after university.
I know when I was in final year I was far more preoccupied by my dissertation and soaking up every last drop of the uni experience. But the great irony is, that when I’ve spoken to graduates now in the workplace they all wish that they (and their churches and student groups) had chatted about it more!
I listened to 450 young adults who shared their experiences of entering the working world through an online survey. Overwhelmingly people felt underprepared for the changes in life that come at this transition point.
One girl put it like this,
“For the first time in my life, I didn't have something to come back to in September. So many years of naturally progressing to the next educational step and now I faced what seemed like a huge cliff-edge. The uncertainty was terrifying. Then when I did have a job, life was just so different from before. It was really disorientating.”
This is why Fusion has joined forces with the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) to write The Graduate Alphabet – An A-Z for Life After University.
It’s a fun, light-hearted book that travels quickly from Adulthood to Jobs to Xena Warrior Princess to paint a wide-ranging picture of the realities of life after university. It celebrates the many opportunities of this new stage of life, but doesn't shy away from the hard bits either by offering practical wisdom to prepare graduates for its particular challenges.
Let’s start those conversations.
Student workers - Let’s not just build great student work, let’s grow disciples that will walk with Jesus their whole lives long. Students - Let’s not settle for being graduates who ‘survive’ the transition into the working world, let’s thrive with a faith that expects to see more of God at work in this next chapter.
The Graduate Alphabet is available to buy here for £5.
