Make some noise.
In June of last year, I had a job. I got it after working an unpaid internship for seven weeks, and I went in one day a week. On a Sunday.
It was okay. I mean, working Sundays sucked but I’d been doing that during the internship already, so I was used to it. The main issue was that six hours a week didn’t really provide much to live on without dipping deep in to a generous student overdraft.
So I was faced with a choice:
- Set up as a freelancer, offering social media management services.
Or
- Go crawling back to retail.
Now, I’d promised myself in December 2014 — after quitting the hell-hole of a company that is Sports Direct — that I’d never work in retail again. And I don’t know about anyone else, but when I promise myself something, I try my damn hardest to stick by that promise.
A self-promise isn’t like a promise you make to a friend or family member. Those promises are important, but a self-promise is created when you’re desperate for change. Desperate for something different. I only ever feel the need to set myself a promise when I’m not happy with the way things are.
In December 2014, I was fed up with retail. I’d worked for over two years at Matalan in Barrow, and then done six months at Sports Direct in Barrow and Manchester. That was enough for me, I’d said. Retail wasn’t going to be where I wanted to end up after university, so why keep working in that industry? Self-promise set in stone.
Which means, long-story long, I chose freelancing.
Freelancing was a way for me to make money while actually gaining proper, valuable experience and making as many connections as possible. Over a year on, I couldn’t be happier with the choice I made.
Without re-typing words I’ve already typed, the freelancing path did put a ton of pressure and stress on me during an important final year of university. But I knew that before I started, and I did it all because I was sure that the hard work would pay off after university.
It didn’t pay off quite as quickly as I’d hoped though. Skip forward to the 29th May and I had no full-time job lined up. There wasn’t a lot on the horizon either.
I toyed with the idea of continuing to work as a freelancer, but really, I had no direction in my self-employed life and not a lot of time to find a direction. Money was running low, I had nowhere to live properly after the end of June, and the clock was ticking.
So I decided to start looking for a full-time job. But applying for jobs online is horrendous.
Honestly, stop thinking that every job you could ever dream off can be found on Indeed or Reed or Monster or whatever other website claims to have thousands of jobs you’re going to love. I hate those sites because they encourage people to take the easy way out.
If you want a job nowadays, you can’t just click a few buttons and expect everything to fall in to place.
If you want a job nowadays, you need to make some noise.
Straight after university, the sea of unemployment is filled with graduates looking for their dream job, or simply just a job. There are thousands upon thousands of people all competing with you for the attention of employers. That means you can’t just sit there, tread water and hope the jobs find you. You have to be willing to make the biggest splashes and attract the most attention, without fear of others judging you for doing so.
It’s why I started writing these Chapers. I can sit here all day and tell each of you that my main aims were to force daily creativity and get out of my writing rut. They’re great reasons for starting daily blog posts, but they’re not the real, honest reason.
The real, honest reason is that I want to create as much content as possible to attract the most attention as possible. I’m not the type of guy who is happy treading water and doing just enough to get by. I have an incessant desire to make a fuss, and not stop until I’m happy with the end result.
That might make me sound like I have a big ego, or I’m too arrogant for my own good. But these Chapters got me a full-time job. These Chapters got me an Ambassador role at my favourite startup Wakelet.
They’ve done a lot for me, and I have no intention of stopping.
So, if you’re just leaving university, or you’re stuck where you don’t want to be, make some noise. It’s hard work, and you’ll get tired, but it pays off.
