So You Want A Graduate Job?

So the chances are if you're reading this then you are currently in 1 of 2 scenarios:

You're still at university 

or

Like me you're a new graduate coming to terms with the outside world. 

So I finished Uni back in May and I thought "wow, all this free time! Yay!" - although not that jolly in real life as all the enthusiasm has been methodically sucked out of me over my 6 years of further education. But life has a way of kicking you whilst you're down and I soon realised that getting a job straight out of university wasn't going to be quite as 'straightforward' as I once thought. 

So here are my top tips on how to get a graduate job!

Step 1: Get that all important 2:1 degree NO MATTER THE COSTS. Sacrifice your life, friendships, family, health. None of that's important. If you get under a 60 you've basically failed already. Eh heh...

Step 2: Got that 2:1? Killed yourself for it? You go Glen Coco! You followed the advice of all your lecturers that make it sound like a 3 year old could of done it and you managed to get that 2:1, heck you may even have gotten a first! Be proud! 

Step 3: Leave the university bubble, say goodbye to friends you will only ever see again at graduation and forget to contact about that "meet up in london for a coffee?" deal you made. Go home and enjoy that freedom, that sweet sweet freedom.

2 WEEKS LATER

Step 4: You're loan's just run out and the realisation sets in that actually you won't get another student loan... you are on your own. F.U.C.K. 

Step 5: Indeed and Reed it is then... you're bound to find a low level job with ease, yeah the pay might be shitty but you're willing to work your way up and grow with a business. You're bright eyed and bushy tailed and raring to go. 

Step 6: Oh. So all the low level jobs actually don't care about your degree but they want experience.... So all that time you spent getting that 2:1, you should have been working internships to get "relevant field experience". Well no biggie, parents are awesome, you can do some unpaid work whilst you're living at home right? It's not like at the age of 21-22 you would have any real responsibilities.... right?? 

Step 7: Internships, Internships, Internships... So it turns out even unpaid internships want experience then.... wait? what?! UNPAID? EXPERIENCE? WTF?! 

Step 8: Cry. You will. Trust. 

Step 9: Pick yourself up again and repeat Steps 1-8. 

Step 10: Heck you may get a part time job in a shop... for like 9 hours a week. But at least you still have your 2:1 degree though right?! TOTALLY worth the £40k of student debt. 

Okay, so I was feeling a little troll-y tonight and felt like writing a bit of a rant. But this is honestly life right now. The never ending cycle of finding jobs that tell you they're entry level, only to get rejected for a lack of experience, is a very real and annoying thing. I've been left in a position where realistically my best opportunity is to find a part time job - so I can actually, yanno, live - and then somehow find a part-time unpaid internship, so that I can gain some of that suddenly all important work-experience. 

I honestly think that degrees should start making it compulsory to have a work-experience module or year so that the students aren't left in this situation. My degree was really intensive and I only just scraped my 2:1 in the end. I definitely could not have done any more work or balanced an internship alongside my degree and I know many others that were in the same boat. 

If you're in this situation as well then I feel you! If you're still at Uni all I can say is- if you can muster some time, then try to get an internship even if it's just over summer! It will benefit you when you leave and I wouldn't wish mine, or my peers, current predicament on anyone!

ALSO if you know anyone that's looking for a writer, just F.Y.I, I'm keen. My actual writing ability is substantially better than what my blog portrays it to be, but I'm lazy over here on my little blog. I love the conversational style and loose use of grammatical rules that I can only get away with on my own domain. (hehe cheeky plug there... but seriously hook me up.)