For the thousands of students who graduated from Dundee University last week, the summer of 2017 will be a time of enormous optimism.
Nevermind Brexit and austerity, each one of the graduating students will have hope in their hearts for the future.
Fresh-faced and full of the joys of life they may be but they will face tougher challenges than any generation has faced since the early 1980s.
Sadly, and I’m aware this makes me sounds older and more miserable than I actually am — no mean feat in itself — other events in Dundee have shown the jobs market is more volatile, and competition fiercer, than it has been for decades.
It’s been said for years that there is no longer such a thing as a job for life but that will be of little succour to the 252 Bank of Scotland customer service staff who were called into a meeting on Tuesday lunchtime to be told they will be losing their jobs two and a half weeks before Christmas.
Managers had arrived that morning to find letters waiting for them delivering the bad news — and telling them to pass it onto their teams.
The announcement blindsided employees and unions alike.
Staff will have been aware that parent company Lloyds, like all the other banks wounded in the 2008 crash, have had to make swingeing jobs cuts over recent years but at the same time, they had been led to believe their positions were more secure because Lloyds owned the Marketgait building where they work.
And the bank’s suggestion that some workers could transfer to their Dunfermline operation can barely be described as a crumb of comfort.
An hour-long commute each way might be manageable for some — albeit expensive — but for those with families or childcare issues it is unlikely to be a feasible option.
The jobs losses were announced just 24 hours before Dundee’s latest economic summit and Tesco announced the creation of more jobs in its call centre on Baird Avenue.
Despite the Lloyds shock of a day before, the summit was a largely upbeat affair looking ahead to the waterfront-inspired sunlit uplands of the future.
For today’s graduates, or anyone entering the job market for that matter, developments like the waterfront and the V&A are causes for optimism but the jobs market remains volatile.
Many of those clutching their hard-earned degrees this week will still have to fight hard for a job and then face further uncertainty throughout their careers.
It will be a tough road ahead for most and only the lucky few will see it rise up to meet them.
