Cornwall Is Full of Talent, But Not Enough Jobs
What happens when the place that makes you feel at home doesn't have the work to support you?
At 24, I have two degrees, I am a published author of over 15 titles, and I had worked my way into a senior editorial position at a children's publishing house. I was building the kind of career I had imagined for myself, and in Cornwall, the place I’m lucky enough to have made my home.
Then I was made redundant.
Since losing my job, I have applied for roles in my industry, as well as hospitality and retail jobs that I assumed would be easier to find. I’ve had to become increasingly creative about how I work, picking up freelance projects, part-time engagement work, and feature writing wherever I can. It isn't quite the career path I imagined when I was studying, but it is how I am making a life in Cornwall work.
A Creative Place With a Complicated Job Market
I live in Falmouth, a town with a creative identity that is difficult to ignore. Falmouth University brings together students studying across the creative industries, from writing and journalism to film and fashion. You can feel that creative energy around the town, too.
There always seems to be someone starting something new, freelancing on the side, or trying to turn an idea into a career, and the community is overwhelmingly supportive. I love that about living here, but it’s also what makes the employment situation interesting. What happens when a place is so good at inspiring young people to become creatives, but not have enough opportunities to build careers here?
This question feels even more relevant when looking at the wider job market. In July, just 8,383 graduate jobs were advertised across the UK. That’s 45% fewer than the same time the previous year, and the lowest number recorded since recruitment site Adzuna began tracking graduate vacancies in 2016. At the same time, 262,820 people are expected to start university in September, meaning another large cohort will eventually enter a graduate job market already showing signs of strain. The growth of AI is naturally adding to the uncertainty around entry-level roles, too.
It’s easy to lose hope when you apply for a job and find out that more than 700 other people have applied for the same role, something I experienced recently. It’s a strange feeling to be relieved that it wasn’t necessarily a lack of ability that stopped you progressing, while also feeling completely overwhelmed by how many people are competing for the same tiny pool of jobs.
For somewhere like Falmouth, where so many people are encouraged to build careers around creativity, these wider trends raise important questions.
Cornwall certainly isn't a place without talent. Quite the opposite. Cornwall Council's 2025 Creative Census estimates that over 10,000 people were working in creative-related occupations across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. A creative community is clearly here. The challenge is making a sustainable living within it, particularly for graduates trying to turn their creative education into long-term careers.
Learning To Be Savvy
I co-host a weekly local radio show, interviewing local creatives about their process. The main theme that comes up is that being a creative in Cornwall often means being savvy. You work here, then work a bit there. Take on a freelance project, pick up some part-time hours, write something for one organisation, and help with engagement for another. You say yes to the opportunity that makes sense, even if it isn't necessarily the opportunity you imagined for yourself. You make it work.
I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. There’s freedom in being able to build a working life around different skills and projects. As a writer, editor, and radio show presenter, I’ve always been comfortable moving between different kinds of creative work. Freelancing allows me to keep doing that. But there is a difference between choosing a varied career and feeling that you must piece one together.
When your income, routine, and sense of professional progress are all dependent on whatever comes through the door next, it can be difficult to switch off, and easy for anxiety to set in. You are always thinking about the next opportunity, application, invoice, or thing you can say yes to. When work becomes unpredictable, it can start to affect how you see yourself.
When Unemployment Becomes Personal
Before I was made redundant, I don't think I fully understood how closely my identity was tied to work. I’d spent years building towards something, and I was proud of that, not because I think a job title determines someone's worth, but because it represented years of effort.
Redundancy is strange because you can understand rationally that it isn't a reflection of your ability. But knowing that doesn't stop it from feeling personal. When you start applying for job after job and hearing nothing back, it becomes difficult not to question yourself.
Maybe your experience isn't enough. Maybe your qualifications don't matter. Maybe everyone else is more employable. Maybe you should have chosen a completely different career.
For me, there was an added frustration in knowing that I’d already demonstrated that I could do the work. I wasn't a recent graduate, inexperienced, trying to get my foot in the door. I had worked in publishing, reached a senior level, and had my own published writing and experience behind me. Yet I was still applying for jobs and wondering whether anyone would take a chance on me.
There is evidence that these feelings are not unusual. A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that young adults between the ages of 16-21 were less confident about being successful in their careers and were ‘losing faith in their futures’.
Work isn’t just about money. It can give us routine, social contact, independence, purpose, and the feeling that we are moving forwards. When those things disappear, even temporarily, it can feel as though everyone else is moving while you’re standing still.
The Cost of Staying Somewhere You Love
I love Cornwall – the landscape, the community, and the lifestyle. I love being surrounded by creative people who are trying things, making things, and finding their own ways of working.
I don't think this situation is unique to Cornwall, either. I have friends in Devon who have experienced similar frustrations, and across rural and coastal communities, young people can find themselves asking the same questions: is the career I want available here? If it isn't, what compromises am I willing to make? How much flexibility, uncertainty, or financial instability am I prepared to accept in order to remain here?
The wider rural picture is complicated. Current government data shows that rural areas have higher employment rates and lower unemployment rates than urban areas overall. However, the government's Future of Rural England report also identifies the outmigration of young people seeking education and opportunities elsewhere as a challenge for rural economies.
So perhaps the issue isn't simply that rural places don't have jobs. It is that the jobs available don't always line up neatly with the skills, ambitions, or careers that people want to build.
For creatives, that can mean becoming incredibly adaptable. You learn to freelance, network, diversify, and not put all your eggs in one basket. That resourcefulness can be exciting, but it can be exhausting, too.
Cornwall is Worth Working For
I don't have a neat solution to this, and I don't think Cornwall needs to become London. I don't think every possible career needs to exist within a few miles of someone's front door, either. But I do think we should recognise the enormous amount of talent already here.
Falmouth is full of young people developing creative skills, building portfolios, and imagining futures for themselves. It has an established creative community and people who are clearly willing to work hard to make a living and a life here.
Maybe that is the reality for many creatives in places like Cornwall. We piece things together because the life we are piecing them together for is precious. For me, that is the part I don't want to lose sight of.
