Grit, determination, and a whole lot of rejection.

Since finishing university I have realised, I probably should have seen this a long time in advance, that 'making it' in the real world, 9-5 office hours, is not necessarily about what one has been learning throughout those 3 expensive years; balancing university work, a part time job and a social life. It is all about experience.

Now I know this is a dangerous statement to make, but, if I were able to do one thing differently in those three years it would be to take a a year out, half way through I would go about gaining experience in industry. A sandwich year, as they are more commonly referred to,  is the perfect base to launch your final assault on university life and to start making arrangements post degree. Aside from my two years in the catering industry to keep myself hovering between black and red, I had very little experience in a work environment. So to put this essential wrong to right I am attempting to start from the bottom and work my way up, the old fashioned way. I have joined Kelly's services, a temping agency in the center of Birmingham, who, to be fair to them, found me a job straight away with Williams Lea, who are, in turn hired by Ernst and Young, covering current employee's holidays.

Now whilst filing might not be the most glamorous of jobs, at the end of the day it's a job. And in the current economic environment there aren't a lot of those knocking about, so I'm more than happy to suck it up and take what I am given, for the time being anyway. But in the long term, with my second class degree (upper class) in English Literature and Journalism, I am looking to get my foot in the door of the cut-throat world of PR. So whilst working for Ernst and Young I am currently updating my C.V, which to my surprise, has no shame in becoming rather promiscuous in fishing for that one job offer or offer of work experience that will give me that all important first step towards a career in PR.

I know I am not alone in this situation. Many of my university peers are struggling to gain that first footing on the career ladder, I know of only one who has managed to find that dream job offer, working as a trainee managing accountant in central London, the rest of whom have jobs at a variety of retail stores such as Waitrose, Russell and Bromley, and Boots.

There was  a time when a university degree meant something, but at a dime a dozen companies are looking for something extra, experience. But it is getting that first experience which is proving so difficult. But as my father and no doubt many others, has always said: "if it's worth having, then it's worth fighting for" and it is with these words that I tuck my degree certificate under my arm and go knocking.