...is hard work.
Rule 6: TRY to stay positive.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Monday, 22 November 2010
My Plan: update
a) make my part-time job my full time job thereby earning money whilst...
b) looking for new (less soul-destroying) part-time job, applying for work experience, volunteer stuff and internships.
c) make contacts through aforementioned work experience, volunteer stuff and internships and get permanent job.
d) quit previous soul-sucking full-time job with some sort of clever/self-aggrandising outburst at manager. (hair-flip non-essential)
e) become astonishingly successful and rich.
Managed to find new (less-soul destroying) part-time job! Which, I have realised, makes part d) of My Plan redundant! Though I do enjoy a good hair-flip.
Temp jobs are funny though, because your constantly on edge wondering if you'll get a permanent job out of it.
I was offered a promotion with my old job too which would have been a route that I would seriously have considered had I not spent over £9000 on university fees and zero effort looking for jobs.
Hopefully something will happen, if not I can always go back to that promotion.
Rule 5: Back-up's are always a good idea.
Graduate Fairs
So in an effort to find a new job, or at least, make it appear to my parents that I am looking for a job. I went to the Guardian Graduate Fair.
With a group of job hungry friends we were prepared, ready and dressed to impress*. Included in these preparations was making sure we'd all signed up beforehand online to ensure early entry. However upon arrival there was a realisation that not only were we prepared, ready and dressed to impress but that so were a thousand other students. The queue to the conference hall was so long that it snaked around the building and down onto the high street.
It was then that it suddenly dawned on me that all these other people were looking for jobs too.
Once we had gotten into the fair we went to a talk entitled 'Media Moves: broadcast, digital print and social media.' the questions that were asked only ceased to make me feel inadequate as the students that were there had written blogs with huge followings, had written articles. To me, it appeared that they were already so much more far ahead in their career paths than I am.
Wandering around the booths was fun but my advice is that you need to have some kind of goal and idea of what you want jobwise. Sure its fine getting as many free pens, badges and chocolate coins as you want but ultimately to go to a graduate fair you need a goal and you need to be focused. Both of those things I did not have, the chocolate coins were nice though!
*to dress for a graduate fair can be difficult. I ended up going overboard, mainly because the smart clothes that I own are super smart and I didn't want to look like I was attending a funeral. My friend said something quite wise about dressing for a graduate fair which was to save your best outfit for the interview. So graduate fair = smart casual.
With a group of job hungry friends we were prepared, ready and dressed to impress*. Included in these preparations was making sure we'd all signed up beforehand online to ensure early entry. However upon arrival there was a realisation that not only were we prepared, ready and dressed to impress but that so were a thousand other students. The queue to the conference hall was so long that it snaked around the building and down onto the high street.
It was then that it suddenly dawned on me that all these other people were looking for jobs too.
Once we had gotten into the fair we went to a talk entitled 'Media Moves: broadcast, digital print and social media.' the questions that were asked only ceased to make me feel inadequate as the students that were there had written blogs with huge followings, had written articles. To me, it appeared that they were already so much more far ahead in their career paths than I am.
Wandering around the booths was fun but my advice is that you need to have some kind of goal and idea of what you want jobwise. Sure its fine getting as many free pens, badges and chocolate coins as you want but ultimately to go to a graduate fair you need a goal and you need to be focused. Both of those things I did not have, the chocolate coins were nice though!
*to dress for a graduate fair can be difficult. I ended up going overboard, mainly because the smart clothes that I own are super smart and I didn't want to look like I was attending a funeral. My friend said something quite wise about dressing for a graduate fair which was to save your best outfit for the interview. So graduate fair = smart casual.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Opportunities
Before I start I feel like I should write about why it has taken me so long to write this post. After my unsuccessful weekend I was at a bit of a loss. Didn't know where to go or what to do and that led to a sort of writer's block.
Now refreshed but still plagued with the same problems; in this post I'm going to write a little bit about opportunities.
When faced with an opportunity you will, in most cases,ask one question be faced with a conundrum:
One way to decide is to weigh up the pros and cons and analyse where you are now career-wise compared to where this opportunity could take you and maybe, just maybe, you'll be a little closer to realising what the right choice will be for you.
One important thing to remember, however, is that opportunities don't come around very often and it can be easy to stand in the same spot whilst missed opportunities whistle past your ear and head to the next grinning idiot whose aim in life is to cause a full-scale war on unemployement by launching a hideously effective charm offensive. It's either that or my fourth rule when trying to find a job:
Rule 4: Make your own opportunities
It's easy to wait in hope for opportunities to come your way, but the reality is that opportunities, which will really make a difference, will be few and far between. Use your own initiative. In many cases people will respect you and notice you more if you make your own opportunities. You are a talented person whose potential hasn't been realised yet. Show people what you can do and you may even get something out of it, whether it be a sense of accomplishment or even a job offer.
Good Luck.
Now refreshed but still plagued with the same problems; in this post I'm going to write a little bit about opportunities.
When faced with an opportunity you will, in most cases,
THIS OPPORTUNITY COULD MAKE ME OR BREAK MY SPIRIT INTO TINY PIECES AS I AGONISE OVER WHY I EVER DECIDED TO CHOOSE THIS NEW AND AWFUL DIRECTION IN MY LIFE.
How will you ever know which side of the conundrum your opportunity will fall on? For that I have no answer; unless you know a crazy professor with a DeLorean going spare.One way to decide is to weigh up the pros and cons and analyse where you are now career-wise compared to where this opportunity could take you and maybe, just maybe, you'll be a little closer to realising what the right choice will be for you.
One important thing to remember, however, is that opportunities don't come around very often and it can be easy to stand in the same spot whilst missed opportunities whistle past your ear and head to the next grinning idiot whose aim in life is to cause a full-scale war on unemployement by launching a hideously effective charm offensive. It's either that or my fourth rule when trying to find a job:
Rule 4: Make your own opportunities
It's easy to wait in hope for opportunities to come your way, but the reality is that opportunities, which will really make a difference, will be few and far between. Use your own initiative. In many cases people will respect you and notice you more if you make your own opportunities. You are a talented person whose potential hasn't been realised yet. Show people what you can do and you may even get something out of it, whether it be a sense of accomplishment or even a job offer.
Good Luck.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
The Weekend.
So my weekend of sorting my life out went something along the lines of:
Saturday
Procrastination, switch computer on, procrastination, procrastination, procrastination....sleep.
Sunday
Procrastination, procrastination, email people until my mind becomes numb, procrastination, sleep.
So all-in-all it was sort of productive...sort of...
Of the emails I sent I got ONE reply back. Granted all it was saying was that they didn't have any vacancies blah, blah, blah. But the fact that they replied meant alot as at it was some sort of acknowledgment that I exist in the world!
So in conclusion, my weekend of sorting my life out was a bit of a waste. I had forgotten how depressing job searching actually is.
In retrospect however I felt a bit aimless when searching through the vast, brain-engulfing entity that is otherwise known as the world wide web. Though I had made a list of companies to send emails to; which had, at first, seemed long, I quickly found myself at the end of said list and began googling nonsensical things like:
Safe to say, that these sorts of searches didn't really yield the results that I had been expecting, such as:
I haven't even got any sort of rule that I have learnt about this weekend! Therefore like my weekend today's blog entry is empty, inconclusive and unsure of what's going on.
But still the battle for finding a job continues. Unrelenting as always.
Saturday
Procrastination, switch computer on, procrastination, procrastination, procrastination....sleep.
Sunday
Procrastination, procrastination, email people until my mind becomes numb, procrastination, sleep.
So all-in-all it was sort of productive...sort of...
Of the emails I sent I got ONE reply back. Granted all it was saying was that they didn't have any vacancies blah, blah, blah. But the fact that they replied meant alot as at it was some sort of acknowledgment that I exist in the world!
So in conclusion, my weekend of sorting my life out was a bit of a waste. I had forgotten how depressing job searching actually is.
In retrospect however I felt a bit aimless when searching through the vast, brain-engulfing entity that is otherwise known as the world wide web. Though I had made a list of companies to send emails to; which had, at first, seemed long, I quickly found myself at the end of said list and began googling nonsensical things like:
Safe to say, that these sorts of searches didn't really yield the results that I had been expecting, such as:
- Astronaut: only 5 GCSE's needed
- Time Traveller: Must be well informed about all four series' of Mad Men
- I can't even think of a third suggestion because these jobs don't exist! Let's all, however, pretend that it would have been hilarious...
I haven't even got any sort of rule that I have learnt about this weekend! Therefore like my weekend today's blog entry is empty, inconclusive and unsure of what's going on.
But still the battle for finding a job continues. Unrelenting as always.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Just a thought.
Lots of recruitment agencies are hiring but what are they recruiting for?
Because I sure can't find anything.
That is all. More on my weekend of sorting my life out later, though what I've just written should be an indication of how well it's going.
Because I sure can't find anything.
That is all. More on my weekend of sorting my life out later, though what I've just written should be an indication of how well it's going.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Parents
Parents. As the age old saying goes; you can't live with them, you just can't live with them. But as some of you might find, once leaving Uni going back to live with the family is not something that appeals in terms of that-"i've paid my own bills and fed myself for three years and now you don't think I can get the bus at night"- kind of way.
From personal experience I try to counter this by rarely being in the house so I can therefore fully appreciate the time I spend with the family. However by living with your parents after finishing Uni you give up certain rights, such as privacy; particularly when it comes to job hunting.
This is something that the family will follow with great interest and boundless curiosity. If you haven't received some sort of article torn out from some newspaper spouting rubbish about 'graduate jobs' and the 'current financial climate' then count yourself very lucky.
To some extent the family has the right to do this as in one way or another they will have supported your education thereby causing a shift in emotions from: the immense pride they felt on your Graduation Day (which if you played your cards right should have bought you at least a few weeks of slacking off) to an underlying expectation that now is the time to be doing something with your life. This therefore leads me to my second rule.
Rule 2: Do not listen to your parents.
Funny Story: after coming down the stairs from a blissful lie-in though still having to go to work in the afternoon. I find a note from my father with references to the careers section of that days newspaper telling me to read it and "quickly" apply to the placements that they were suggesting. To be fair to him he does not have a clue as to what I want to do with my life nor does he know about 'My Plan'. But the placements were for various chain stores and the like. What annoyed me was that this was after the conversation I had had with my parents telling them how I felt retail wasn't really for me. Though I don't think it needs saying, I put that little note in the bin.
Second to the sage advice that your parents will give you is, not only their tact at making you feel like crap for not having found a job yet, but also their strange ability to know which of your friends have got jobs already as well as their constant reminders to you about this very thing.
The advice that your parents will give you about what lies ahead can often be soul-destroying. The innate ability each one of us, as sons and daughters, have is to want to please our parents. Though sometimes we protest that this is not the case it can sometimes cause you to take offers or follow certain paths that aren't really for you.
Though this can be true for many situations it also leads me to my third rule when finding a job:
Rule 3: Listen to your parents
Parents are wise and have lived a fruitful life full of experiences! Why would you ever take the advice of someone stuck in a full-time job, which to them feels like someone squeezing the air out of their lungs, and who constantly refers to a 'Plan' which hasn't progressed past the first stage!
In reality parents and other people you know will always put in their two cents about how to find a job and what to do. But it's up to you to pick and choose the advice that you take. Sometimes certain offers that you might get from parents and others may help in the long run but as long as you know that you have a goal that you want to achieve and you don't become complacent then that goal will always be achievable.
It's time to think 5-year plan now.
From personal experience I try to counter this by rarely being in the house so I can therefore fully appreciate the time I spend with the family. However by living with your parents after finishing Uni you give up certain rights, such as privacy; particularly when it comes to job hunting.
This is something that the family will follow with great interest and boundless curiosity. If you haven't received some sort of article torn out from some newspaper spouting rubbish about 'graduate jobs' and the 'current financial climate' then count yourself very lucky.
To some extent the family has the right to do this as in one way or another they will have supported your education thereby causing a shift in emotions from: the immense pride they felt on your Graduation Day (which if you played your cards right should have bought you at least a few weeks of slacking off) to an underlying expectation that now is the time to be doing something with your life. This therefore leads me to my second rule.
Rule 2: Do not listen to your parents.
Funny Story: after coming down the stairs from a blissful lie-in though still having to go to work in the afternoon. I find a note from my father with references to the careers section of that days newspaper telling me to read it and "quickly" apply to the placements that they were suggesting. To be fair to him he does not have a clue as to what I want to do with my life nor does he know about 'My Plan'. But the placements were for various chain stores and the like. What annoyed me was that this was after the conversation I had had with my parents telling them how I felt retail wasn't really for me. Though I don't think it needs saying, I put that little note in the bin.
Second to the sage advice that your parents will give you is, not only their tact at making you feel like crap for not having found a job yet, but also their strange ability to know which of your friends have got jobs already as well as their constant reminders to you about this very thing.
The advice that your parents will give you about what lies ahead can often be soul-destroying. The innate ability each one of us, as sons and daughters, have is to want to please our parents. Though sometimes we protest that this is not the case it can sometimes cause you to take offers or follow certain paths that aren't really for you.
Though this can be true for many situations it also leads me to my third rule when finding a job:
Rule 3: Listen to your parents
Parents are wise and have lived a fruitful life full of experiences! Why would you ever take the advice of someone stuck in a full-time job, which to them feels like someone squeezing the air out of their lungs, and who constantly refers to a 'Plan' which hasn't progressed past the first stage!
In reality parents and other people you know will always put in their two cents about how to find a job and what to do. But it's up to you to pick and choose the advice that you take. Sometimes certain offers that you might get from parents and others may help in the long run but as long as you know that you have a goal that you want to achieve and you don't become complacent then that goal will always be achievable.
It's time to think 5-year plan now.
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