Advice. I do love impart nuggets of what I like to think of as wisdom, despite all evidence to the contrary. But if there's one thing I hate, it's the loss of meaning in the word "love" in modern society. However, if there's one thing I hate in relation to the topic of this blog post, it is receiving advice.
No matter how brilliant your pearl of wisdom I am likely to ignore it unless I'm in a weirdly good mood. Which is unfortunate really because at a time like this - just after graduating and with no clue about my future plans - just about everyone I talk to, from estranged family friends to the heartless tooth-torturer who calls herself my dentist, wants to give me some advice.
Their advice may be good, it may be bad, I don't know because the one thing you can be sure of is that I didn't listen to a word. I recall once I was playing a game of pool against a superior opponent whom I felt I had no chance of beating and yet I was a mere three shots from victory. Having weighed up my options and selected a route to glory I was about to approach the table for my first movement in what was surely to be a balletic billiards masterclass when an onlooker advised me to take the shot I was in fact already about to take. I immediately switched targets to the other (impossible to sink) ball, miscued and handed my opponent the chance to clear up, which he duly did.
It's just a case of cutting off my nose to spite my face really, but I refuse almost any help anybody offers to me. This will, I am sure, make job hunting an excellent experience and a pleasure. Or, even more of a nightmare than it is for everyone else, which is saying something in these tough economic times.
Anyway, knowing that I'll need to be fairly pro-active to get anywhere given the obstacles I put in my own way and being mature enough to realise that now is at last the time to enter the real world (read: having run out of options for more education) I decided today to have a look round at a few jobs before beginning the arduous process of claiming JSA and having to deal with various "employment advisers". Starting from the rather vague proposition of getting a graduate job as I am a graduate and these probably pay the best, I fired up google and began my journey round the virtual jobs market. Every graduate job currently available seems to be a teaching position or "recruitment" in the financial services sector. Loathe as I am to use too much text-speak my only conclusion was "WTF?"
There must be more to being a graduate than this. We were happily informed not two days ago that 93% of last year's graduates from LTUC are now in employment or further education (no pressure). Even discounting the few who are working in shops or similar as opposed to graduate positions, I fail to see how so many people could have found jobs in a market like this.
So I moved on. Now, you'll be familiar with my wanting to be a writer if you've experienced this blog before and regardless of how unattainable this dream is (I'll let you decide, you're the one having to suffer the result), I thought I'd have a little look round for any writing jobs. I wasn't expecting much, surely any really good writing jobs wouldn't just be laying around on the internet for any schmuck to stumble across, but still, the pickings were slim. So, I'm back on track for the old "normal" job thing or being part of that shameful seven per cent.
The advice I most wish I'd listened to is when somebody said to plan ahead. People have been telling me since forever that I need to have a plan for my future but being a free spirit, a bit of a maverick and terrible at taking advice I didn't listen and now my future's here like some giant pugilist I have to take out: it's big and it's scary and it's about to start swinging.
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