Testimonies of entrepreneurial success and no less exciting accounts of a ‘day in the life’ of young people entering the local job market were the focus of the event organised by GradRoutes Guernsey, the island’s dedicated initiative for encouraging young university graduates back to the island.
It sought to highlight opportunities with graduate schemes, internships, and career pathways available to those potentially interested in making a return to the island post-degree, as well as to share the reality of what life on Guernsey looks like for young professionals.
‘Over time, some students simply lose touch with what’s happening back home, and here in Guernsey there’s employers from a wide range of sectors looking for talented people with fresh perspectives and valuable skills,’ said GradRoutes project lead Michelle Morley.
‘GradRoutes Guernsey is really here to try and help bridge that gap, and this event is about helping graduates, students, school leavers, and young professionals understand the opportunities that are available in Guernsey.’
Michelle sought to emphasise the breadth of the opportunities available to graduates, which, she said, far exceed the narrow borders of finance and the public sector, as often perceived.
Even within those sectors, though, which statistically constitute an approximate third of the workforce, there is, according to Michelle, rather a lot more diversity than is often seen.
‘It’s very important to note that finance isn’t just numbers, and the public sector covers many different roles and responsibilities,’ she said. ‘HR and recruitment, marketing and communications, digital and technology – you’ll find it all in finance, you’ll find it all in the public sector.’
Two local entrepreneurs shared their unique forays into business, with current student Mia Edgworth describing her success founding Channel Tutoring, alongside graduate Georgia Jackson, who founded digital marketing start-up Roam Creative.
‘I did my A-levels, and in particular media was my favourite subject, so I decided to go to Bournemouth University and do media production,’ Georgia said.
‘I was convinced that I would never find a job in Guernsey. A lot of people, I think, believe that there’s no opportunities in Guernsey, and that is not true at all.’
Believing opportunity to be scarce, Georgia began her career in London, working in marketing for a jewellery company for four years before setting out on her own.
‘I decided I was going to start my own business in August 2024 – and I actually was travelling and working at the same time,’ she said.
‘That was great, but I had no idea what I was actually doing, and that’s when I came back and I spoke to the Digital Greenhouse.’
The Digital Greenhouse – a centralised hub dedicated to growing the island’s digital and creative sectors, which is now set to close – provided Georgia with the advice and information she needed to continue pursuing her entrepreneurial ambitions, resulting in her continuing to run her ever-more successful start-up, which has grown to the point where Georgia herself has taken on sixth-form work experience students.
Even for those who may prefer to pursue a more conventional career than entrepreneurial pursuits provide, Guernsey, according to Michelle, may still provide better employment opportunities to its young people than might mainland Britain, especially given the UK’s difficult job markets.
‘I think there’s strong employment opportunities across different sectors in Guernsey, and that’s not always the case across the UK. It’s not easy to find jobs nowadays, but there’s many, many employers over here looking for talented graduates,’ she said.
‘Going back to Guernsey can give faster progression within your role, because you’re closer, perhaps, to the senior members of the team. In Guernsey, graduates might find themselves working on important projects earlier than they might otherwise have done.’
A panel of young islanders shared their own experiences returning to and pursuing a career on the island. Each one of them has pursued a different career – Nick Hodgson works as a private equity fund administrator at Ocorian, Tatiana Tostevin as a sales and marketing executive at Healthspan, Ed Miller as a public service reform officer for the States, and Elsie Lister works as an advisory consultant at KPMG.
Despite the variance in their chosen career paths, all four panellists echoed one sentiment about the island – while it may be expensive, the quality of life Guernsey has to offer is exceptional.
‘To be honest, if I look at my friends who are in London doing the same jobs or similar jobs, they might be working later, and their commute is an hour, and, by the time they’ve managed to get home, I’ve managed to go to the gym, maybe see my mates, maybe have gone out for dinner, before they’ve even managed to drop the bag down,’ said Nick. ‘I think it’s a good environment.’
Ed concurred, reflecting that while the island was expensive, so too was his former Edinburgh home, which did not offer Guernsey’s quality of life. He also added the island’s virtues were perhaps more often overlooked by those accustomed to them, but were doubly apparent to his partner, who ultimately motivated him to return.
‘The principal reason that I was pushed into moving was that things were worse for us there,’ he said. ‘The quality of life versus the cost of life was not right. And yes, it’s challenging here, and it’s different, but that cost is reflecting a better quality of life, and that was really important to us.’
However, the panellists also acknowledged that, while Guernsey may be a lovely place to live, moving back was certainly not without its sacrifices – including that of independence, as the inordinate cost of rent saw nearly all of them return to living with their parents.
‘Living back with your parents of course has its ups and downs, but, you know, everything does,’ Elsie said.
‘It gives you some great opportunities to save. Some of the graduates who I have in my cohort – who I speak to quite regularly about this – rent, and it seems it’s just extortionate, so you don’t have that opportunity to save up and stay here and maybe buy a flat later on.’
For those graduates who are loathe to give up their independent living or for whom returning to their parents is unfeasible, it is recognised that options are slim. As such, the GradRoutes forum also welcomed Deputies Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Steve Williams – both of whom sit on the States Housing Committee – to discuss the issues around housing availability and affordability.
While building more housing in general was top of the priority list, they said, graduates might also see the genesis of initiatives and subsidies specifically targeted at making the housing market more accessible to them.
‘Currently we have a general support package around mortgage interest tax relief, but that’s applicable to everyone – so whether you’re 60 or 25, or whether you’re wealthy or just starting out, everyone is able to take advantage of that tax relief,’ said Deputy Kazantseva-Miller.
‘So we are very keen to ensure that it’s more targeted to first-time buyers and young people. We’re potentially looking to bring something through this budget, which may need further research, but could perhaps be in place from 2028.’
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