Life Gaps

A couple of months ago, I googled  ‘unemployed and bored’ because my head was about to melt off from doing absolutely nothing at home.  Subsequently, I found a couple of blogs so I thought I would do something similar. I was so depressed about being unemployed and was ashamed of my circumstances even though I knew it was not my fault. Being out of work is something that everyone will have to face at some point during their life and there are ways to get through it. Believe me I have been there. After graduating, about a third of my class emigrated overseas to look for work.  This was not for me so I went back to college to study for a Masters.  After I graduated again, I was in and out of work like a yo-yo doing different internships and so on trying to gain experience. I suffered a lot in the process but I learned a lot about myself during that time.   So, from my experiences, I thought I would share some of my tips for being unemplo...

If you have never suffered from anxiety count yourself very lucky as it is a very common form of mental illness that causes significant stress. I never thought I would ever suffer from it but after finding myself unemployed again, my mental state was becoming very weak and I felt life was suffocating me. Here is how I got to my lowest point. Taking a desperate and wrong choice With no work in sight after my previous TV contract expired, I decide to return to journalism but this time to print journalism.  With few positions around,  I begin a short business course because there is jobs in business reporting. Do I like the business field? No. Do I find it boring? Yes. Why I am I doing it? I have no idea but I’ve nothing else to do.  Doing something you don't want to do is a waste of time because you will never have a passion for it.  Being unsure in work can make you stressed My plan works though because a sunday paper allows me to come in an...

You may notice in this blog that I am always talking about unemployment. Well, that is because in the media, work is normally freelance and when you do get a job it may only be for a couple of months at a time so that is something you should be mentally prepared for if you want to get into this industry.  TIPS ON GETTING A TV JOB - Sending emails is easy. Calling someone is harder but can you guess which one works better?  - Review what shows are in pre-production mode and call them and see if they need a hand.  - Always be polite even if they don't have work as you may meet them again   - Try sorting out an online portfolio page with some pictures, writings or videos.  About.me is one, it is simple and easy to use.      - Be prepared for a lot of people who are rude, condescending and fake. Learn how to suck it up quickly as it will never go away. - If a job is advertised, call in personally with your CV.  My ...

Have you ever been desperate enough to go back to an old job. Well, I would not recommend it, even its only for a day. One day, my previous job calls me into the office because they are desperately short staffed. Agreeing is perhaps the worst decision I ever made. Going back into the office that let me go is weird and unsettling. ‘Oh you are back’ says everyone who passes me by. They all look confused at my return. I have not been gone long but to them it is a lifetime. The day couldn't end quicker and even my manager senses it is an unpleasant experience for me.  Feeling paranoid that everyone is talking about me even though they are probably not is tearing me up inside. Never again. On reflection, my mind had already decided before I went to work, that the day was not going to be good. Trying to rewire your subconscious thoughts can be tricky.

Right!! So, I am unemployed again and with only one year's experience I still do not have enough experience to get a paid job so I am left with no choice but to do another internship for a week in England for a production company. Is this a waste of time? Well here is my story below. I will let you decide. My week's internship does not start on not such a high note. Arriving at the airport in late summer, an evening flight to London Gatwick is taken. The flight is full and in order to avoid the queues from baggage claim on arrival - a carry on bag is taken with me on board. However, I also have a very small handbag too and so a sickening £80 penalty must be paid upfront as a result of breaking their strict airline rules.  From Gatwick, a long bus journey is taken to a university town. The trip is spectacular and makes me reconsider my preconceptions of the English countryside as dull and industrial. In fact, it is just the opposite. On arrival, the village building...

If people work for free, does this take away a paid persons job. The answer is simple - yes.  Coming close to a year in a job and I am informed that I am to mentor a new intern. Although, still a freelancer myself, now I have the added bonus of guaranteed hours every week. The business gets nearly 20 interns every year on a revolving basis in the summers. They turn up squeaky eager and leave squeaky depressed unless they are one of the so called ‘lucky’ ones who get put on the freelance panel. My new intern Sarah got her internship through one of the staff she knew through a friend of a relative. On first impression she is super nice and bubbly with a lot of the normal eagerness one would expect. From the start, my priority is to train her and give her as much knowledge as possible. This is very time consuming but feel it necessary and important. We soon become great friends and my aim is to at least get her on the freelance panel like me. A few months later, however, cutb...

Looking for a job can be hard work and nothing says it more than the picture below.  The day after my first college internship ended, I am fired up like Usain Bolt on speed. I’m more motivated than ever to really give it a go making more than five versions of my CV adopting each cover letter for each job applied for.  However, one of the biggest problems is that there are simply no graduate jobs advertised to even go for.  Entry employment forms for larger global companies take an age to fill in and normally require tasks or essays to be completed. Such time consuming applications feel as if they have been fired up into space into a non-existent Internet cloud. As the days pass, feeling half in the shade of doubt, the motivation levels begin to drop like a petrol gauge in a car. The hardest part of unemployment after college is actually coming to terms with it. With no hint of a job, finally it is decided that there is no choice but to except registration...