7 tips for the unemployed graduate

I’d like to consider myself an expert on the subject. As my covering letter has stated on many occasions – I am a quick learner. And four months is ample time to learn how to live and cope in the world of the modern unemployed grad.

So is it really all Jeremy Kyle mornings, daytime telly afternoons, and lazy evenings? Is that what I’ve amounted superfluous amounts of student debt for? Let’s look on the bright side. After all, we’re young, talented, bright, eager individuals who clearly have something going for us.

Here are my tips on what to do when in the dreaded “between uni and work zone”. Some are career orientated, others are less so – but I believe they are all beneficial.

1. Get fit
• There are no excuses now. This doesn’t necessarily mean joining a classily expensive gym, or even to feel the need to go out on a morning run 5 times a week. Because the reality of the matter is: it isn’t going to happen. I, like most, have got up one morning, convinced that ‘this is it’ – I’m going to eat my five-a-day, go running daily, get fit, and stay that way! Two days later – back to square one. We can’t be bothered.

Walking. It’s the way forward. Quite literally. Don’t mope around in front of the TV. Don’t sit on your backside scoffing crisps and chocolate, claiming to be depressed. Head out for a walk. Clear your mind. Think about what you are doing, reflect on what you have done, and rehearse an interview in your head. By the time you get back – it’s surprising how many things are going on in your head. Get them out there, bring any such thoughts to the forefront of your mind.

2. Apply Apply Apply
• You’ve got to broaden your horizons. You’ve got to open as many doors as possible. I have lost count of the amount of application forms I’ve filled in since returning from university. Ok, I still don’t have a job, but this isn’t for lack of trying. An employer will be pleased to see the effort you put in. In broadening my horizons, I have come across companies I never knew existed. I have thrown my name and CV around more companies than I care to think about. But each form I fill in, each interview I attend, each piece of feedback I receive – I learn something new.

Even if you land a job you don’t want to make a career out of; at least you’re earning some cash, adding to your CV, gaining more contacts, getting out of the house, and I generally believe it is easier to find a job once you’re already in one.

3. Spend time with your family
• You’ve been through the Kevin and Perry age of teenage monstrosity, and you’ve completed the pub crawls in town too many times to care anymore. When I first went off to uni in summer 2006; I didn’t come home until Christmas. Then Easter, then summer. When I did come home, I generally spent most my time either working or socialising with my mates.

What my family have done for me – moulding me into the person I am today, financially supporting me throughout life, taking me on holidays etc – it has all too much gone over my head without a thought.

But now, I have no money to go out with mates, and I haven’t any work to do – my family are the only ones left. They don’t cost anything, you don’t need to spend money to be with them, and they understand you and want the best for you more so than anyone else. Talk to them, laugh with them, get to know them again. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending lots of time with my brother and sisters again. When we were younger we were never apart. As we grew up and went to uni, or left home respectively; we grew apart – but now there are no excuses. And we don’t need them. It’s like the old days again. And when I’m working and all grown up for real; these days may not come around again.

4. Network
• Building contacts is the biggest ally you can have when searching for that dream job. If you don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account – where have you been? Get back in touch with old school mates, university colleagues, ex workmates etc.

I recently got in touch with an old college friend of mine. To my shock, he is now a cameraman for the BBC. Quite a good contact to have in my opinion.

Having friends in the right places, and “it’s who you know, not what you know”, are very important ways to find your way into a job. They can’t necessarily offer you a job – but they can inform you of a possible opening, or give you hints and tips for how to get involved in an industry.

Knowing people and being friendly with people is essential. You never know, one day it may be somebody approaching you to see how you got involved in your career.

5. Volunteer
• This can involve community projects such as youth volunteer work, or it could be fixing your Nan’s fence. Keep active! Keep your mind ticking. Be helpful. What comes around goes around and all that. You may even learn a new skill. A CV looks a hell of a lot better with “volunteered when unemployed” on it, than “sat around doing nothing when unemployed”.

Offer your services free of charge in the industry in which you studied. As I studied journalism at uni, I wrote some articles for the Community Press in Barrow. It kept my journalist brain and skills alive, I was helping a community, and I gained many contacts which will undoubtedly come in handy in the future.

6. Learn something new
• Not necessarily an essential – but learn something new. Stop yourself being depressed, and on a one track mind. Learn a language, read a non-fiction book, attend a night-school class. You may like it, you may not. At least you’ve tried it.

This generally goes for the employed as well. It prevents tedium kicking in. Get a hobby, learn something different, embrace what life has to offer – it’s what it’s all about.

You may even learn something that you would like to make a career out of.

7. Plan
It may not work out as you plan – it improbably won’t. But make a plan on where you are heading. What do you intend to do next? Where is that heading? Where do I want to go? How will I get there? Research your industry. Get to know companies in your area. Weigh up the possible outcomes of your plans going awry.

Plan your personal life as well. What do you want out of life? Personally, I want to see as much of the world as possible. I don’t want to do it in a ‘gap year, cheap as chips style’, however. So I have made plans on when I want to do it, how I will do it, and where I want to go.

So the world doesn’t come to an end when unemployed. The possibilities this world has to offer are endless. There are so many opportunities to get involved with something. You just have to go out there and find it. Show employers that you are active, prove you are the hard-worker that your cover letter undoubtedly states.