Fashion graduate Sarah becomes ever more determined to leave the parental home and find a London job and flat. (8/3/06)I've put the job hunting on the back burner for the time being – I did not anticipate how stressful and all-consuming flat hunting is. I was honest with my boss at work, who’s known from day one that planning card displays is not something I wish to do as a career and that at the end of the month I will be leaving and moving up to London. The fashion agency have assured me they will find me work as soon as I’m available and my current employers only need a week's notice of my leaving so I can time the move and the starting of work relatively seamlessly. So, onto more pressing matters…getting myself into London! I have spent the best part of a month trawling through mountains of gumtree adverts, and when phoning up potential rooms to let in the North London area, finding that, before I had a chance to hop, skip and jump on the Met line, the room had already gone. I took to placing my own advert, reminiscent of a lonely hearts advert (although a little less desperate!) on the flatsharing website to let the people with the flats come to me. The response was immense but few were ticking all the right boxes – a creative and inspiring, sociable household with people to bounce ideas off of, in a reasonably priced double room with space to let my creative juices flow…in Camden. My fascination with Camden goes back a long way, since when I was an impressionable teenager and my best friend and I would wander up the High Street every Saturday afternoon in our baggy jeans and sparkly eyeshadow (this was before I took a degree in understanding fashion!) looking for bargains at the market and in complete awe of the array of cider-swigging punks lined up by the Lock. Perhaps at the age of 24 it’s a little early to be experiencing the mid-twenties crisis, wishing to cling onto my youth, but Camden only being a 20-minute drive up the M1 from where I currently live, I feel it’s a move that won’t be too much of an upheaval and the music scene is one I currently enjoy and would love to be more closely involved with. I met up with a nice girl who contacted me through gumtree and we found a gorgeous town house in the centre of Camden to let. However, with only a few days to find people to move in with and contracts to sign I became increasingly unhappy with the pressure to find all-important housemates who will not only be sociable, but also creative and inspiring – some people to bounce ideas off of and introduce me to new and exciting people and experiences. I decided to pull out of the house. I was lucky at university and I lived with the same group of people for the whole three years but it was a lot easier back then. Not only are you in the same boat – starting art school and moving away from home for the first time – but are more receptive to meeting new people and starting new adventures. So, I have begun the search again and have met up with two really nice and inspiring girls in their mid-twenties (a music photographer and a picture editor at a magazine) who are not only friendly but can maintain a thought-provoking conversation about the wonders of cheese dreams. They are open-minded, partial to a bit of jumble sale fun, and make me feel challenged creatively and intellectually. Marvellous. Now, we just have to find the perfect flat. (22/2/06)The mini has been sold and the search for a new home in the big smoke has intensified. I’m now tying up loose ends, downsizing and blasting out those CVs like there’s no tomorrow. Remaining focused on my goal right now is my priority, despite a few minor setbacks – like the death of my much-loved, and much-abused I-Book. I have hijacked my brother’s computer and am covering every possible angle for fashion vacancies when trawling through various job agency websites. Any job that is remotely fashion related is now a potential career – at least if I can get my foot to poke through the door I’m in with a chance to progress to other levels. This is not to say I’m not being a little choosy – I don’t just want any old job. So, on my carefully constructed CV I have been ‘manipulating’ my skills (I use the term ‘manipulate’ loosely as there’s no point in lying!) that I’ve inadvertently ‘picked up’ from almost two years of administration jobs, with the result that my CV is much more attractive and I am applicable to any given position. Skills to suitTo have to explain why you’ve worked in a job unrelated to your degree and career choice, apart from the obvious, ‘I just needed the money…and just sort of stayed there’, does not show a prospective employer that you’re particularly driven or that there is any logic in your job choices. However, if you tell them that your dead-end administration job has enabled you to take some time-out to consider which area of the field you wish to pursue and add that you’ve picked up various skills along the way (for example, the ever applicable multi-tasking, prioritising, time management, liaising, organisation skills), you prove to potential employers that the post-graduate ‘wilderness years’ haven’t been idly spent learning not much more than filing and perfecting your tea-making abilities. So, back to me! I had an interview with yet another fashion agency last week; no maths test thank God! The sun was shining and I left feeling a lot more optimistic about my job search. It’s always a nice feeling when you know someone else is looking for work for you, it makes those long and lonely nights tucked up in bed with a laptop scouring for jobs and inspiration that little less taxing. The agency had hinted that, for the more prestigious roles, I might have to partake in a telephone interview. Unlike normal interviews where you can mentally prepare yourself, you need to go from ‘I’m so bored of this job’ to, ‘This job has been highly valuable experience…’ in a matter of seconds of answering the call. Employer callingHaving only signed up to the agency two days earlier, to say I was taken aback by my first ever telephone interview would be an understatement. I had to recall things I had done and why it was applicable to the position WHILST predicting the position I was going for and direct my answers accordingly, as I had only a matter of minutes to impress. Something I always find important in interviews is body language and eye contact. With a telephone interview these elements are eliminated, and only the tone of your voice and the content of what you are saying are important; this combined with the lack of notice, I feel, makes these sorts of interviews all the harder if you aren’t permanently optimistic that you’re destined for great things all day, every day and able to go into selling mode at any given moment. I think the fear that the next time my phone rings could be another company with the opportunity for a great job is enough to will myself to sell the commodity that is me even harder next time. If I can sell an old mini that needs ‘work’, I can certainly sell myself. (8/2/06)Ever the optimist, these past two weeks have been rather trying. The silver lining in my cloud of temping in a dead-end administration job came in the form of an interview with a fashion agency. 
My decision to sell my mini, move up into London and find any fashion related job still remains my main goal, then I can begin to focus on getting more experience at a magazine and promoting my illustrations. I re-wrote my CV and covering letter gearing it to persuade the agency that I was interested in a fashion buying career. I found out that I would have to undertake a maths test…without a calculator! I was sure the sole reason I gained a respectable B at Maths GCSE 8 years ago (!) was because I had my trusty calculator. My younger brother gave me a maths revision book from school and I swotted up like I’ve never swotted before on long multiplication, long division, ratios, fractions and percentages. I found some useful websites with free mock numerical aptitude tests and I went to the interview slightly more confident having jump-started my brain into gear (which was somewhat rusty from working in mind-numbing jobs for over a year!) The multiple choice numerical test consisted of 36 questions to be completed in 20 minutes and a friend of mine who had to undertake one for a job last year advised me to work as quickly and accurately as possible, stating it’s not always necessary to work each question out – if you can take educated guesses then do. I worked through the questions, leaving any I was struggling with to finish at the end and was startled when the agency woman came into the room 15 minutes later. My test was marked and I discovered that although I had answered all the questions correctly, having not completed the test I was two questions short of gaining the 80% that they need to pass me. So, not one to become disillusioned by a minor setback, I went back to blasting out my CVs to any takers at an alarming speed…until my Apple laptop gave up on me! My portal to the outside world is currently in the care of some very nice engineers and all my fingers and toes are crossed that he’ll be back with me and ready to take the world of jobs by storm. On the plus side of all of this, I may soon be without a car. (25/1/06)My worst fear is that I wake up in five years’ time and I’m still in my ‘stop-gap’ job, the transitional job that takes me from young, inexperienced, graduate duckling into a goal-orientated, driven and successful, working swan. My current job has given me a good grounding in learning general office skills and has given me some time out to consider my next career move and I’m now ready for a new challenge. However, having talked to various work colleagues, it is all too easy to become comfortable in a job that is far from challenging and at times, not the most mind-stimulating work. And that is the difference; it is a job and not a career for the majority of the people I work with. I questioned why there’s no passion to push themselves further, do something they truly love, to wake up in the morning and go ‘Yes!’ rather than clock-watch all day wishing it would strike 5 so that they can go home, feed the cat and sit in front of the television and stimulate their intellect with a spot of mind-numbing ‘entertainment’ until the next working day. Another 40 hours goneOne of my colleagues said that the difference between her and me is that she doesn’t live to work. But how can you spend 40-odd hours a week ‘living’ in a job where you’re not learning new skills, meeting new people and stretching your mind? I think it’s far too easy to get used to the monthly pay packet, and some people I work with feel too trapped with financial burdens to be able to just hop, skip and go off travelling, take some time out to realise their dreams or just uproot and take a risky career move – or even worse, a pay-slump – just to get on the ladder to a career they’d much prefer. For some of my work colleagues, they’ve never known what they’ve really wanted to do. They’ve left school and entered administration jobs and been too scared to question ‘is the grass greener?’- perhaps this is why I don’t understand why they could possibly be truly happy, because I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to write about fashion. I’m well aware of how hard it is to get into this work but I believe self-promotion, itchy feet and an open mind are key to beat the dead-end job blues. My next moveI’m lucky enough to live close enough to London to smell the smog of success and after a tedious journey from the suburbs on the Metropolitan line I can remind myself of where I want to be in a few months’ time. For a career in fashion I need to surround myself with inspiration at the expense of selling my beautiful 25-year-old mini to fund a move into London. I’m quite prepared to work in a bar or a shop again while I’m in London to fund a work placement at a fashion magazine, to get my foot in the door. I have an interview with a fashion agency tomorrow (!) who may find me work within a fashion Head Office environment. I can then utilise my office experience since graduating and continue to pursue my love of writing about fashion on the side. Keep searchingMany of the people from my course are stuck in shop jobs waiting for that right job but there’s no need to feel ashamed because you haven’t yet achieved your dream career, and there’s no harm in searching, signing up to temping agencies, and trying new things until that ‘perfect’ job comes up. What’s the worst that can happen: you will learn a few new skills, open a few more doors, beef up your CV, and realise it’s not the job for you? At school I was fortunate enough to have an inspiring English teacher that pushed my passion for writing and I will only feel like I've done his teaching justice if I can prove to myself that you can achieve success if you broaden your mindset outside the grey office walls. The grass is always greener after all. (11/1/06)After three years studying for a fashion degree I came out of art college with an overwhelming sense of feeling completely exposed, away from the protection of being with like-minded graduates and my tutors. University had made me more confident and self-assured; I felt I could take on the fashion industry head on and show those little people. I hadn’t anticipated that the challenge was yet to begin and the learning curve to be so steep. Oh, how naïve and ill-prepared I was. The first thing I did before I graduated was secure a 9 to 5 job. The thought of earning some proper money for the first time in three years was hugely appealing and I craved the structure of an unchallenging job and being able to enjoy my evenings and weekends. Positive responseAt Graduate Fashion Week my book was spotted by an international fashion agency who wished to represent me as a designer, a boutique in Portobello was interested in my doing an exhibition and a new store opening near Carnaby Street in London was interested in my illustrations. I was overwhelmed by the positive response to my work but felt ill-prepared, nervous and my dead-end call centre job (which was only meant to be a stop-gap to get me through the summer) had begun to eat away at my soul and confidence and stifle my creative juices. My main goal was to pursue fashion journalism. I sent out numerous speculative letters to magazines and fashion companies – I was prepared to do anything. The response was poor: from 30 or so CVs I sent out in one week I received about six ‘We’ll keep your record on file’ letters back. Browsing websites and subscribing to the fashion industry magazine to regularly scout the job page I realised that despite my degree I did not have the years’ worth of experience that many of the jobs were asking for. During my course I had gained unpaid experience at The Telegraph and Dazed and Confused. Experience neededTalking to a full-time intern fashion assistant at The Telegraph I decided I would probably have to gain more work experience and fund it with a part-time job. The intern I spoke to had completed her degree and spent two years modelling. With the money she had saved, and the help of a very supportive boyfriend, she could just about scrape by living and working in London on only £85 a week. Despite working there for over a year, she had not been offered a full-time paid position. I contacted many fashion magazines, sent emails, made follow-up calls only to discover that I would have to wait for at least a year to get work experience, and in the case of Vogue, almost two. I worried that perhaps if I waited so long I would fall into the trap of being too comfortable earning a modest monthly wage. I completed the nerve-wracking exhibition in Portobello and may go back and do another one sometime in the future. The next month I left my call centre job and decided to temp in an attempt to save up money for an internship and gain some office experience but with some flexibility. A job for nowThe agency found me a job working at a fine art card publisher, planning and visual merchandising card displays for various stores, for example John Lewis, Waitrose and Harrods. It’s not exactly my dream job but I have come to realise that it will take time and any skills I pick up along the way will only boost my CV and prove an advantage when I go and apply for jobs. With regards to using my degree; I made a useful contact in my local pub of all places: a former fashion editor at Sleazenation magazine, and now freelance stylist and writer. Interestingly she got into the industry by pitching ideas to Time Out magazine, which became a regular feature, whilst temping. She advised me not to be wary of contacting magazines with ideas for articles or fashion stories with the common fear that big magazines will claim them for themselves, as someone with true talent should never run out of ideas. Not only does this show initiative and confidence but by knocking at the right doors, more may open. Ready for 2006 My plan for the year ahead is to stick with it and gradually I may start to reap rewards. I’ve been applying to various fashion-related administration jobs in London through various websites so that I can make the move into the big city and combine the office skills I’ve gained since graduating with fashion. I’ve begun updating and working on my portfolio and the publisher I’m still working for is interested in perhaps purchasing my designs and publishing them. I will be contacting the Carnaby Street store, once I am settled in London, about the possibility of selling my book and illustrations. It is too easy to become disillusioned and feel lost, not knowing where to start looking and how to deal with rejections, waking up each morning and going to a job that makes you unhappy, demoralised, just simply to pay the bills and the student overdraft. I think the people that do succeed are those who don't give up at the first hurdle. We all have to find our own path, some may get there a hell of a lot quicker than others, our goals and our fears may change as we learn and grow from those experiences but to remember that there is still more to learn after university.
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