Paths to the left of me...paths to the right

There comes a time in everyone’s life when one wonders where one is heading. If you could go back to school, college, or university – would you have worked that little bit harder? Would you have taken maths lessons more seriously? Would you have taken an economics degree instead of a history degree? Some people have been sat at a desk, every weekday between the hours of nine and five for years and years, when they come to wonder if this is all life has to offer.

I’m at a time in my life where its decision time once again. I’ve worked hard for three years at university, striving for good results in my Journalism and Media course. But on graduation, employment has been hard to come across. The media is the ultimate industry for “knowing people”. If you want to get involved, you’ve got to have the right contacts in the right places. It’s made doubly difficult when you don’t live anywhere near the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, or London. Opportunities are scarce.

Should I keep plugging away for that career in a big newspaper, or at a top news broadcasting corporation (BBC, Sky)? Should I look for training, with a direct route into another industry? It would probably be a faster, easier process. Am I passionate enough about journalism to spend the next few years continuing to grow? I still need to learn shorthand, study media law, and find my way into a tough industry. Will volunteer work be the way forward? Or should I look for work now, money now, and a direct career now?

The fact is that having these questions in mind worries me. I have always been certain of my career and life goals. So why after just a few months of unemployment do I find myself thinking of heading for a different route?

It could well be a panic attack because I’m witnessing old school friends cruising into jobs, and I want to follow suit. Maybe I’ve simply had a change of heart. In recent months I’ve applied to more jobs and more businesses than I care to imagine. What happens if I’m offered a job in a sector I never planned to work in? I think I’d be foolish to pass over the opportunity and stick with being unemployed. But how can I give everything to a job if I’m not passionate about it? If two weeks into the job I’m offered a role writing for a newspaper…what happens then?

I’m young enough and enthusiastic enough to learn something new. I’m driven enough to train in a new industry. If I’m given a shot at a job in a company, I’ll do everything possible to work hard and repay my employer for giving me a chance. My concern, however, is: will I turn into one of the previously mentioned; a person sat at a desk, every weekday between the hours of nine and five for years and years, when one day I come to wonder if this is all life has to offer. “Boy oh boy should I have bided my time and gone for that dream job in the media.”

I don’t know. Nobody will ever know if they have taken the right path. Not for sure anyway. For me, it’s looking like a first-come-first-serve basis. Whoever wants me can have me.

So to speak.