Background:
It is becoming increasingly difficult for university graduates to find employment in South Africa. In 2019 – before COVID-19 hit our shores – the unemployment rate among graduates under 24 years old was 31%. At the time that these figures were published, UCT released research showing that only 10.71% of their 2018 graduates were still seeking employment.
And according to us, a big reason for the career successes of UCT graduates is the efforts of the university’s Careers Service (CS) office. Take this publication, for instance. The CS publishes this free Careers Guide every year, and “it flies off the shelves”. The students flock to it not only for the exclusive job opportunities at the back, but also for the pages upon pages of content empowering them with the latest news from various industries and articles written by established professionals.
Since 2019 we were tasked with designing this guide – starting out by using the fourth industrial revolution as our theme inspiration. Then, in 2020, we managed the editorial side in addition to the design of the guide: we planned out the content, managed contributors, conducted interviews, wrote full-length articles, and edited the content. This time, the design was fuelled by the Japanese concept of a hyper-innovative, sustainable and smart Society 5.0.
The 2021 guide:
For the 2021 publication we conceptualised a guide that celebrates what makes us human: our ability to innovate, to adapt, to learn… Basically, our innate ability to overcome the effects of COVID-19 and rebuild a world that is better than what came before. The topic became: “It’s in our nature”.
In addition to the content and design of the 2021 guide, we offered a new service: we created ISSUU articles that live on the ISSUU website along with the publication. This takes the place of the previously printed guide, which at current times would not have been feasible. The ISSUU articles can be viewed separately, making them easier to be shared across platforms. We also created Insta Stories videos for a selection of job opportunities to give them a wider reach.
But don’t take our word for it:
In the words of Brenda Martin, the Director of the UCT Careers Service:
“Thank you so much for the excellent 2021 guide you have helped us to produce – it is quite simply BEAUTIFUL. We are so proud of it. And we are receiving so many positive responses to it – the beauty of the design, the quality of the content… the whole package. The engagement data is unprecedented. With sincere appreciation for an excellent job done!”