When I was about seven years old, I had it all figured out. I was going to get As in my GCSEs, go to college then study politics and law at Oxford University and generally go on to be successful.
Ok, so that didn’t quite go according to plan, but I worked bloody hard studying for 13 GCSEs, going to college and facing the agonising choice between studying something career-worthy or continuing with theatre and eventually, after getting a Triple Distinction on my BTEC National Diploma, an AS Level and an Extended Project Qualification, I made my way to the University of Chester and studied Events Management. Throughout my degree I faced complications with my mental health but never lost the drive to get experience. I worked as a Project Manager for 6 weeks, I volunteered at the Olympics, I worked casually as an events steward. In the end I left with a 2:2 being 0.3% out of a 2:1. Fortunately, I secured a year-long intern ship post study which has been an absolutely invaluable experience.
But that finished on the 1st August. It has been 2 months, I have recently signed on and am starting to receive benefits. I’m not ashamed of this. I would have absolutely nothing without it. I put money aside knowing there would likely be a gap in employment but the money has now run out.
With all the news about lazy layabouts scrounging off of the state, I thought I’d share with you how a typical day looks for me, a 20-something job seeker.
10:00 – About this time I will wake up. Lucky me. I get a lie in right? Well, not quite. Generally speaking, no matter how early I try and get to sleep, the stress of the situation keeps me up at night and I sleep badly. A typical night I get about 7-8 hours sleep which is the amount you’re supposed to get anyway.
10:30 – Breakfast time! I potter down to the kitchen, make a tea and more often than not have toast. I’ve fallen slightly in love with herby cream cheeses at the moment.. Morrissons own brand is less than £1 and a loaf of bread is about 50p. I can normally get lunch out of these ingredients too and whilst money is tight it is the perfect opportunity to have tasty and thrifty.
11:00 – Check my email time. My inbox gets flooded with job alerts so I rift through all the emails I have and save any useful looking jobs. Sometimes I might respond to an email from a recruiter or HR manager.
11:30 – Apply for jobs! The afternoon/evening before, I will have done a job search and saved positions of interest, so this bit is the nitty gritty. The nice quick applications don’t usually take too long. Uploading a CV and company specific covering letter usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes. I can usually get three of these types done per hour. Job applications via online form are a whole other ball game however. The amount of times I’ve seen poorly thought out application forms… Then there’s the never ending tedium of writing the same stuff over and over again in slightly different contexts. After a while you end up with this realisation that you’ve spent 45 minutes filling out a form and doing a really bad job of it because after the first 10 you just don’t care any more about dressing up your presidency of a university society, no matter how much you want the job.
14:00 – Lunch break! Usually toast, cream cheese, crisps and a cup of tea. I normally watch something on Netflix at this point as well, since generally my brain has now turned to cotton wool and I’ve lost the will to live.
Receive text from friend asking me to the pub later. I decline. I can’t afford to spend oyster money on trivialities when I need to be able to get to job interviews and feed myself. I don’t really see much of my friends at the moment unless they come and visit me.
14:45 – Drag myself back into reality by going through my emails. 5 new generic job alerts… one email I recognise! Aha! A job response.
“Unfortunately you have not been selected this time.”
Oh. Well at least they let me know, unlike the other 50.
15:00 – Try and psyche myself up to doing another couple of applications. whilst secretly thinking it’s useless and trying not to mull over every failed interview.
17:00 – Grab tea and tuck into comfort biscuits. Those last two hours dragged and my sense of unwillingness made it a lot harder. Despite doing 10 applications today, I’ve not quite made my target and can’t help but feel I’ve done a rubbish job of applying. Besides, I won’t hear back from half of them anyway.
But no, I mustn’t give up. I give it one last shove and start trawling the job boards, saving jobs I’m interested in applying for tomorrow. I’ll put one or two on there that seem a little out of reach or aren’t quite what I’m looking for.
19:00 – Make dinner, I’m quite a lover of potato at the moment and making home made chips or wedges with something like kievs. Cheap and tasty. I’ll briefly say hi to my housemates but after an entire day built on fruitlessness and dejection, I’m not as cheery as I could be. Besides, I’m secretly wondering how long it will be before I’m kicked out for being jobless.
20:00 – If I have an interview the next day I will double check everything is ready and jump in the shower. If not, I will do one last clear up of emails before winding down the job hunting stuff.
20:30 – 21:00 – Me time! Can’t afford to socialise but I can get in some keen Netflix browsing now… Although being stressed makes it a lot harder to concentrate.
23:00 – Try and sleep as I’m feeling drowsy and fatigued. Usually fail as mind buzzes from the stresses of the day.
So as much as it would be amazing if my life was watching TV and blowing dole money on alcohol that’s really not the case. I have a 11-7 work day which is often so fruitless and unrewarding that I want to quit my job… Except I don’t have that luxury.
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