Graduate Work Tip

Here I am, being good and finally getting round to doing this post, which has been in my brain for a really long time now.

As I have said here before, being a graduate and looking for a job is seriously no easy thing. Along with the difficult application forms, getting your CV right and knowing what it is you even want to do (argh!), there's the stress of it all! I found that after weeks of solidly filling out applications to jobs, I was losing motivation and getting, if I'm honest, kinda depressed. Speaking to various friends, I know I wasn't alone in this.

One simple, yet amazing little tip I wanted to share is document what you apply for. It sounds like an obvious thing, but imagine if you spend a month applying for jobs, you'd definitely start losing track of what you'd already applied for. My method was using an Excel spreadsheet.

Surprisingly, I found this a really motivating thing to do. I found huge satisfaction out of watching the list grow as I put the effort in. It's something that you can always come back to. Now I'm coming to the end of the work experience I'm currently doing, I can come back to this list and add to it as I start applying again. As a fan of lists, I just love the organisation of this, and it actually encourages me to apply for more.  

More to come, 

Good luck guys!

x

Errrrm...Change of Plan!

Oh how the tides have turned and the seas have changed! In my last post, I was set to go to Oxford to do a Masters degree. I am not in Oxford. I am not doing a Masters degree. I am about to finish my last week at a local high street drug/beauty shop whose name rhymes with 'hoots', and start some work experience at a literary PR/Marketing firm in London. About a week before I was meant to go to Oxford, I had a very 'un-me' panicky and emotional outburst, where I realised I actually didn't want to go at all. I realised I don't want to do more education, I just want a job I'm happy with. Even if that means I'm at the bottom, working my way up.

Life is a big question mark in all departments currently, and although this is stressful, anxiety-inducing and unsettling for someone who needs some kind of control, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Songs listened during this blogpost: Hozier - Take Me To Church, Paramore - Still into You, Interpol - All the Rage Back Home, Royal Blood - Little Monster

Summer Progress

I'd be so intrigued to read other peoples' blog posts about the summer directly after they've finished university. If you're not lucky enough to have a job lined up ready and waiting (we all know those annoying people!) then the summer can be a stressful and pressuring slog.

Having left university, I had 100% ruled out all possibility of doing a Masters degree. For me it seemed like too much of an academic direction to go in, when I knew I wanted to get into the publishing industry. It also just seemed like A LOT of hard work when I'd just finished my BA (Hons) degree, complete with dissertation! After a bit of searching around into the world of publishing, I noticed first that a Publishing degree was a thing, and second that lots of people seemed to have one, or were talking about it. I am told that it is not necessary to have an MA in publishing to get into the industry, but my attempts were clearly not working (many rejections - most likely on the grounds of not enough experience). I applied for the MA at Oxford Brookes, not really thinking too much of it (as I was still hoping a job might come my way!), but after the personal statement was written and telephone interview was held, I got in! As of now - the MA is the official plan! Mental!

I'm very much looking forward to living in Oxford for the year, as I've heard good things about the city!

I'd love to hear about anybody else's plans for the future, or how your post-uni summer is going?

Finishing University

The inspiration for this blogpost has come from my general fear and anxiety of finishing uni and being booted out into the big wide world of uncertain ends and questionable job prospects. 


I, like thousands upon thousands of other people, am having to come to terms with the fact that unless I get my arse in gear, I'm going to be sitting round watching Jeremy Kyle all day, every day (this is what I tell people now when they ask what I'm doing after university, because this question, as I'm sure you all know, is very wearing when you don't know the answer). 


I vainly hope that perhaps in a year's time, I can come back here and be pleased and reassured of the progress I have made! So, future self: congrats if you're not a homeless, jobless, Jezza K watcher (although if you are homeless, how are you watching JK?). 


Getting back into the blogging scene (not that it ever fully kicked off), led me to remember a quote by Plato that one of my friends told me the other day; "the unexamined life is not worth living". In my blogging endeavors, I intend to do some kind of self-reflection, and I suppose in that sense, you could argue it is an 'examination' of my life. Plato, are you happy with this - lemme know in the comments ;) 

x