Show me the money!

There are no jobs for intelligent university graduates who want to get along and get a job. I’ve been looking for one for far too long. I’ve been unable to get even the most basic office job because I don’t have ‘office experience’, whatever that means. It’s a room, with people, computers and telephones. What else is there to understand? Seriously, am I missing something? It’s not like I’m being picky either. I’ve tried for everything.

Almost all of the advertised jobs I see are secretarial and administrational. Not only would falling into one of these be an appalling waste of talent – though, I would take one right now, of course, you’ve got to get some kind of foot on that ladder, even if it’s one you’ve no interest in climbing (Tim from The Office – ed.) - but I’m never going to get one of those jobs ‘cos I don’t have the legs.

I am very ambitious and would really like to be a writer/film director in the future. Both of which I understand are long term goals. Both of which I am trying to work towards in my spare time. But how do I get a job in between times? (answers welcome!) So I can have some cash, so I can do some of the things I want to do outside of trying to get a job, so I can better myself, move on, move out, move up and repair a fractured sense of self-esteem/self-worth/self-control in my life, my country, my world.

My employable skills: Number one would have to be my writing. I do it very well. I could comfortably supply copy for any of the national film magazines I read. Writing reviews, features, interviews. The same goes for music magazines or newspapers. I have a passion for both. I’ve sent letters to about a dozen of them – no response.

I could do a good job in PR, whether it be for a business to business marketing magazine – I have applied to some of them and, presumably, had my application laughed at. The advert read: “ideal for a literature graduate looking to make a start in the industry.” How I didn’t get an interview for that one is beyond me. I’m the ideal candidate!

I would gladly work in marketing, as much as I loathe the cacophonous noise of advertising that surrounds us at every turn. It still ticks most of my boxes. It’s creative, its working with others, it’s valued, and as one particularly obnoxious commentator pointed out on a recent BBC show about advertising, “”We’re not Communists are we?! We’re all trying to make money!”

Or I could work for the radio. I have some experience working for the university radio station, which I enjoyed enormously.

Moving to another area is not an option. That requires money, which means having a job, which is what I can’t get. It’s one of those viscous circle things.

How does a fully rounded human being go about squashing themselves, their ideas, their individuality so they can go into the world of work and earn a crust? Is that something you need to do? If university is about opening your mind to the possibilities the world has to offer, getting a job is surely about closing it again, or maybe that should be not being able to get a job is about closing it again, cutting off parts of yourself so you can fit into a structure, a time, a table, a timetable. Maybe this is the kind of thinking that’s stopped me getting a job.

Right now I’m mad about this and I’ve got a right to be. I’ve got to hate someone and it’s going to be the government, the job centre, the system, the society, ‘cos it sure as hell is not my fault. I’m doing everything I can. I’m a very intelligent university graduate who can make a success of anything I turn my hand to. I have realistic goals as well as dreams I intend to follow, and I don’t understand why I’m not being given the chance, and just in case there’s any confusion, I couldn’t be more serious.