What to do when job searching gets exhausting

Participants

• Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Prospects
• Eve Little - research impact and engagement manager, UK Data Service

Transcript

Eve Little: Understanding that when you come out of university, you don't need to land your perfect job straight away and that it can take 10, 15 years.

Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You, the podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts Prospects.

Eve Little: My name is Eve Little and I'm from Bristol and I work for the UK Data Service. which is the largest collection of economic, social and population data in the UK. So things like the census and family resources survey.

Emily Slade: Nice, and when did you get that job?

Eve Little: I got this job in June of last year is when I started, but I kind of started applying for it a couple of months before, two or three months before that.

Emily Slade: Okay, and were you expecting to be looking for like two or three months?

Eve Little: I mean I was because I have so many friends that have gone through similar experiences and I'm a little bit further along post uni so I've been out of university now for two and a half years and it was two years post university so I'd already gone through a job and an application process of unemployment before then and so many of my friends had so I think when I was applying for this job I was ready to be unemployed for a lot lot longer than three months because that's what everyone else was having.

Emily Slade: Yeah and did you have a stopgap job at the time that was ticking you over or had you like left everything and you were solely focusing and relying on getting this new job?

Eve Little: Yeah I was completely unemployed and yeah I left my last job at Christmas last year so I had about six months of unemployment within that time.

Emily Slade: So you were expecting for it to be a long wait. You were anticipating that. So how did you prepare yourself for that? Did you have a structure to your day? Did you have a routine? And yeah, so we'll start with that.

Eve Little: Yeah, I definitely did because of experiencing it earlier on. that unemployed period after university and maybe not feeling as prepared for it and not expecting it to be as bad as it was. I think that second time I had it last year I was definitely a lot more prepared and having structure to your day and breaking it down into kind of manageable tasks that you can actually tick off. and balancing it with exercise, fresh air, seeing friends, having fun as well. Even though you're unemployed, you can have fun in cheap ways as well. I think having a balance was key in making that period healthy and happy.

Emily Slade: Yeah, definitely. And so did you go into it with a sort of almost calendar block of like, I will go to the gym for an hour every day. I will go for a walk. I will see someone once a week.

Eve Little: Yeah, I had like a I write a lot of stuff down so I had a kind of tick list and I wouldn't say it was as rigid as that because I think you do have days where you wake up with 0 motivation and feeling low and on those days sometimes it's good to force yourself to get out and do those things but I think you've got to be kind to yourself and it's also important to just go with how you feel and have a day watching Netflix if you need it. But yeah on the whole I would make sure that I would have a balance of looking for work and also those other things. So fresh air, friends, exercise, eating well, sleeping well and I think a balance is key but also a balance within the job application process. If you spend five hours just scrolling through Indeed or LinkedIn it gets so boring and you lose motivation so switching it up with different kind of job finding activities as well to just add as much variation as possible throughout the day.

Emily Slade: Like what, like tailoring your CV, like finding a different, like what did you find variety in?

Eve Little: Exactly as you said, like tailoring your CV, searching for jobs, applying for jobs. But then also I think the position I was in was I didn't have this feeling of like a sense of what I wanted to do. So I think some people, I think there's an expectation that you sort of come out of university with a really clear idea of I want to be a doctor or a teacher or an architect and not all career paths are as straightforward as that. So I think for me it was also I needed to spend time. looking into and working out what maybe my path would look like and I still don't necessarily know that today like a couple years on but I think adding activities that are just exploring different ideas is really helpful and that also helps the job search feel less overwhelming because you kind of you go on to like Indeed say and there might be 50,000 jobs in your area and if you have no way of narrowing that down almost endless possibilities feels like there's no possibilities. So I think exploring what you want to do was quite a positive addition to my job seeking search.

Emily Slade: And how did you do that? Like what did you do to sort of narrow things down?

Eve Little: I think talking to people who are much older than you is a really helpful exercise and it doesn't even need to necessarily be in a job that you want to do but I think hearing people's career paths say from when they finished university 20 years ago and now they're in their 40s or 50s I think it gives you that perspective shift of their careers have wiggled all around the place and they've gone through so many different jobs that are completely kind of random and now they might be in their dream job or a job they really enjoy and are passionate about. So I think understanding that when you come out of university you don't need to land your perfect job straight away and that it can take 10, 15 years and as long as you're kind of trying new things and open to new interests. So yeah, I think talking to people was a really positive help in helping me work out what rough direction, but also I only need a rough direction at this point in life. So that was really helpful.

Emily Slade: Yeah, I think that's a really, really like wise way to look at it. As you say, there's a real panic of like, oh God, I need to know exactly what I'm going to do for the next 50, 100 years. right now, but you don't. You just need to, and there's so much, I say this, is like the mantra of this podcast now. There is so much use in knowing what you don't want to do as much as there is in knowing what you do want to do.

Eve Little: Yeah, I 100% agree.

Emily Slade: Like that's what your 20s is for, going, ew, don't want to do that. No, don't want to do that either. And then when you hit your 30s, you can be like, great, we got a bit of an idea now. Let's see where this goes. So when did you hit the slump? At what point within the six months would you say you really started feeling it? Or did it never come?

Eve Little: I think it didn't come in that six months but as I said I'd had a period before when I came out of university where I more felt the slump. So I was lucky this time last year that I didn't hit the slump. I think it was timed quite well for me because it was that period coming into summer and spring and I think little things like the days being longer just made me feel so much better. And also I was fortunate that at this point 2 1/2 years after university I'd got a bit of experience under my belt so I felt that little bit more confident than I had before university, after university sorry. So I was lucky that I didn't fill the slump at that time. Not quite sure how.

Emily Slade: Yeah, I think you're right. I think the weather has a lot to do with it. Like I can't imagine having to like job seek in like October through to like March. That must just be so tomorrow.

Eve Little: I think that's the time when most students are stuck because you graduate in the summer. Maybe you have summer off because you want to have a period between work and studying and then you're applying from September through Christmas and that is the hardest time to be.

Emily Slade: Yeah, what advice do you think would you give? I feel like there's a good run up of like even if you don't necessarily celebrate the holidays that appear there are as a run up of festivity at least and then it's once you hit January that I would argue a slump would 100% hit. So again, just like catching daylight when you can, exercise. And when we say exercising, we just mean like, I always mean just like moving your body. Stand up and shake it down. Because my God, it makes such a difference. So often I'll be like, why do I feel this way? And then I'll go on one walk and be like, oh, I'm cured.

Eve Little: Literally just even open the window and get a bit of fresh air.

Emily Slade: It's so frustrating. I'm always like, every time. So six months, did you get a lot of rejection during that time?

Eve Little: The thing is with the job market nowadays is I think I only got maybe 2 rejections, 2 formal rejections where they send you an e-mail and they say, sorry you haven't got through to the next round. I think you have to get used to not hearing anything at all and that's actually worse than a rejection because with a rejection you can mark it off your list, it's done and maybe you get some feedback and can learn for the next time whereas not hearing anything. is almost worse to be honest. So I think that's what people have to deal with nowadays because jobs are getting so many applications that the workplaces don't have the resources to kind of send a personalised e-mail to everyone that doesn't get through each round, which is unfair but it's something you kind of have to get used to in today's job market which is hard.

Emily Slade: Yeah, what advice do you have for people dealing with that?

Eve Little: I mean I think you can always be proactive, if there's a job that you applied for. that you had that good feeling about and you felt like that job was really something you wanted to do and it's been a month and you haven't heard anything from them so you can assume that it's a rejection. There is no harm in emailing them and being proactive with that and asking what about me and my application doesn't quite fit with this role? Do you have any advice for what I could search for and experience to kind of get me closer to getting this role in the future? Would anyone be up for kind of sitting down and having a chat with me about my application? And I think that people in work always really respect and appreciate someone being enthusiastic about their company and their job and and normally always happy to help if you kind of go that extra mile. I don't think you need to do that for every job you apply to but there's definitely been a few jobs that I've applied to over the years that have felt like that little extra bit of spark in me and I really wanted it and in hindsight I think I could have been a bit more proactive in reaching out to them after not hearing anything.

Emily Slade: Yeah, and you never know where that's going to lead either. They could have other openings that you get the first dibs on or something. So you did mention that you sort of had watched your friends go through similar things. Were you alone in that six month period or were other people going through it with you?

Eve Little: So because it was a lot, you know, I'm 2 1/2 years after graduating, it was a lot later. So I felt like my friends had just gone through it the year before in that winter period and I'd been working at the time and I can remember wanting to support them and kind of offer words of advice but also feeling like I wasn't in the position where I was able to because I was unemployed and they were unemployed so it just felt a little bit wrong. So then it kind of felt like when it was my turn the tables had reversed and they were all employed. It had been a year since their kind of unemployed period and I think that was quite nice because they were able to offer me words of advice and it not come across wrong because we'd been in the reverse positions the year before. So in that sense it was really nice having friends that had experienced it already And it didn't come across like patronizing or completely. Because I think that can be the case sometimes when your friend's in their perfect job and they're like, oh, sorry. I don't know.

Emily Slade: It'll happen for you too. Exactly.

Eve Little: Yeah.

Emily Slade: But also you didn't have the, you weren't then comparing yourself. There wasn't a race, there wasn't a real like stress of like, oh God, we're all like feeling this and it sucks. Like that's kind of nice. There you go. Like make sure you split it up within your friendship group.

Eve Little: It's almost like there's two kind of like parallel things that go on after university that I think young people struggle with and one is actually finding work because the job market's really hard but I think the other is kind of what I was saying earlier around finding your purpose because you might be able to land a job fairly easy in terms of like retail or bar work or something or other jobs, but finding your purpose and whether it's something that you're passionate about and want to do is actually something that kind of goes hand in hand because it's really hard to find that soon after university and I think you have an expectation that you'll land a job that you love quickly. And that's not the case I don't think in 95% of people. You have to go through a few jobs before finding something that's right.

Emily Slade: And that's okay.

Eve Little: Yeah, that is okay.

Emily Slade: So again, during the sort of six month period, you talked about mixing up the activities in terms of like the job searching, the CV tailoring. Did you ever do any sort of online courses or try and network or anything like that?

Eve Little: I didn't do any online courses actually. That was something that was always on my list to do but I never got around to doing. I always prioritised other things. I think now I've started, now I'm working and we have space within the week to do some developmental stuff like LinkedIn learning or these online courses. They are actually really good but I think at the time I just didn't have the motivation to do that which is you know I think it happens to the most of us. I did do networking in terms of reaching out to people like I said earlier and I got sent a few times by family, friends and family, local stuff going on in Bristol like careers fairs for young people and I just didn't go and I don't know why I did. I don't know why I didn't but I think there are lots of networking opportunities to meet companies and work and get advice. And maybe I wasn't proactive enough in taking those. But I think if I was going to go back in time, I would.

Emily Slade: I think it can be overwhelming, can't it? At the time when you're in that mindset, when you're in that like slog, you're like, oh, another thing. Like leaving the house is my treat time. I do it for the vitamin D. I don't want to. also bring that out into the outside world, but equally they are there as options. So that's good.

Eve Little: The thing I feel like in that six months, I did actually like go abroad for a bit of it. So it wasn't, I feel like it's saying I was searching for jobs for six months is almost kind of unfair because I was on holiday having a really great time for a part of that.

Emily Slade: Was that planned in terms of you were like, I know my job is coming to an end at this point. I'm going to book the holiday for this point. Like, I think that's that counts as good time management.

Eve Little: Yeah, I'd argue that.

Emily Slade: I think that's if you're in the position where you can, if you have the funds that you can, because also I think there's a sort of subset of like during the job seeking you're possibly in a quite vulnerable situation where either you'll find you are running off like any savings that you've had which feels frustrating or you'll have you've had to have like uprooted your life and moved somewhere that is that is more financially stable or you are still working alongside it and none of those are.

Eve Little: No, none of those are good options. Yeah, and that's not spoken about as much and I think it is important too because I was in a really fortunate position in that I was currently living in Leeds working, unhappy in my work, knew I wanted to leave last Christmas and I actually moved back home with my parents for the final few months of that job and then when I ended the job at Christmas and went into that period of unemployment, I was living at home with my parents. So although I still needed money and was using my savings, I wasn't paying rent and that is a massive privilege and I'm aware that there's a lot of young people in the UK that finish university with the same pressure to find work and aren't able, you know, have the pressures of paying rent and bills and living independently, which is so much harder and much higher pressure.

Emily Slade: Definitely. I suppose to finish, so you've given quite a lot, but if you have one piece of advice for somebody in the job seeking slump right now, what would it be?

Eve Little: Can I say two things?

Emily Slade: Yeah.

Eve Little: One thing that I found going back to that kind of searching for your purpose, and what interests you and maybe what career path you want to take. I read a book that really helped me kind of work that out and it's called What Color is Your Parachute? Have you heard of it?

Emily Slade: No, I haven't. It sounds cool.

Eve Little: It's a really good book and it's kind of an interactive book so it gets you to do activities and exercises and that was one of the things that I did alongside job searching. and it kind of takes you through all of the different domains of work and it gets you to really reflect on your previous experiences of employment if you've had any working in a cafe or a supermarket or volunteering and it takes you through like every single aspect of a job to the point of like is it important for you working somewhere where there's big windows and daylight coming in or is it important for you being able to walk to work versus get the train and commute and it takes you through so many different aspects and it makes you realise that a job is much more than just what you do in your nine to five. It's like the wider things, the people, the place and it really helped me hone down on which aspects are really important for me. So I really like being able to work locally to where I live. I like working with people who are like-minded to me and who are passionate about their work, but there's loads of different things that you need to consider and it just breaks it down into a really manageable, enjoyable exercise. So I'd really recommend going through that. And the other thing I think is it's really important to just be kind to yourself. It kind of goes back to what we were saying right at the start, that it is okay to have really rough days and to not apply for jobs and you need to make sure that you're putting yourself first and that you're getting fresh air, exercise, seeing friends if you can, as well as being determined and applying to work. So I think be kind to yourself and keep at it.

Emily Slade: Yeah, oh that's brilliant, thank you so much.

Eve Little: Thank you.

Notes on transcript

This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.

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