Kirstie's job log: 50
Kirstie Nicols
- February 2010.
The story so far... Kirstie left her job in sales to pursue her dream of journalism and a Masters at Westminster University. Now she wants a chance to apply what she has learnt. Belated best wishes Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone reading this! It’s been such a long time since I last managed to report to blog duty, that I don’t really know where to start. It feels like an awful lot should have happened, but I’m afraid the reality is very different! I suppose I should begin with an explanation for my long blogging abstinence. A few of you may remember reading my early blogs when I first started writing, where I mentioned pursuing a passion for all things two wheeled, and buying a motorbike (she’s called Fylix if you're interested!). Now, we’ve got on very well over the year or so that I’ve owned her – until she recently decided enough was enough, and upended me in the middle of the road. This wasn’t much fun, and involved spending a bit of time away from home (and therefore my computer) with some very nice doctors and nurses. Luckily, all is well now, and believe it or not, Fylix and I are once again getting on splendidly – though admittedly I did have to agree with her that it might not have been all her fault that I came off, and I could have had something to do with it as well. So apologies for the long hiatus, but I’m back on form and raring to go once again! However, with my enforced holiday from job hunting, swiftly followed by Christmas and New Year, I have very little news on the job front. I’m currently back temping for the NHS once again, though in a different office this time, and have just started to get back into the hell that is the job market. If it’s possible, there seems to be less work around now than there was before I stopped looking – or at least, there are fewer jobs that a brand new graduate with very little experience can apply for. I’ve decided that for now, I will work on the lack of experience, and plan to start writing to all the contacts I made throughout my degree as well as begging friends that have jobs, to give me an opportunity to come work for them for free. Officially graduated However that is my plan for the coming month, which means I (hopefully) should have a little more to tell you about next time. The biggest news of this month is that I have officially graduated! Technically I graduated in October when I found out I had passed my dissertation, but last Monday I met up with everyone from the course, we donned silly hats and giant black robes, shook hands with an old man and proceeded to get very drunk on free champagne. All while various parents followed us round taking pictures. Whatever the excuse, it was great to see everyone and to hear what people are up to nowadays. Sadly, many seem to be in the same position as me, in that they haven’t really managed to find that first break into the journalism sector. In fact, our lecturer admitted for the first time that our year has had it worse than any other year beforehand – and the year who are currently studying the same course are likely to find things worse than us. There was some good news from others however; some are now doing the odd freelance shift for various radio stations around the country (and even for the Guardian in one case); some have decided to change careers entirely and are doing well with what they’ve chosen, and the odd couple were able to boast of having secure, full time jobs in the media industry. So the message I have decided to take from meeting up with everyone, is not that it is going to be a struggle to find work – I have already heard this many times, both from family and friends and also all over the news – but instead that there is still a chance if I look hard enough and don’t give up hope. Which is what I plan to do over the next few weeks: keep trying until someone says yes! Read my previous blogs
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