It is April. this month I hand in my dissertation and long essay. Next month I take my final exams, and my degree is over. Soon after that, I graduate, which will be the best day of my life. All of these are terrifying and exciting prospects - not least because when it's all over, I need to find my way into meaningful employment.
For a humanities student, the job search can seem even more daunting than for others. At my university, the History Society is sponsored by countless big law firms and a law conversion is touted as our best way into employment. Whenever I tell people I study history, most of them reply with those dreaded words, "Oh, so you're going to be a teacher then?" Law is dry and not for me. Teaching seems like every kind of hell, and I want to scream back at everyone that history is useful, teaches endless skills and makes you just a better person, yeah?
So, what are the options when if your academic society isn't bundling you into law, the only firms who can afford to advertise at the uni are the Big Four and endless consultancy, finance and god-knows-what-else-rubbish businesses? I've been struggling with this all year. Growing up, all I wanted to be was an actor. The degree was my backup plan. Though today the industry is full of rich types who can afford to be out of work for months on end, and job security is appealing far more than the starving artist trope - so that's pushed to the side for the time being. All I know now is, I love attention, especially seeing my name in print. I have opinions, and formulating them into pieces of artistry through wordsmithing gives me a buzz like nothing else.
I've applied to The Sunday Times and the BBC Journalist Trainee Scheme, and suffered knockbacks from both. A phone interview with a wealth management company for their marketing scheme turned into me interviewing them, and I said a firm NO when invited to their assessment day. Turning down the chance of a job felt all kinds of counterintuitive, by the way, but wealth management? Not with my moral code. It would grate like taking my teeth to a fine cheesegrater. My next hope is a two-year communications grad scheme with the National Farmers Union - bear with, this actually sounds very exciting, with a chance to travel and write all the things. Because, well, writing is my thing. And bellydancing, but that's another blog post.
Until I write my bestselling novel, or hilarious sitcom, or riveting screenplay, or preferably all of those: the quest for the wonder job continues. It's harder for a student of the humanities to find the perfect job - many of us would probably rather be working on our entry for the Booker Prize. We're constantly pushed tot apply for jobs we might not want or fit into; the feeling is any job will do. I turned my back on that when I said 'no thanks' to an assessment day for a job I had a good chance of getting. More than anything, I'd love to travel the world before settling into a job, but ta, David Cameron, my life savings will be going on a flat deposit, and probably stretching to a few days' rent - not a house, as I've always dreamed of, or that epic trip.
Right now I'm alternating penning my dissertation, a comparative study on hideous assimilation practices used against Indigenous peoples in North America and Australia, with working on a long essay on Victorian criminal lunatics and my exam revision. Turns out I'm supposed to find an impressive job as well, raking my memory for stellar examples of teamwork and problem-solving and articulating thoughts into impressive little paragraphs singing about my awesomeness. Oh, and my new baby, this blog. Keep reading for tales of my adventures into jobhunting as a stressed arts finalist, as well as all those opinions and pontifications I've got coming.
For a humanities student, the job search can seem even more daunting than for others. At my university, the History Society is sponsored by countless big law firms and a law conversion is touted as our best way into employment. Whenever I tell people I study history, most of them reply with those dreaded words, "Oh, so you're going to be a teacher then?" Law is dry and not for me. Teaching seems like every kind of hell, and I want to scream back at everyone that history is useful, teaches endless skills and makes you just a better person, yeah?
So, what are the options when if your academic society isn't bundling you into law, the only firms who can afford to advertise at the uni are the Big Four and endless consultancy, finance and god-knows-what-else-rubbish businesses? I've been struggling with this all year. Growing up, all I wanted to be was an actor. The degree was my backup plan. Though today the industry is full of rich types who can afford to be out of work for months on end, and job security is appealing far more than the starving artist trope - so that's pushed to the side for the time being. All I know now is, I love attention, especially seeing my name in print. I have opinions, and formulating them into pieces of artistry through wordsmithing gives me a buzz like nothing else.
I've applied to The Sunday Times and the BBC Journalist Trainee Scheme, and suffered knockbacks from both. A phone interview with a wealth management company for their marketing scheme turned into me interviewing them, and I said a firm NO when invited to their assessment day. Turning down the chance of a job felt all kinds of counterintuitive, by the way, but wealth management? Not with my moral code. It would grate like taking my teeth to a fine cheesegrater. My next hope is a two-year communications grad scheme with the National Farmers Union - bear with, this actually sounds very exciting, with a chance to travel and write all the things. Because, well, writing is my thing. And bellydancing, but that's another blog post.
Until I write my bestselling novel, or hilarious sitcom, or riveting screenplay, or preferably all of those: the quest for the wonder job continues. It's harder for a student of the humanities to find the perfect job - many of us would probably rather be working on our entry for the Booker Prize. We're constantly pushed tot apply for jobs we might not want or fit into; the feeling is any job will do. I turned my back on that when I said 'no thanks' to an assessment day for a job I had a good chance of getting. More than anything, I'd love to travel the world before settling into a job, but ta, David Cameron, my life savings will be going on a flat deposit, and probably stretching to a few days' rent - not a house, as I've always dreamed of, or that epic trip.
Right now I'm alternating penning my dissertation, a comparative study on hideous assimilation practices used against Indigenous peoples in North America and Australia, with working on a long essay on Victorian criminal lunatics and my exam revision. Turns out I'm supposed to find an impressive job as well, raking my memory for stellar examples of teamwork and problem-solving and articulating thoughts into impressive little paragraphs singing about my awesomeness. Oh, and my new baby, this blog. Keep reading for tales of my adventures into jobhunting as a stressed arts finalist, as well as all those opinions and pontifications I've got coming.
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