Just over a decade ago, "success" followed a relatively clear and linear path: pass your exams, get into a respected university, secure a stable, well-paid job. For many, that promise held, at least financially.
Today, in 2025, that narrative has fundamentally shifted.
Wage stagnation persists across the UK and US. Landing a job now often depends as much on timing — applying within the first 24 hours — as on qualifications. AI continues to disrupt white-collar professions and corporate restructuring is at an all-time high. An ongoing polycrisis of economic, political, and social uncertainty leaves many not just questioning what comes next, but deeply unsure how to prepare for it.
Alumni are already living this reality and current sixth-formers will graduate into it. Younger students will inherit it as baseline.
At Alluminate we consistently hear about the parents who are anxious about job markets they no longer recognise, in the questions from school leavers about what comes next, in the social pressure young people feel to have everything figured out before they've even left school.
For educators, parents, and alumni alike, this is a high-stakes moment of transition. It is also, we believe, an exciting landscape full of genuine possibility.