Liz's job log: 11

The story so far... Liz graduated from the University of Glamorgan with a degree in journalism. Earlier this year, she spent three months in Ghana getting experience of broadcasting and newspapers there. Now she is back at home in South Wales.

If only 

Sat on the stairs in my house - for no other reason than we all just seem to randomly congregate there - myself, Mum and Dad were trying to come up with a way to make money so that a) I’d finally get a job, b) my dad could work locally, instead of having to travel a million miles every week to work, and finally c) Dad could then retire at a decent age and live out his days quietly in the manner he deserves. His words.

So, what collective talents did we have? I could write - we’ve established that - my dad is a very hands-on man and pretty good at all things DIY (even if he does say so himself) and my mum, well she’s a mum so she has many, many skills including organisation and multi-tasking skills. What did we come up with? A DIY book. Yes, that right. I will write, under my dad’s keen eye, a kind of how to do-it-yourself simple DIY book; we will get published, it will be a huge success, and my dad will be the retired old man he’s always dreamed of being. Added to this, I would establish myself as a writer - albeit a DIY writer - but a writer none the less. So that is our simple plan…

Now to the real world

To sign on, or not to sign on, that is the question. Not something Shakespeare ever had to do though I’m sure. Ever the optimist, since my return I’ve thought ‘it’s fine, I have some money to keep me going’, or ‘Well, I’ve only been home two, three, four…weeks, there’s no rush…’ blah blah. It’s now six weeks later. My glass is no longer half full. It is dry. I have taken to not checking my bank balance.

The problem is, not only am I facing the standard obstacles every job hunter faces: not enough money, not the right area, not got the right qualifications, and so on, but I’m facing them at a time, when, and I quote ‘500 UK businesses say they would not employ recent graduates due to the current economic situation’. Great news.

To fill me with even more hope, my brief experience of the job centre is pretty poor.  They don’t exactly fill you with confidence, and they offer you little in the way of some miraculous insight into getting a job. I do feel I could give better advice. Even the whole process of actually applying for job seekers allowance seems too much like hard work due to the fact I’ve been out of the country for over 60 days - I have to prove that I have residence in this country. The fact I have a degree means diddly-squat to these people as well - I may as well have nothing!

If only I’d written Harry Potter

Since Ghana, as I’ve said before I’m sure, I’ve been really interested in radio, and magazine print work, but that conflicts with wanting to be a world class foreign correspondent. My brain is becoming frazzled with decisions - do I just take any job until I come across the jobs I’m actually holding out for? By that I mean those that are 1) in Wales, 2) journalism related and 3) something I can actually do - i.e ‘you must have at least 5 years’ working experience’, obviously I don’t. 

For now I’ve taken to temp work, which is, needless to say not the ideal situation I thought I’d find myself in post Africa, but beggars can’t be choosers, and daughters can’t forever live off Mummy and Daddy, as Daddy is getting slightly annoyed at said daughter. 

I think it’s time I started writing that best-selling novel I plan on, erm, writing. I was giving myself until I was 30 to have made it in the book world but my new thinking is: why not use my jobless bum time to write my best-selling novel? Sure. In saying that, all this time I waste coming up with brilliant ideas and fantasising about my perfect career could in fact be put to use by actually looking for a job in the here an now - who knows, there could be a time when I no longer have to cover the ATM screen when I get cash out. I blame the credit crunch, Northern Rock and Gordon Brown for my predicament right now. 

Read my previous job logs 

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