{"id":620081,"date":"2026-09-10T06:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620081\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T06:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:20:12","slug":"why-did-you-choose-ireland-graduates-from-around-the-world-give-their-views-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/620081\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did you choose Ireland? Graduates from around the world give their views \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years we\u2019ve lamented Irish graduates<\/a> who then pursue a career elsewhere in the world, either by choice and in pursuit of adventure, or by circumstance and in pursuit of opportunity.<\/p>\n

But what about the graduates from around the globe who choose to leave their home country and pursue a graduate career<\/a> here in Ireland. Is life adventure-filled and rosy on the flip side of the coin?<\/p>\n

Love brought Brazilian Tom\u00e1s Gon\u00e7alves Grieser to Ireland. The translation and interpretation graduate says moving to Europe was always in his sights. \u201cIt was always my plan to move away from Brazil<\/a> and work, especially in Europe, given the better quality of life, especially for people who want to work in languages,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Gon\u00e7alves Grieser met his Irish partner while studying in Germany. \u201cWe are an Erasmus couple,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been together nearly six years now and I moved to Ireland to be closer to him. But also Ireland really spoke to me because, and I always say this to people, the Irish are the Brazilians of Europe … our cultures are very similar.<\/p>\n

\u201cJokingly, I always pin it back to the Catholic trauma, but I just believe that there are unspoken rules of kindness, of politeness, of humility that are mimicked here better than they are in other Latin countries in Europe. <\/p>\n

\u201cBrazilians, although we are a tad bit more direct than the Irish, we tip-toe around impolite things more so than the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French and the Italians would. I believe also, having been both colonised nations, we have a shared history of oppression, a theft of culture and identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving to Ireland was never something he planned. \u201cI was firmly under the impression that \u2013 I did my degree in Germany and spent five years in total there \u2013 I would stay in Germany for the rest of my life. Germany is in the centre of Europe, so I always assumed that I\u2019d find better work there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am part of generation in Brazil that has grown up with such a struggling economy that it is almost embedded into us from an early age, that opportunities are by default better outside of Brazil, and Europe first and foremost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TomásTom\u00e1s Gon\u00e7alves Grieser moved to Ireland to be closer to his partner and now works as a recruiter <\/p>\n

Gon\u00e7alves Grieser moved to Ireland last year, at the age of 25.<\/p>\n

At first, he took whatever job was available while searching for one in line with his qualifications. He works as a recruiter now \u201cwhere I can more actively make use of all my languages\u201d, he explains. \u201cI also do some literary translation on the side, and am a freelance interpreter.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s very settled here, and sees his future in Ireland. \u201cI am very happy here,\u201d he says, though he acknowledges some of its challenges. \u201cThe recent announcement that the transportation bus fares and Luas fares would rise for example, and the quality isn\u2019t there to be seen. There\u2019s loads of things you could complain about, but I haven\u2019t been this happy, outside of Brazil, with a nation ever since I moved away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MayankMayank Tiwari says working in Ireland has allowed him to explore Europe <\/p>\n

Mayank Tiwari studied for his bachelor and master\u2019s computer science degrees at home in India<\/a>, where he worked for four years following his seven-year long studies, before deciding to take his graduate qualifications and pursue a career abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was mostly looking for opportunities in Europe, I\u2019ll be honest. And mainly I was looking for something in Amsterdam \u2013 my best friend was in Amsterdam. I stumbled upon this opportunity in Microsoft, and I applied for it … to my luck they reached out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the opportunity to start his career in Ireland, he says, \u201cI would call it sheer luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t know a lot about Ireland before the move. \u201cI think the only exposure I had to Ireland was towards the cricket team, because I follow cricket,\u201d he says. \u201cI have always been quite interested in politics or religion and those kind of things.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish graduate jobs most affected by AIOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I landed here, I started talking to a lot of people and attending meet-ups. And even though people are not usually open to talking about those things, when they are drunk they probably share more on those topics. I got to know a lot once I arrived here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiwari says he was interested in learning about Ireland\u2019s colonisation. \u201cThere is a shared history in those aspects,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tiwari travelled to Ireland alone. His parents, sibling and nephew are back in India. He met his partner since arriving, and they now live together. \u201cIt was through a Harry Potter meet-up. She is one of the co-organisers.\u201d His partner works \u201cindirectly\u201d for Microsoft, he says. \u201cShe is a vendor for Microsoft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic helped in hiring terms, Tiwari says. \u201cAfter Covid there was a lot of hiring going on in software and software companies. I think in that way also I was a bit lucky. Currently, it\u2019s not that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working in Ireland has allowed him to explore Europe and he has visited about 20 countries since moving here, he says. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, Microsoft made things very easy for me, to move in and everything. I didn\u2019t have to go through all those challenges that other people may have to go through. They helped me with everything, getting a bank account, getting a PPS number. Even finding accommodation temporarily at first, and then finding permanent accommodation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if someone asks me, if they are coming here to study and they ask me to share my experience, I tell them that my experience will not be useful to them, because I was brought in with a lot of privilege with Microsoft, and I acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d encourage other graduates to consider careers here too, but would remind them, luck plays a significant role.<\/p>\n

\"FlorFlor Laurent found an internship in Hot Press magazine that turned into a full-time job <\/p>\n

Flor Laurent knew she wanted to study abroad. Ireland seemed a more straightforward option, being in Europe and so closer to home, as the French woman was only 17 at the time. She studied for her degree in communications and media production at Griffith College, Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had studied English quite intensely in high school,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I thought I would pursue a graduate programme or pursue a job in Ireland when I was starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she went through college, Laurent felt working in Ireland may not be something that was either possible, or that she necessarily wanted. \u201cI ended up moving back to France to do a master\u2019s, just because it was almost free.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while back home she realised she missed Ireland. \u201cWhile I was there I was thinking it would be nice actually to go back and to not let all of this knowledge and all of this culture that I had absorbed go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think a job, the way that I found it here, through an internship, would have been realistic in France<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Flor Laurent<\/p>\n

Laurent found an internship in Hot Press magazine. They \u201cthen ended up taking me in for a full-time job and I\u2019ve been there ever since\u201d, she explains.<\/p>\n

It is very difficult to break into journalism in France, Laurent says. And there is an expectation that you would have attended a particular school to get a job in the industry. These are schools that you would typically attend after completing a master\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to stay in school for longer than I needed to. It would definitely have been difficult to get a job in France as a journalist with the level of education that I have, which is already a master\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, it\u2019s not easy by any means, so I feel very lucky to get into the job market, which now is going to be a great help for everything. I don\u2019t think a job, the way that I found it here, through an internship, would have been realistic in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of my life, everything is different. My family doesn\u2019t live near here. The culture in Ireland is quite different. The things I get to do and the things I experience, everything\u2019s very different. I have different friends. But it\u2019s still a very good life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years we\u2019ve lamented Irish graduates who then pursue a career elsewhere in the world, either by choice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1347,1814,19434,22533,19433,19435,61,2568,60,1071,37614,43,2055,17159,1962],"class_list":["post-620081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-brazil","tag-france","tag-grad-week","tag-graduate-options","tag-graduates","tag-graduates-in-ireland","tag-ie","tag-india","tag-ireland","tag-microsoft","tag-new-to-the-parish","tag-news","tag-students","tag-third-level","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}