I'll cut to the chase...I'm employed!
Thursday 20 Feb: Blog post put up on Broadsheet.ie
Tuesday 25 Feb: Job interview
Wednesday 26 Feb: Get job
Monday 3 Mar: Start job
It happened just like that. Now before any of you get ideas thinking that I got the job through my blog post, you are wrong. I will admit though, there were leads. One complete stranger emailed me knowing that his father had a job going in graphic design. He had been in a similar situation and wanted to help a fellow creative person. Friends of friends of friends, some that I'd met, some that I hadn't, emailed me. One felt compelled to write to me and offered up his services if I needed help. Another felt that I was talking directly to her. I also got Tweets and Facebook comments. There were tons of comments on the Broadsheet.ie post as well.
I'll admit, reading the comments on Broadsheet.ie was extremely nerve-wracking. All those people out there judging me. Most comments were extremely helpful, encouraging, and informative, while others were disheartening, judgemental, and rude ('spoilt brat'). I sympathised with one particular person who encouraged me to not give up my creative job search. He did and is now extremely unhappy and feels like he's lost all creativity. All in all though, I was surprised and appreciative of all of the advice and time taken to write to me. The amount of people who could relate to my story was amazing!
Now...to the important stuff. I HAVE A JOB.
It's a 7-month contract as a Junior Graphic Designer in the Marketing Department of a big, global, corporate company. I got the job on a Wednesday and started the following Monday. The dress code is office smart which is weird for a designer as I'm used to smart casual. My poor casual clothes aren't getting a look in these days (Yes Jeans, I still love you). The weekend before starting was spent rushing through shops in search of pencil skirts, shirts, work trousers, blazers, and work shoes. I am now in my fourth week with the first been taken up with induction training.
The building is an amazing new, fancy, and modern space. I desperately want to go around and take a few sneaky pictures but can't for fear the prospective mortification of someone seeing. My fellow colleagues are so warm and welcoming that no lunch has felt weird (no sitting awkwardly on my own crying into my soup or pretending to message people on my signal-less phone). My commute is a 40-minute drive both ways. I'm completely and utterly exhausted and make sure to be in bed by 10.30pm with clothes laid out and lunch ready. On the bright side, my internal body clock has started to change from waking at 10am to waking at 6.45am in a few weeks. Even on a Saturday!!! I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing! As for the workload? It's totally within my capabilities and I don't feel out of my depth. Win win win win.
Having gotten a job I've realised what the most disheartening thing about being unemployed was--not feeling needed or useful, not working to an end product. The good thing is, I do feel useful now. I am making a contribution and getting paid for it. There's no better feeling (well apart from sipping Mojitos on a beach in the Caribbean). I definitely have further to go on the career ladder but am delighted that this is the next step in that journey.
Who knows where I'll be in seven months. All I know is that persistence does pay off (so keep at it unemployed creative folk). I didn't give up on my search for a job in the creative world and now here I am getting new experiences and skills. I think my last blog post about unemployment gave me the extra umph to talk the talk and walk the walk and ultimately got me the job! There's power in writing down your thoughts and aspirations!
As for how I look and feel every evening getting home? It goes something like this:
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