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The Post Graduate Slump & Job Hunt Burnout

30/9/2020

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I put out a tweet last week asking if it was possible to become burnt out from hunting for jobs - and after pressing the ‘tweet’ button I found myself saying “Grace, don’t be ridiculous. You can’t be burnt out because you don’t have a job."
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My journalism studies concluded at Lincoln in May earlier this year, and I have been searching for something to earn some "pocket money" since March. Over six months later, and here I am: applying for 5+ jobs a day, walking my dog, doing the laundry for my mother and sitting in the unknown for 50+ jobs who haven’t been in contact with me to let me know whether or not I’ve been hired. Oh, and I’ve signed on to The Job Centre today.

I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t feeling embarrassed. 

I’m 22, a first-class graduate with years of media experience under my belt - and I’m struggling to get an email back from employers. (I’m not sure what’s worse… not receiving a text back from my boyfriend, or an email from a company I’ve been dying to work with for years). 

It feels demoralising and draining. Putting your heart and soul into an application, only to never hear back about your progress or find out that someone else has received the role via social media (true story, btw). 

I didn’t expect to be feeling like this after working so hard for so long. But why do I feel so ashamed?

According to BBC News, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.1% in the country (BBC News, Sept 2020)  which has meant many young people (like myself) have been affected by this. I am not alone and there are many others out there who are in the same situation. 

It’s funny how when we have career celebrations, we share them across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, to prove that “we did it, I’m a professional now!” But we don’t share the negatives, the job rejections, the difficult application processes or even “The Post Graduate Slump” (abbreviated to PGS).

​So here I am today, sharing the reality from someone who is still unemployed during this unprecedented time.


The "PGS" has been sitting on my shoulders for quite a few months now. I don’t feel filled with creativity as I used to six months ago. Instead, it feels like a chore, something which I don’t want to be doing and get no enjoyment out of. It breaks my heart that something I know I have the passion for fills me with dread and hatred. 

But as the old saying goes - there’s light at the end of the tunnel and silver linings to look for

The PGS plus the job hunt burnout has taken its toll on me in the last few weeks. It is hard to remain positive when you’re itching to take a step into “the real world” after sitting on the side lines for the past three years. 

But, I am grateful.

Life is full of its awesome ups and dreaded lows, and this is just a bump in the road. I have a wonderful support system around me, which I know some may not have. I’m lucky enough to have access to The Job Centre, job searching sites and more - so I need to remind myself that this isn’t something to feel embarrassed or upset about.

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This post was for me to vent, get back into my groove and reach out to others. I know many of you are also feeling the strain and pressure at the minute with the way of the world. I want you to know is that I understand the part of the struggle and I’m on this rollercoaster ride alongside you. 

I’m not really sure where this puts me now. I want to get my creative juices flowing again, but they simply don’t feel accessible at the minute. I hope that something will kick in soon, as I am missing the enjoyment I had for creating “stuff”. 

I wasn’t really sure how to end this post, but a comedy duo always knows how to recharge my batteries in the form of a song when life is getting me down, and I hope it helps you too: 
Catch up with you soon,
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TTM: Dear 26 year old me...

22/2/2020

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Hello, Grace of the future!

It's your 21 year old self here writing this on a Saturday night (yep, you know how to live) and I thought to keep with tradition of my last post of talking to myself, I decided to write to you. Whether you reply or not is another matter...

Just like the last time I want to go through a few things where I hope that we will be in 5 years time (obviously it's not the end of the world if we haven't BUT it'll be a bit of fun).

1. Be settled in your career
Sitting here now as an unemployed, undergraduate student the future is filled with possibilities. I have no idea how the most stressful few weeks of my life are going to go (please enlighten me) and where we will be heading after life in Lincoln. I'm currently interested in the world of social media and video production, so it will be interesting to see where we are when you next read this. Or we might do a complete 180 and become a radio DJ that 13 year old you wanted to be! 

2. Have your own home
I don't think this one is too outrageous BUT with the current cost of house prices, I won't be shocked if you're still in your fuchsia floored room with mum and dad. If we do have our own home, fantastic! I hope we have flown the nest by then and got out of mum and dad's hair for a bit and I'm intrigued to see how we're coping living fully on our own (I won't count university halls or houses).

3. Still settled down?
We ticked off one box from last time by finally settled down (thank you, Andrew for taking one for 16 year old me) so I'd like to think that we have continued on our madness together.

4. Have seen a *tiny* bit more of the world
I'm itching to get back out into the world again to see a bit more of it. I'm hoping that we have ticked off our bucket list location of Australia in this time (because I'm hoping we have become a "proper adult" and earned some pennies to get us over there. Or did we ever venture across to Japan? Anywhere we've been I'd be intrigued to know about.

5. I hope you're still as happy as you are now
Yes times are tough and life can be pretty sh*tty but I hope we have continued our mantra of "everything happens for a reason" and taken each day as it comes. I hope that we continue to say yes to a number of different opportunities that have been thrown our way over the last 5 years and I hope that we are still in a fantastic place. And even if we aren't everything will be brighter in the morning, as Morecambe & Wise would once sing "when you feel down, try positive thinking..."

Speak to you soon,

Grace x

To continue on my talking to myself posts from way back when, I decided to continue on this "tradition" of talking to future me. I'm looking forward to see what I have achieved over the next five years!

See you in the next blog post,
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TTM: Dear 16 year old me...

31/1/2020

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Dear 21 year old me,

Why, hello younger version of me...

Hi, yep this is me - 16 year old you sitting here on a cold Thursday evening, deciding what to write as the blog post for the following day. Lucky you, I've dedicated one for you to read these many years later!

Your probably going to have forgotten I wrote this or why I'm doing it - simply because I'm interested to know whats happened over our years and I don't know, maybe you'll laugh at my assumptions for the next few years for us and prove me wrong - who knows! I'm writing this post to you to ask you a few simple questions on everything and what I'm hoping we have achieved in the next in the next 4 years.. 2019 (woah.)


Well, you posted this in 2015, so I've answered at the ripe old age of 21 in 2020 - but I'll blame myself last year for not getting back to you before then.

Firstly, I'm hoping that you have a secure job and its something that you enjoy. As I'm writing this, I throughly live by that people should do what they enjoy and that includes me. I hope its something I'm fairly good at and something that we enjoy! If not, try and look for something new and more our area please ;)

Strangely enough, you decided that you wanted to go to university. I know, crazy thought right? So unfortunately, we have not yet secured a job however I can tell you that you are doing something that you thoroughly enjoy. You're in your third year at the University of Lincoln, studying journalism and have fallen back in love with video editing (and found a new love of TV - yeah, I wouldn't believe myself either). You're currently looking for jobs in the industry with the hopes of falling in love with the real world as well.

Secondly, it would be nice to know if we've settled down with someone and that you're happy with them. But if you're still single, it doesn't matter - I'm sure you've had some fun adventures whilst being single so its not a huge loss at all!

Ha! I've done something correctly on this list! You have settled down with a very lovely gentleman named Andrew, and you have been settled for well over a year. You're extremely happy with him and very much so in love with him (sorry for the cringe). We actually got settled and it still hasn't been a huge loss either, so you're winning!

Next, I'm hoping that the next two years of my current life at college has been completed successfully by us. I'm hoping that we achieved the whole distinction filled grades that I've hoped from from the start of doing an 18 unit media diploma course, but being a quarter of a year through it, I won't be too shocked at us if we don't get the desired grades that we wanted at the start ;) After this, I'm hoping that we decided to go to university and do something we enjoy. Again, if we didn't its not a huge worry of mine!

College was the best years of your life and I don't think you realised it at the time. You made some incredible friends and SOARED in your diploma, with a whopping distinction and two distinction stars. It was ambitious of us, but we managed it. You created some...interesting....pieces of work, but also produced some stuff you're still incredibly proud of. And the result of that? Landing a job at the local magazine that you adored and landed in your first choice of university. Proud of you, kid.

I hope we've taken every opportunity that gets thrown to us. I'm hoping we stick to the term of saying yes to everything that gets thrown our way! In link with this - I'm hoping that we've decided to go on more travelling adventures such as Canada and Ghana - it would be nice to have some more travelling experience under my belt. If you;ve done Australia by then - I will be impressed;)

Oh, absolutely. I've done things I don't think we could even comprehend if I told you all these years ago! You've made some incredible memories along the way: went to your first festival with your best friend, fell in love with seeing live music, fell back in love with the joy of theatre and even saw a bit more of the world. I thought we were at our peak at the tender age of 16, but you've done so much and more. Thank you for taking that step and not being afraid of everything anymore, I thank you for it now. (But don't be so bloody stupid, do you KNOW how much Australia costs?!)

But thats about it for everything I'm eager to know the answers to these questions that I have. As well - I hope you're well too (obviously!)

With love, 16 year old Grace x x

This post came up on my Facebook memories a few days ago and I just had to give myself a response. I don't think I was too ambitious with my questions back then - plus it was a nice nostalgia trip to go on this late in the evening!

I'm planning on doing a 5 year catch-up... watch this space 26 year old me...
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Where have I been?!

19/6/2018

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Hi everyone!

Crikey, it's been a very long time since I've been sitting behind my laptop screen and writing a blog post for you to read.

I haven't really got a grand excuse to give to you for why I haven't been as active on here (for nearly a year) but I thought to get back into writing again I can catch you all up to speed in a short post...

I finished my gap year!

My year of working came to an end in August last year which meant I was no longer going to be working for the local magazine in my town. I've learnt so much about the "world of work" through a short space of time and it was a bittersweet ending to that part of my life.

I gained a lot of confidence throughout my time there as well as a number of skills I don't think I would've got without being there. 

But as soon as a I finished there, it was time to go onto my next adventure...

Starting university...

As of September 2017, I became a journalism student at the University of Lincoln! The past 8 months at university have been a rollercoaster of emotions (which is ironic, because I hate rollercoasters...) There have been some incredible times and there has been the odd few weeks where the pressure and stress had got to me. I'm hoping to write an entire reflection post soon to share my thoughts and feelings in regards to first year. 

It's been a month since I finished and after a well deserved break I've decided to get myself back into gear and get my routine back to normal - I hope!

Where is this blog heading?

I was reading back on my blog a few weeks ago and looking through all the content I was creating when I first started. In a weird way, it's inspired me to get some new ideas down and get those creative juices flowing again - even if I feel like I'm too busy to sit down and write something! I have been blogging in other busy periods of my life (GCSE's, A-Level coursework and even when I was working) so why should now be any different?

I've got a few things in the pipeline and I've got an exciting year ahead at university come September, but I'm aiming for this not to get in the way - I've just got to learn how to juggle multiple things at once again!

I've got some beauty products which I've been trying out for the last few months whilst being at uni, some beauty DIYs and regimes which I would like to share with you all (or those who are interested in that, at least). There will still be the odd chatty post like this one, as well.

This blog has also recently been active for 4 years now, but with everything going on at university I sadly missed our Blogiversary! 

So in a short but sweet post, this is where we're at and what I've been doing. As I'm writing this I'm going to write a few more posts and plan some others to come at you other the next few months.

​I have neglected this blog which is daft since it has helped me with so many opportunities in my life so far - so why should I give it up?!

I'm back and more determined than ever - lets just hope I can keep up with myself now! I'll sign off from here for the time being, just keep an eye out for any new posts coming your way...

See you in the next blog post,
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Running my first 10k!

28/7/2017

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Hi everyone!

It's been a while since I've written a general chit chat blog post (my last post was back in April which is crazy!) You may have noticed the new redesign on the blog, I decided to revamp it all a few weeks back to freshen it all up after a 3 years of writing! 

So if you've read before, I am a couch to 5k runner and the running bug has definitely bitten and latched onto me the past few months. As I'm off to university in a few months, I decided to make a list of things I wanted to do before I leave in September. On the list was buying my web domain (check!) and running a 10k race.

The maximum distance I had ran was about 5.5 miles, so 6.2 miles shouldn't be too much of a challenge if I put my mind to it. I run with an incredible group of runners in Royston and I was chatting about my 10k challenge and I was given a few ideas which ones to take part in.

A few ladies were doing the Race for Life 10k and after looking into it, I finally decided to sign up! 

The Race for Life also felt like a good option to take part in for a few reasons: 1) it was local and around the city of Cambridge 2) my mum ran this exact race about 10 years ago and 3) in was in aid of Cancer Research UK.

I wanted to help support Cancer Research and decided to set up a fundraising page (you can read about my reason to take part here: fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/graces-fundraising-page-143) and I set myself a goal of £200 to raise for Cancer Research UK

Race Day

I never like morning running. I don't feel like I have enough energy and my running mojo isn't in full swing until late afternoon. However, the race began at 11am and mum was persistent that we get there early...2 hours early in fact!

The nerves were starting to set in around 9.30am but we soon met with my lovely running friends and after embarrassing ourselves in a entertaining warmup - we were ready to set off!

The course was mostly flat and it went round some incredible sites of Cambridge. Through the market square, the college, the back streets and up & down the canal. As you may know, Cambridge is very busy at the best of times, so you can imagine the response we got when 4,000+ women were running up the street in pink!

The first 5k was really fun, it was busy & lots of people were cheering, however when the second 5k came along it became quite quiet - luckily I wasn't alone when running the second 5k!

I completed the race in 1hr 18mins which is a PB for me! I am still extremely proud of myself and I raised a whopping £300 in total for Cancer Research UK - which I hope will help get one step closer in finding a cure someday.

I'd like to thank all of my wonderful sponsors - you definitely helped me get me round the course!
Now it's my first 10k out of the way, I'm deciding what the next challenge will be!

See you in the next blog post,
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