As I sat on the bus yesterday listening to a sixteen year old boy discuss the upcoming birth of his girlfriend’s child (from a previous relationship), I thought what fresh hell is this? They were even contemplating whether to buy ‘those storage boxes’ that day or not for ‘the new house’. I sat there in horror stroking my new fringe, because the biggest decision I made this week was to finally execute my next move into transforming into Stevie Nicks. I’ve not really taken unemployment gracefully. I went straight into a summer job after graduating University, a really fun, really great one. When it ended, I came home to Lancashire to settle down like a good homing pigeon to save up some money for (hopefully) a master’s degree. It’s only been two weeks since I finished and I’ve not applied for a single job. Well, that isn’t totally true, I’ve applied for one unpaid job but I would class that as a step backwards.
To be fair, the only pressure I am feeling is from me; my family are amazing and are condoning a nice rest after a fairly busy and hectic summer. I can’t actually write about what I did (no, not MI5), but it was based in London. I felt very independent, good at my job and it also let me put off feeling sad about leaving Leeds. My issue now is not that I am pining for the days of University: sleeping in until 11; occasionally reading a book or two; the trips to Hifi midweek, grinding to motown (yes I made that possible). I do miss it all, but my main issue is my total inability to decide what to do now. I’m self-respecting enough to want to strive for a job in something I enjoy but for which I am under-qualified, for now. I do not have any issues with starting from the bottom, yet I have seen a few of my friends go into graduate jobs or internships where there is obviously no intent on the company’s behalf to allow them to grow. I’ve made a series of small decisions in the past two weeks to ease myself into the decisive nature needed to job search.
1) The fringe. I’ve been blinking slowly into the mirror pretending to be January Jones to feel like a strong, independent woman.
2) The decision to walk through a wasp’s nest. I survived (N.B. Okay, maybe not a decision I made consciously, but look how badass I am now. I am practically the Katniss Everdeen of my town).
3) I bought a pair of Hotter boots. Yes, the brand particularly appealing to women over seventy. They are very attractive (honestly), and they feel like walking on pygmy puffs.
4) The decision to go to a career’s fair related to fashion. Because I wear red lipstick a lot and I own at least one blazer therefore am all set to take the industry by storm. The fringe also helps my office image yes?
At said job fair, I have two versions of what will happen. The first is my expectation: I will walk into a room of well dressed, creative human beings. They will congratulate me on my choice of new winter boots, at which point I tell them- to their shock and delight- that they are, in fact, Hotter’s. Then they hire me for my ability to create trends. I would also be in Vogue the next week for revolutionising and glamorising not six inch high feet extinguishers, but flat boots that provide a foot feeling equivalent of the way Mary Poppins’ bottom felt when she sat on that cloud.
The reality is a room full of much more professional graduates, who have done work experience at every highly regarded fashion magazine in London. Not as fun.
The point of this blog- yes there is a point, you cheeky muffins- is to put a bit of perspective on graduate life. There are always going to be high flyers who become top notch professionals very quickly. However, a career is massive part of life. Forty or more hours a week are spent at your job, and I want to make sure these hours are spent in the most pleasurable way possible. I have an idea of what I want to do, and it won’t be something that happens over-night. What is the point in panicking and wasting time on finding a job, fast, for the sake of making it look like I have my life together? I would rather take the time to get myself in order, enjoy what I do, and start from there.
Until my last pay check arrives at the end of this month, at least. Ask me how I feel then.
Photo sources
http://www.emstarpersonaltraining.co.uk/personaltraininglondon/
http://www.hotter.com/gb/en/womens/womens-shoes/sugar-shoes
NBC via http://www.cupcakesandshoes.com/2009_04_01_archive.html