Educated and jobless
Educated and struggling to find a job?
Sounds familiar, right?
Here's a fun story about me, after I graduated from my Undergraduate degree in English Literature I searched high and low for a job that would hopefully lead to a 'career'. I went on job seekers to support myself for the first couple of months and then I got frustrated and started applying for ANY job that would take me and so I fell back into retail. It was another thankless job, with no hope for progression or any kind of recognition, but whether I like it or not, I come from a working class background, and so, I have always had to support myself financially. So, at the time, any job, thankless or not was something I had to do for the money.
Sufficed to say I got bored and fed up of the pay, the way I was treated by customers and the fact that it was not stimulating my creativity at all.
I thought the best thing to do was to go back to University and do a Masters in Journalism, and that is exactly what I did. I'm still, technically, in the midst of it but with one more project to go, I am more or less at the finish line. And so, we circulate back to the moment where I need to start applying for jobs, internships, anything I can get that will help me climb the career ladder. And once again, it is proving difficult to find anyone that will give me a chance to prove myself.
I have gained so many valuable skills on my MA course, and even taken part in some practical endeavours that will hopefully be a demonstration of my talent, but unless someone actually takes the time to look at it, what's the point?
I would estimate that on average I apply for around 5-10 jobs a day, I have re-done my CV so many times to try and perfect it, and written what seems like a thousand versions of the same cover letter. Help me.
The same issues keep cropping up in my head, such as; 'it's not what you know it's who you know' and 'you just need someone to give you a chance'.
The fact is, we all know that unpaid internships give us the experience and knowledge we desire, but for me, I need the money to go alongside that, I live in London for christ sake... nothing is cheap.
It is extremely disheartening knowing that you have put your heart and soul into a postgraduate degree and can't even manage to get a decent job.
Trying to stay positive is the hardest part, oh and trying to earn enough money to live...
At the moment I am running low on money and I am in desperate need of a job, but instead of doing my usual trick of going back into retail I want this time to be different, I want this time to be a job I can stay in for a long time and be proud of.
I'd love to know if anyone else has been in the same situation? And what you did to overcome it?
For now, I am going to keep updating this blog regularly, and I hope that something good will come of it.
Sounds familiar, right?
Here's a fun story about me, after I graduated from my Undergraduate degree in English Literature I searched high and low for a job that would hopefully lead to a 'career'. I went on job seekers to support myself for the first couple of months and then I got frustrated and started applying for ANY job that would take me and so I fell back into retail. It was another thankless job, with no hope for progression or any kind of recognition, but whether I like it or not, I come from a working class background, and so, I have always had to support myself financially. So, at the time, any job, thankless or not was something I had to do for the money.
Sufficed to say I got bored and fed up of the pay, the way I was treated by customers and the fact that it was not stimulating my creativity at all.
I thought the best thing to do was to go back to University and do a Masters in Journalism, and that is exactly what I did. I'm still, technically, in the midst of it but with one more project to go, I am more or less at the finish line. And so, we circulate back to the moment where I need to start applying for jobs, internships, anything I can get that will help me climb the career ladder. And once again, it is proving difficult to find anyone that will give me a chance to prove myself.
I have gained so many valuable skills on my MA course, and even taken part in some practical endeavours that will hopefully be a demonstration of my talent, but unless someone actually takes the time to look at it, what's the point?
I would estimate that on average I apply for around 5-10 jobs a day, I have re-done my CV so many times to try and perfect it, and written what seems like a thousand versions of the same cover letter. Help me.
The same issues keep cropping up in my head, such as; 'it's not what you know it's who you know' and 'you just need someone to give you a chance'.
The fact is, we all know that unpaid internships give us the experience and knowledge we desire, but for me, I need the money to go alongside that, I live in London for christ sake... nothing is cheap.
It is extremely disheartening knowing that you have put your heart and soul into a postgraduate degree and can't even manage to get a decent job.
Trying to stay positive is the hardest part, oh and trying to earn enough money to live...
At the moment I am running low on money and I am in desperate need of a job, but instead of doing my usual trick of going back into retail I want this time to be different, I want this time to be a job I can stay in for a long time and be proud of.
I'd love to know if anyone else has been in the same situation? And what you did to overcome it?
For now, I am going to keep updating this blog regularly, and I hope that something good will come of it.
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