The Class of 2020 was flipped upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. But was it all bad?
We surveyed over 2000 year 12 students from metropolitan, regional and rural Australia about their post-school plans and found that 22% now want to pursue a different career because of covid. While most felt their dreams were crushed, others found inspiration when they least expected it.
Take the healthcare industry, no other year in recent memory has better reinforced its importance and it shows in young people’s career aspirations. As part of our Coronavirus & The Class Of 2020 report we asked year 12s which areas of study the pandemic had inspired them to pursue post-school and over one quarter (27%) responded ‘medicine and health’, more than any other area.
Switching her university preferences from law to medicine an 18-year-old female from Victoria said, “My own health concerns have contributed to this change of heart but I doubt I would have done so if the pandemic didn’t give me time to genuinely consider the benefits.”
Nursing has also come to the fore of Gen Z interest after images of their tireless work were relayed around the country daily. A 17-year-old female from NSW told us how she was originally planning to doo a business degree as that’s what she was interested in.
“After seeing jobs stopped I spoke with my parents and decided that a nursing degree would benefit me more as it would see more secure jobs and I would be able to give back,” she said.
“A lot of my friends have decided on similar courses as a result as well.”
Another Victorian student, an 18-year-old female dropped her dreams to pursue IT with a vision to work in mental health instead.
“[I want to] help kids just like myself, like my brother, like my friends. We all need a little help sometimes,” she said.
Some always knew what they wanted to do and these extraordinary times injected even more passion into them.
“I have always wanted to pursue a career in primary education and this year has reinforced my decision,” an 18-year-old male from NSW said.
“I have relied so heavily on my teachers this year and they have supported me the whole way through. I want to do that for children in the future, during a pandemic or not.”
We also found that 40% of year 12s discovered a new passion or hobby during lockdown. In the case of this 18-year-old female from Victoria it’s opened up new doors to her future after she found peace in the kitchen during lockdown which inspired her to run her own nutrition business.
“Seeing how the virus has resulted in so many people losing their jobs has been a driving force for me wanting to be my own boss,” she said.
Meanwhile, social restrictions led another Victorian student to enjoy walking in his local forest, something he hadn’t really done much of until lockdown.
“Only recently I have started to appreciate the environment,” the 18-year-old said.
“This triggered some thought of potential to study and possibly work with the environment and I have begun to research uni courses and change my preferences.”
You just never know where inspiration will come from. But wherever they pivot the class of coronavirus will be a stronger and wiser bunch for it.
