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what next?

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  • August 20, 2018 at 2:23 pm #222257
    Joe
    Participant

    Hi folks – sorry I’ve been absent on here for the best part of a year.

    Last you heard from me, I made the decision to go back to uni to do my masters.

    This past year has been really great on so many levels – I’ve learned so much, met lots of amazing people who have all inspired me and I love being around people who are equally passionate about creativity. I’ve changed directions and I’ve been making the most of what’s been available to me – career advice, freelancing/business promotion/management seminars and I feel a lot more confident about my work. In short, I think my uni experience this time around has been a million times more positive than my undergraduate course. The freelancing/self employment talks, schemes and support was an option but I’ve decided to play it safe and focus on finding a job (I hope to go into freelancing further down the line, and I guess the experience from a job in a relevant field will still be useful when finding clients).

    My time is coming to a close and I have a month left. If I’m honest, the past month has knocked me a bit – I had been applying for jobs/internships to prepare for after I finish but I wasn’t successful. I know it’s only been 3 rejections but it’s knocked my self-confidence a bit. I have a month to put together the final project and submit it and I’m already behind because of the job hunt. I don’t want to be in the same position last time I graduated where I spent the best part of 2 years not knowing what to do or where I was going, and spiraling downwards into depression.

    I’ve also been doing volunteer work on the side for the past year but what if that’s not enough? There’s always somebody with more experience and some employers don’t count internships/work experience/volunteer work as valid experience because they don’t pay a salary for those things.

    What am I going to do?

    Joe

    August 21, 2018 at 11:13 am #222375
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Joe:

    Welcome back.

    The setting of you being a graduate in the university fit you very well, you thrived in that particular setting, but can’t stay there lifetime (unless you get into academia and work there?)

    Time to leave and enter a different setting that doesn’t fit you well, not at this point. It is a different setting, one less welcoming, one that is competitive and rejecting. Understandably you don’t like it and you fear getting depressed again.

    Is there counseling you can attend at this transitional time at the university or elsewhere? That can be very useful t you.

    anita

    August 21, 2018 at 11:49 am #222393
    Joe
    Participant

    Anita

    Nice to be back, hope you are well.

    I did try applying for internal job vacancies at the uni but so far, no luck. I am waiting to hear about an internship in another country (one which involves a role relevant to what I want to do, it’s in Europe and not teaching English – I’m not going down the TEFL road again). I’m not clinging to the possibility of going to this internship because I don’t want to get my hopes up to find myself disappointed, and I told myself if I found something here in the UK then I would go for that instead.

    There are options for further study and training but one which involves teacher training (and I have no desire to teach school kids). There are loans available now for PHD’s but I’m not going for that because that means more student debt, possibly another great big employment gap and I wouldn’t know what to do (personally I don’t see any merit in having an art PHD, but that’s just my opinion).

    I think the fact that I’m not throwing myself into rash decisions I might not be able to come back from so easily is a sign that I’ve made some personal progress over the past year, as well as not throwing myself into freelancing/self employment when I know that self employment is a slow burner with no instant gratification or guarantee of success.

    I have booked an appointment to speak with a counselor at uni but as I have less than a month left of uni, I only see myself having one or two sessions.

    What do you think?

    Joe

    August 22, 2018 at 11:07 am #222577
    Joe
    Participant

    Resubmitted

    August 22, 2018 at 11:40 am #222587
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Joe:

    I hardly recognized you as the same Joe from before, this graduate program brought out the best in you. Regarding “what next?” better not go back to the way it was before the graduate program. Even if it can not be as wonderful as it was this past year, better see to  it that you keep some of the momentum as you move forward to what is next.

    I wrote the above paragraph before I read your recent post, including your statement that you “made some personal progress over the past year”. Yes, I agree and it shows big time!

    Much like the stock market, an ongoing, permanent increase in value, or maintaining value, is not possible, there will be decreases, the graph line going downward, but don’t let it go all the way down. Pay attention, be aware, have those two counseling sessions (is career counseling part of it, or is it available to you?). Figure out what to do next, how to live, so that you don’t regress to that nothing-is-happening way of life from before.

    You didn’t list in your last post options that are worthy of your consideration. There has to be something. I will soon be away from the computer for about sixteen hours, hope to read from you when I am back, or anytime after.

    A pleasure to communicate with you again, and thank you for asking, I am fine.

    anita

     

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