So You Don't Have a Job?

In this day and age so many people aren't working - can't find a job, won't find a job, don't know what's right for them, don't know how to find a job, are too embarrassed to ask for help in looking. 2015 has not been the best year for me work wise and I thought I'd put together a little something on it ...



There are a lot of people lucky enough to never have been out of work, there are also people fresh out of uni that have never worked a day in their life and completely don't understand real life and what it means to find a job. The average person will spend 10.3 years of their life at work - if it's not something you enjoy then seriously, what.is.the.point?! Now, when I say "enjoy" I do not mean your dream job I mean a job that doesn't make you physically nauseous at the thought of going in. If you're lucky enough to get your dream job then well done, seriously, brava!

This is something that I seem to get asked a lot at the moment. True, I could apply to every job available but there are a couple of problems with that solution. The first is that I could apply to every job available and still not get any of them, just because I apply everywhere doesn't mean they're going to take me on and I find that after the 9000th application my enthusiasm is wavering quite obviously in my emails.
The second is that there is a huge chance that whatever job I get offered through applying desperately to every company looking for an admin assistant or receptionist or general dogs body will be something I can't stand and I will end up right back where I am now. That has happened this year already and I suppose I'm being a bit pickier now, it's not like I'm expecting to walk into an amazing high paying job but just something I don't completely loathe.

Let me just say that when I've been sitting at home all day looking for a job on every website going and had absolutely no luck whatsoever and then someone comes out with 'How hard is it really?' I really want to punch said person in the throat! There is nothing more irritating than having the feeling of being a total loser being unemployed, poor and completely unable to pay rent at 22 being reinforced by the people around you. Yes, it really is that hard and yes, I really am trying.

YES I KNOW! I KNOOOOOOW! - This is hands down the single most irritating thing a person can say to me. I have mentioned in previous posts how I am hoping to get into the media industry, that I want to be a writer. I am more aware than anyone that an internship would be the most amazing thing ever right now, I know it would give me the experience I need to get a job I actually want or at least make the right contacts and get my foot in the door. I also know internships pay ZERO money and that unless people start letting me pay for things with rice or buttons that I will NEVER be able to do one. Telling me how amazing it would be and how it would really help give me a head start and get good contacts in the industry is as helpful as kicking me in the face.

It is, it really is. I won't let anyone tell me otherwise. I have been working since I was 15 years old - I was a cleaner after school, then I worked as an admissions assistant in my summer holidays, then I worked as a finance officer, then I was in student services at an international college, then I was a circus counsellor for the summer and now I'm nothing. I have no job, no work life and no social life because I'm not earning any money and it sucks. I have spent the whole of 2015 so far looking for work, I found something briefly, I hated it and I left. I could have stayed and made myself miserable, but I chose not to. It might not have been the smartest or the most responsible decision, but it was the best decision for me.

I've found there are a few things that make the unemployed life slightly better and slightly easier to deal with, so if you're also in the same position as me these might help...

These are all really important, it might be really annoying seeing me say this, but it's true.
Talk to people, it might be embarrassing admitting that you're out of work but they genuinely might be able to help and you'll never know if you don't ask.
I have found that my blog has been a really good way to keep my motivation up - it's given me something to do each day where otherwise I would just be sitting at home looking for jobs that just aren't there and slowly descending into a Netflix coma.
I think that it's really important to remember it won't last forever, there's no way that I won't find a job however much it feels like that right now I know that eventually I'll find something. There are days where I find myself feeling really angry about it all but there's just no point because getting angry at myself or the people around me is not going to get me a job and it's just going to make me bitter and miserable and that's not helping anyone.
The last one is optional, I can't tell you what to do, but I had a couple of weeks of complete identity crisis and panic where I decided I should just give up on my dream of writing, go to uni and study something 'sensible' that would secure me a job at the end. Sure, that might work, it might even be exciting and make me happy for a while, but why should I give up? I have worked really hard on my writing for all these years and I am not going to let this small setback make me give it up.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I know it won't apply to a lot of you, but it was therapeutic to get it out there and if you did enjoy it then comment below!