University graduates leave the Gold Coast to find employment

Thousands of university students have just graduated from university on the Gold Coast and are seeking employment. One student has always known she would have to give up her friends and family to work in her dream career.

MADDISON Mangan knows how hard it is to get a job on the Gold Coast.

The 21-year-old journalism graduate has seen fellow students leave the city after graduating, but is trying to buck the trend.

Miss Mangan graduated three weeks ago and hopes she might be able to stay on the Coast, despite landing a casual job in Brisbane.

“I always had a realistic idea that I would have to move because friends and family who studied at university had to,” she said.

“A lot of my friends have left to find work elsewhere, because there are no jobs here.”

Maddison Mangan doesn’t know how she’ll find a job on the Gold Coast. Photo by Richard Gosling

SUBSCRIBE TO THE GOLD COAST BULLETIN FOR JUST $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

Miss Mangan has been juggling full-time study, two paid jobs and interning at multiple news organisations for the past year in the hopes of one day of becoming a broadcast journalist.

A couple of weeks before graduation she was offered a casual position working in social media for Channel 7 in Brisbane.

Miss Mangan said although she now had a job in the industry, she had to continue working in hospitality several nights a week to be able to live comfortably.

“I’m figuring out my options to see what I can afford at the moment,” she said.

“I am driving to Brisbane most days at the moment … It’s quite unsettling to know when I do move, I won’t have a strong support group around me anymore.

“I will move wherever I need to, to have a secure job, but the Gold Coast will always be my home.”