an important message for job hunters

The one thing no one ever tells you is this:

Finding a job post-uni is hard.

Maybe it’s common sense, like how the sky is above us, to just know this already. Sometimes it’s blue, sometimes it’s pink, and sometimes it’s just the most miserable thing you’ve ever seen.

Looking for a job that’s right for you? It’s that grey in the sky that makes you feel like the entire day is going to be complete shit. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when the sky is grey. I like seeing the sun. I like feeling the sun. And job hunting is like that one time Monty Burns wanted to block it out.

I still haven’t found a job, despite having countless interviews. But each interview is experience gained, something you can’t learn at university. Still, though, it can be pretty draining and disheartening to have receive that phone call or email telling you you’ve been shortlisted to only find another one in your inbox a week later to tell you you’re unsuccessful.

Too often the reason why I’m declined is due to experience. But what else can you do but hunt for that position that’s just for you? I don’t want to be CEO. I don’t want to be an Executive. I do know I do not want to be the office coffee girl. For one, I don’t like coffee. And two, I suck at making coffee. No one wants me in a position I know I won’t excel in more than myself.

The whole rejection process is really like a cloud hanging over you. I’ve been rained on so much my poncho is in tatters. There’s no point in even doing my hair because it ends up ruined every time I think the sun is starting to poke through the clouds.

I have gone for so many positions, entry level to those I know I won’t get, and I’ve found myself declined for a reason that I can’t help. I’ve gone out of my way to learn how to row a boat in this particular lake. I’m even starting to learn how to make the oars. But it’s never good enough.

There’s nothing I can say that will give anyone any comfort. I find little when someone tells me the job that’s for me is waiting right around the corner. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s holding a newspaper over its head as it waits for me to invite me inside a nice warm coffee shop on George Street.

But the one thing I won’t stop is hunting. And I won’t settle for a job that isn’t what I want. No one else should, either. If you know what you want, go for it. Hunt it down. Play some Jumanji. Encourage the sun to come back out again.

Until I find that job waiting for me beneath the saddest slip of cover in the rain, there’s one thing I think is so important to be reiterated over and over to the graduates who are like me and sometimes lose hope.

Know you’re not alone.

And as cliche as it is to even say this, that job you’re waiting for – that job I’m waiting for – is around the corner. Don’t sit down on the side of the road or turn around and swipe your Opal card at Central Station to take the train back home because your dejection has gotten the best of you.

Try. Each interview is a learning experience. Even if you walk in so confident despite knowing someone better will get the position over you, still go.

All I can say to fellow graduates looking for a job to kickstart their career: Don’t give up. And carry an umbrella.