Michelle's job log: 7

The story so far... Michelle left university last year and found a job a few months later as an assistant to lecturers at Manchester University. But her goal is a fashion career.

All at once

I’m a complete scatter brain at the moment! Not surprising really with all the multi-tasking that I’m attempting - chatting on the phone, writing this blog, talking on Facebook Chat and watching TV, but I have to do things like this because I have no time to lose if I’m going to get everything that needs to be done, done. I can’t neglect TV as I’ll be missing out on current affairs and I can’t not communicate with others as I simply won’t know the latest on extra-curricular activities. It is affecting the quality of what I’m doing though, I’m speaking gobbledegook, writing nonsense and not comprehending these soap storylines, so probably not very productive after all.

I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a state of confusion in my life - being in education just gives you that stability and slightly disciplined environment, whereas roaming around in this big career jungle is just baffling. I started school at two years old and then remained in full-time education until the age of 21 and so have the feeling of being somewhat institutionalised and then being recently released into the big wide world to do whatever I want. When I put it like that, it’s no wonder I change my career choice every week. 

My current workload in the world of job-hunting is attempting to try and fill out nine applications to graduate schemes and jobs, you would think I’d be an expert by now. I cannot believe how many there are, just when I was thinking there were hardly any options out there I discovered Milkround; even though I’d heard of it before I thought it was just another graduate recruitment website and how many can you actually register to? So I’m loving that site right now, although I can’t seem to find the time to fill in all these forms, with deadlines fast approaching.

Meanwhile at college, where I’m studying Fashion and Clothing (basically making garments), I just can’t seem to focus on it, maybe it’s because the three hours that I spend there, I’m thinking ‘I could have done an application form in this time’. It’s almost like an obsession now, maybe a job in a careers service or HR might be right up my street. All the time and effort I’m putting into writing about myself , it really should get easier.

Voluntary response

Although I can’t seem to focus on anything other than job-hunting at the moment, I did find the time to consider pursuing some voluntary work as a way of getting more of an insight into different organisations before taking the plunge into applying for such a vast array of jobs. I was surprised to see how many volunteering opportunities there actually were, it’s just a case of finding the time, but I suppose I could fit in about three hours a week if it’s going to be worthwhile in the end.

Fashion plans are on hold indefinitely, at least until the market becomes more stable. I was reading something the other day which was about how maybe you can’t make money from the things you love and by trying to do so it could just ruin the passion for that thing that you loved. It definitely made me think that it could perhaps just be kept as hobby or something to do on the side? Or maybe that was just something written by someone who had tried and failed so was writing from a slightly cynical point of view, I don’t know.

Anyway back at work I’ve signed up to as many career and personal development courses as I can, I suppose that’s one of the good things about working at a university. I’ll do anything to boost my career prospects at the moment, and it gets me away from the office. It’s good to actually meet people from different departments and it's funny how people seem to have similar views about their roles and where they’re going. It has given me even more of a realisation that only I can change this situation, it’s not like anyone is going to approach me and say ‘here’s the perfect job  for you’, it’s just sometimes a case of trial and error and sometimes a case of working extremely hard to get noticed among this huge population of graduates.

Read my earlier job logs