After the results of the Manx Graduate Survey, reporter Sam Turton talks to two Manx graduates about reasons for moving home and staying away.

Polly Rogerson and Tudor Baker are two Manx graduates who chose different paths once their studies were completed.

Polly completed a biomedical degree at the University of Lincoln and a masters degree in microbiology and immunology before returning to the island.

She now lives in Kirk Michael and works at the hospital as a microbiologist.

For Polly, the decision to return was not a planned one. She said: ’I didn’t think I would come back when I went to university and I certainly wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after I finished.

’I thought about working in clinical research, the research side appealed to me, being able to help people, but it’s a more backstage role without the patient contact.’

She explained how she had planned to do a PhD when she heard of a role at the hospital.

’It wasn’t really a role I thought about at the time and I’d never really had a real interview but my family and my boyfriend really encouraged me to go for it.

’I didn’t get that job, but I was encouraged to apply for a job that was coming up, so I did and now here I am.

’For me personally and professionally, it was absolutely the right decision.’

Polly told me how chances on the island are far better for her in terms of her career, as more services in the UK are amalgamating, leading to fewer available jobs in her field and making career advancement much harder.

She said: ’Having seen how the UK is being run, it really opened my eyes, being at conferences and talking to fellow students, we realised how difficult it is there.

’Luckily the Manx government prefers to hire local residents and while I wouldn’t say I’m fully settled and never going. I’m 25 so anything can happen but I absolutely love being back here.

’Perhaps when you grow up here, it can be easy to not appreciate the island, but our unique island is lovely.

’People think living in Kirk Michael is a long commute, compared to England it really isn’t and I get to drive in through Injebreck which is just so beautiful.’

Tudor on the other hand, completed his sustainability and environmental management degree from the University of Leeds.

He now lives in Manchester and works as a regulatory officer at the Environment Agency based in Warrington.

For Tudor, aged 22, the choice to remain in the UK came because of his experiences at university.

He said: ’I didn’t want to return home as I enjoyed my time at university but primarily, because of the variety of things on offer, both in a leisure and professional sense.’

Despite this, getting a job that suited his degree was, as many graduates find, easier said than done.

’I’ve been doing odd jobs for a year but the long short is that my degree meant little when it came to getting a job but I am very happy in my new job, I started only in January.’

He says that career opportunities played a role in his choice too as the island is still limited in his field.

’I knew what I wanted to do when I went to university, the sustainability or environmental sector and jobs in these areas are very limited in the island.’

Tudor says he can’t see himself returning to the island barring a significant change in his family’s circumstances as it would prove very difficult to advance his career due to those limitations. Reflecting the island’s primary economic sectors, he finished by saying ’I don’t feel like joining the e-gaming sector and I really don’t see myself in finance’.

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