For Saint Lucians with advanced degrees, ambition meets a harsh market reality, where academic achievement often yields little leverage in landing a fitting job.
Saint Lucia is a sun-swept island enclosed in a less than 240 square mile border where beaches are often within a stroll’s distance. Outsiders see it as an ideal chance at slow living– many think a desire for something different is absurd.
Yet a yearning for personal achievement and a need to make decent ends meet do not evade a person because he/she lives in the tropics. Continuous migration in fact would suggest in picturesque islands like Saint Lucia people still desire a reality beyond their immediate circumstances. Many use educational pursuits as a means.
Some higher education seekers station themselves overseas post-graduation, never returning home, while others do. In both instances, an objective to somehow progress tends to be the fuel. Yet, such a pursuit’s outcome for a person who returns to Saint Lucia is multifarious.
Leanna Evans, Human Resource specialist and Managing Director of The HR Concepts Team has worked in the field for almost a decade. She is based in Saint Lucia where her interactions with the local job market and that of other small Caribbean islands are much more exhaustive than most.
Every day she oversees the operation of filling vacancies with able bodies, pairing people with a means to earn their living. However, Evans admits a trend; placing candidates in Saint Lucia with degrees, particularly those with master’s level education is tough.
“People with degrees who have gone to school, left the island and choose to come back, it is very, very difficult to place them,” Evans shared her insight during an in-depth discussion.
Her observation was a preface to a bitter reality, “So, you find many settling for positions that are not even part of whatever aligns with the degree that they pursued. They actually have to settle for something out of it, something very traditional.”
Evans says a majority of the vacancies coming through her agency are for more ‘traditional roles’. Finance, accounting, human resources, and administration included. Furthermore, vacancies rarely indicate master’s level education as a requirement. “It has always been that way but it’s getting worse, whether you have a degree or not, the most important thing businesses ask for is experience,” she says.
“If you’re looking for, let’s say a director position, which is not a position that is often recruited for, then you’d probably see master’s there but even then, usually it is ‘master’s degree’ with a few years experience or, a bachelors degree with maybe 10 years of experience, and more often than not, you will pick the latter. Do we have a market for persons with master’s degrees? Not really,” Evans explained.
In her recounting of recruitment processes, the task of placing a job candidate with a master’s appears more finical than simply a fruitless undertaking, as it is trying to satisfy the expectations of both graduates and employers. Evans explained further: “When you interview someone with a master’s degree, and you ask them for their salary expectations, and they give it to you, you kind of put them on the back of the list. Also, persons with master’s degrees, one thing we realise is they don’t have that much experience.”
Top University, an amalgam website that pools together resources from schools all over the world, says “A master’s degree is an academic qualification granted at the postgraduate level to individuals who have successfully undergone study demonstrating a high level of expertise in a specific field of study or area of professional practice. Students who graduate with a master’s degree should possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics, a high level of skills and techniques associated with their chosen subject area, and a range of transferable and professional skills gained through independent and highly focused learning and research.”
Such underlining of the substance of a graduate program, according to realities presented by the local job market in Saint Lucia, does not translate to the marketability of a candidate in an environment where practical experience trumps all.
A point to consider is that it’s also not uncommon to hear the notion expressed that having a degree, of any level, does not indicate job competence. Practical experience within a certain work landscape can inform a person of challenges, be it related to soft skills, that can interfere with their ability to perform exceptionally at a job. Without any prior engagement with such an environment and its challenges, it is not surprising why a person with little to no experience can be perceived more as a risk than an asset.
As evidenced by Evans’ account, this is not always the case, however. In conversations with four master’s graduates, all speaking freely under the promise of anonymity, in all scenarios, some degree of experience was acquired before each enrolled in a graduate program. This may be tied to another truth Evans touched on, that affordable education opportunities in Saint Lucia are limited. Because of this, most would need to work to save up funds to afford their placement in a graduate program or work experience is often an eligibility requirement for master’s degree scholarships.
For one 36-year-old who graduated with a master’s in 2023 and returned to Saint Lucia with a degree in Global Governance, he found himself navigating the pitfalls of the local job market where it has been a challenge to decipher whether the undertaking is simply not respected or has merely complicated his standing as a job candidate.
Prior to his graduate studies, he worked in international development for ten years, 6 as a volunteer and 4 in formal employment, before leaving Saint Lucia. “I worked with an international development agency. I pursued my master’s in Global Governance which basically covered the field of international relations, politics, development, and so on. The hope was to get employed within that space when I came back,” he shared.
He says that he had a keen interest in his line of work and had taken the opportunity to pursue his master’s via scholarship to deepen his knowledge.
“I think we all have an innate desire when you go abroad and you learn and see different things that there is something you want to come and give back home, but it’s almost like home doesn’t want you to come and give back. That’s the feeling that you sometimes get,” he said.
After graduating at the beginning of fall last year, he explained that he worked briefly in the United Kingdom on short-term contracts as he vigorously applied for jobs in Saint Lucia ahead of his arrival. Yet, he revealed there was no traction, and little has changed since his return home. Going back home to work was also a clause instated by his scholarship provider, however, it was one he was initially happy to honour.
“I’ve probably sent out hundreds of applications right now, but I’ve only had about 3 or 4 interviews and you can always sense in the interviews, very early on, they don’t necessarily want you based on the trend of questioning,” he said, adding that along the way, securing the ideal job became a secondary concern, survival moving into the top spot. “The thing for me, it’s not like I cannot do any of the jobs that I’m applying for. Most of them were below my experience level. Personally, I didn’t care about having the master’s degree I was just trying to seek employment to hold me down.”
He admits he finds it difficult to pin down an exact reason for the dilemma, yet as he toyed with possible reasons openly, he inadvertently hinted at some of the notions initially shared by Evans, the HR specialist.
“When I was working before doing the programme and before I came back home from school, I had no doubts about my capabilities. I now question myself, whether I’m capable of doing stuff, especially with the amount of experience that’s being required now. It makes you think, ‘Okay, should I go and volunteer here? Should I go do a second master’s in an area more specific? You start to question yourself so much that it causes high levels of depression and anxiety,” he says, admitting that he has applied for jobs at all career levels.
“I guess it may be that employers are looking at, okay, he’s at a master’s level, we cannot afford him? Though some of them I was underqualified for in terms of experience, not in terms of educational level. I think that’s the next difficulty in gaining the master’s, because now it’s like yes, you have a higher level of education but they want you to have a ton of experience, which does not always match up with the education. So that’s the difficulty I have had, either I’m overqualified for a particular position or I am qualified but not qualified in terms of years of experience,” he pondered.
His ruminations extended to the scope of his field of study, questioning its limitations locally as he has tried securing permanent employment with locally-based foreign agencies and with the government. However, he has only been able to secure short-term, temporary gigs with international organisations, operating as a consultant, despite short work stints exacerbating a personal feeling of financial instability.
“I have gotten temporary consultancy opportunities with international organisations… In terms of stable employment that has not been secured and I’m realising that definitely it’s not going to happen in Saint Lucia so I have begun sending out applications regionally and internationally,” he said.
Temporary consultancy work some would perceive as a viable saving grace, however, HR expert, Leanna Evans shed additional light on how presenting as a consultant or freelancer with master’s qualifications can put applicants further in a bind in Saint Lucia. She says, “Concerns employers may have with hiring consultants is that they may have other clients, or they may only remain for a short period, so they try to avoid that.”
Meanwhile, master’s graduates who’ve faced the impenetrable job market and made out without getting stuck in the pit of severely prolonged unemployment, a lucky strike within their professional network was the only answer.
One graduate, now 39, recounted her experience pursuing a two-year master’s degree online from 2017 – 2019, while maintaining a full-time job. Although she pursued her master’s in Finance, a field in high demand, once the programme ended her goal was to move into a role she would be passionate about, however, she said, “I was very excited about graduating and finding a job that I really wanted. This however proved to be quite challenging. The biggest hurdle was finding something I was passionate about at my level of education with a reasonable pay.”
However, she says, a role was presented through her network allowing her employment she is exponentially grateful for, also adding that she is in a great place mentally.
Another female graduate, 33, recounted her over 5-year journey from the banking sector to development work after completing a master’s in 2023. While working in banking, she volunteered with national and international youth development organisations in the hope of one day securing full-time employment in the field. Her step towards obtaining a master’s in the field of social development was made strategically to gain a qualification that showed her commitment towards her new trajectory. However, even coupling this with her meticulous approach of carefully selecting vacancies to apply for once she returned to Saint Lucia in January 2024, in 6 months she did not receive feedback on her applications save for two denials.
Yet, thanks to someone in her network, things took a turn for the better. “In June, I applied for a mid-level role in a specific international development organisation, they were running a project on behalf of an organisation. I applied for it twice on LinkedIn and was wondering why they weren’t sending me feedback. Eventually, I just left it because it felt futile. However, I had a friend who was working there and he asked me why I hadn’t applied. I was like… ‘I applied twice!’ He said he would check on it. He has a senior role there. He checked it and said ‘because of your qualifications it seemed like you were more suited for my role rather than the role you applied for, but I would recommend you and tell them to give you a chance with the interview’… I did the interview and after a couple of days I learned I successfully got the placement and that was how I finally got a job.”
Now, she says, she is comfortable with her current compensation. However, most of all, she is content with the personal development that will come from the role.
“It is very ideal in the sense that when I go for a job I go for the skills I would master or get in the job… at the end of it I would have had a very good opportunity to refine these skills … and the organisation is an international development organisation versus going to work with the public service getting into the monotony of that—I like the fact that I’m in a fast-paced organisation that requires results, it requires you to be on your toes because I’m not a slacker, I really like that.”
For individuals exploring graduate study as a professional undertaking to broaden personal scope in a specific field of interest, timing and an ideal work situation can allow for a less turbulent experience.
A 30-year-old, male UK master’s graduate, and public service and foreign affairs professional did manage to sidestep the sinkhole of an unrelenting job market by requesting a year off from his job. He returned to Saint Lucia and his post after graduation in 2022. He says it was something that he thought about beforehand.
“It wasn’t a case where, you know, I go to do this master’s and I come back and my colleagues and I have the same job and suddenly I’m better at the job than them. They might be better at the job than me still without ever having to do a master’s. The programme I think just helped me develop my style and my approach to my work,” he says, offering further that in his line of work, it’s possible that individuals without higher education qualifications would supervise others with multiple degrees. This realisation helped shape his mindset.
“It was more about personal development, seeing broader horizons, seeing things differently, interacting with people from around the world in my programme, observing different things in the UK but as far as going back into the work setting, I didn’t have any expectations. I just knew maybe I would just be better at my job…for me that’s what education had become, what studying away from the Caribbean meant; to see more perspectives and grow personally to be able to impact others,” he shared.
Furthermore, offering advice to individuals interested in advanced degrees, based on observation, HR specialist Leanna Evans says there are local sectors she believes are more welcoming of graduate qualifications as an asset. “One thing we’ve realised is each island in the Caribbean has a strength as it relates to its job market. In Saint Lucia, outside of traditional roles, it is the creative industry, and entrepreneurship. There’s a demand for persons with both skills and the degrees, in positions in tech, creative spaces, digital transformation, and that sort of thing,” Evans explained. She says, “We are shifting to digital transformation, so if persons are considering or if they’re already doing their master’s, I would advise that they shift with the world… because everybody is now speaking about AI and technology.”
The particulars of education access are complex. Globally, access is undeniably unequal. For instance, Evans also highlighted that Saint Lucia’s pool of candidates is made up of mostly non-degree holders, including at the undergraduate level. Whereas, comparatively, because of the access to affordable education in Barbados, most of the candidate pool are degree holders. This inadvertently makes Barbadians more competitive even in the regional job market where even entry-level vacancies often request bachelors level qualifications as a requirement.
With this context, the question begs whether a lack of access to education beyond secondary school exacerbates an environment that presents the rare degree holders with even more advanced qualifications as out of place more so than assets. While further research would determine the general public’s attitude towards college and university education, it would be a mere starting point. The consensus of that would only be further substantiated by understanding what it means for society in general.
On the other hand, increased access to good formal education would mean more people affording more years to learning, personal growth and developing critical thinking skills but it’s also not the only form of education and not a one-size fits all. Endless ideologies can be passed down through formal education as well, therefore the kind that best fits the betterment of the local landscape would require consideration to avoid further harm being done. The pitfalls of a reverse discrimination effect in the recruitment process, where non-degree holders would be overlooked due to education access increasing, but disproportionately so, would also need to be avoided. Despite all the uncertainties, one thing is clear, the landscape for fruitful discourse is green and teeming with opportunity.
The world is a big wide place people. We are just a dot on the global scale. Think outside the box.
Well written article
A few things come to mind in terms of the issues related to postgrad qualifications in little old Sent Lisi:
higher qualifications are a perceived threat to insecure “superiors” in those workplaces, along with plain old jealousy and insularity. Also quite often, it’s not what you know but who you know – nepotism is rife here, as we all know. SL will never progress if these characteristics do not evolve to respect higher qualifications held by people who want to return to the island and GIVE and work towards a better society, and the brain drain will continue sadly…
First off, don’t study in the UK for masters, too expensive, limited prospects. Waste of money. Go somewhere else. Second, Lucians in positions hire uneducated people.like themselves. In fact, the whole Caribbean is known for that. Once you better educated, you are seen as a threat. now you understand how services are so bad in that place. square pegs in round holes suffering from “who know who” syndrome. Next, consider starting your own business. you have the education, you have a better idea of how things work or should work. This is where govt can play a role in supporting those types of persons with cheap loans or small grants that require minimal pay pack or no pay back but only for a limited time. We need better educated entrepreneurs , no.matter what field. No one got rich working for other people.. With your higher education, you hopefully understand that when you open a barbershop, it’s serving the customers at a specific time and not when you feel like cutting style that day. No nation can progress with that tiboutique mentality. Professionalism required. We are lacking this across the Caribbean. The professionals ran and the not so good ones stayed behind and are now practicing the same mediocrity. Those old school ones who were not necessarily highly educated but knew the job, like in the banks, are retired or gone. We are now left with those with the mentality of the HR ” specialist” and agency recruiter in the article. So we ain’t going nowhere fast.
St. Lucia has nothing to offer our graduates. The governments would rather give their goons high paying jobs than those who have studied in the field. I would never recommend someone to return to St.
Lucia unless they have finished paying their loan.
You could still use those degrees in agriculture. Fak tiere
What a well-written article! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. 10 years ago I returned to St. Lucia with a Master’s degree. At the first interview I had, the department head asked me flat out if I was coming for her job. Needless to say I didn’t get a call back. While networking, I was often told I was overqualified for available positions. I had to settle for contract positions way below my pay grade in order to eat, house and clothe myself. I did that for about 4 years all while sending out applications regionally and internationally. Finally a local Human Resources employee informed me of a vacant post in a suitable organisation that hadn’t been advertised as yet. On that same day, I boldly went to talk to the Director and handed him my resume and qualifications. He interviewed me on the spot and offered me the position. It had taken me years to get a suitable position with my qualifications. Never once did I give up as I prayed that one day my ideal job would present itself. Amen.
I think a huge part of the article dealt with experience rather than the qualification itself. This is a problem we have in this country. Our police department is a perfect example where only the degree matters. So we have lots of new people with degrees in charge of units with no experience. This I part of the disfunction at the moment.
@Perpestive – you are correct. I also add that in most instances more frequently than not – it is who you know.
Thankfully, I live abroad and have acquired both undergrad and graduate degrees. In addition, my experience in the healthcare industry has allowed me the opportunity to work in my current field. However, I can also state that I know of several individuals without degrees who are gainfully employed with six figure salaries because of their connections and that is the reality.
@ Perspective and @Grand Master .. you are both so correct. Also, SLU’s very bad “Customer Relations” are on the rise, in that they do not even have the courtesy to respond to applicants in “yay” or “nay”. Although I am not in the class of Master’s Degrees and such – I have heard the horror stories from friends returning home. I agree with @Grand Master, that they should try to open their own businesses. SLU is in dire need of “Consultants” (which other businesses and government spends thousands of dollars importing, when we have our own under their noses).
Another bad “culture” our businesses have, is, “INTIMIDATION” – from those who are waving their degrees over their heads. This is a very bad culture and says a lot about our mediocrity of brains. Coming home with a degree to WORK, or even foster a new business should be met with open arms – and yes with support from the government and bankers.
Alas! we are in a brain drain … I sincerely hope it gets better. Take a page from ST Kitts, who have hired a lot of St Lucians with degrees in all sorts of fields.
This article is very informative in its description of what graduates and post graduates encounter in the Saint Lucian jobs market. This dire situation has been a problem for as long as I can remember and this is due to the culture of poor educational attainment from the very foundations of Saint Lucia. I have offen lamented the fact we don’t have a university for our people and SALCC is lacking in it’s effectiveness even though it is the premiere educational facility on the Island. Why has it taken so long for governments to address the wastage of educated citizens who want to use their expertise to better the nation? Why has it taken so long to address the low bar in education that has been set from time immemorial? The reason Barbados is more progressive than Saint Lucia is because of the level of education that the citizens attain. I have said it once before in an article on this forum and I will say it again. Yet, it the the shortsightedness of the nations leaders that have cause this current state of affairs. Perhaps, now more than any time in our history, citizens are able to pursue higher education and still they find it difficult to use their expertise for the good of the nation. We must make that transition from low literacy to higher literacy and educational attainment in order to change our society for the better. Get these talented men and women to work and change society for the better. The government is missing a golden opportunity here. They only seem to focus on tourism yet fail to capitalize on the treasure trove of talented men and women. I do hope someone in government takes note because other Caribbean islands will soon leave us behind in every growth and development index there is….
St. Lucia needs doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, not more government bureaucrats or people trained in “development”. Studying abroad in masters programs like described in this article seems to me to be useless as long as there are few to no jobs in St. Lucia requiring those degrees. Instead focus on a course of study that will help the people at home and provide a job for you, such as in health care.
A a very interstingn article .
Planing to pursue higher education?
Then this is a MUST READ
Planing to study abroad ? Then you must Definitely Read this article!.
Planing to achieve your post grad degree with dreams and goals to return and implement? then l beg of you read the article.
This in no way should stir you away from your pursuits to achieve but it serves as a cautionary tale or a guide.
It allows for you filled with dashing excitement, campus filled ideas and new laboratory insights and overflowing sauccers of implementation to rise above the challenges and Walcott’s cultural Omeros / St lucia “of too much of nothing here ”
This is a purpose-driven article and l highly recommend
Rather than the male and female astronut which never return from space..
I decided to study abroad and also to remain abroad – returning to an island where your political affiliation shapes your future/destiny is an exercise in futility and certainly not something I would want to engage in. In addition, the crab in the bucket syndrome for those who are in positions of authority because of who they know without relevant credentials and feel insecure by your very presence because of the credentials you possess….the fight down syndrome.
I left St. Lucia at a young age due to politics and I am happy that I did. I was not old enough to vote – however my grandmother was very involved in politics and because of her political affiliation – I was denied a job for which I took a test and passed. I literally overheard the director say “although she passed – we cannot hire her because her grandmother is a ???? and she mentioned the party” – what the woman meant for evil worked in my favor – as she gave me a springboard/exit strategy to leave the island. This scenario continues to this day and even as I post this comment. The only escape route is to be innovative by creating your own business free of political influence/affiliation.
Chooops nuff of them took government money to further themselves and has not return and have left taxpayers holding the bag. Yes we have a Brain drain and their is nothing wrong with seeking higher education for one’s betterment, but when some of you were seeking these degrees where did you think this would place you in St sLucia where you would be limited in your decorated abilities ? Lord knows we don’t need another lawyer, St Lucia lacks structural engineering expertise, agricultural expertise, criminologist and various medical professionals that will be committed to humanity based on their oath. Stop the blame game it’s not what your country can do for you, rather what you can do to uplift your country if you give a damn. Stop bashing the country from your foreign soil, when you were fully aware before hand of St Lucia’s lack of abilities.,….,..but for those who took government monies and are now thumping your nose’s without shame pay it back.
Where ever we are we are bless :
Choose life, that everything goes well with you in the land that you are possesing..
Deut…
GOD :
Today I have place before you :
Blessings,prosperity,long life..
Curse,death,woes,sickness,farming..