Two weeks ago I graduated from university elated; a few days ago I got excited by the mere presence of a polite rejection letter in my inbox.
My job-hunting seems to be becoming ever more fruitless. No trainee reporter jobs at local newspapers have appeared on my RSS feeds at all Jobs 4 Journalists, Hold the Front Page, Journalism.co.uk for days. Surprisingly, the rejection e-mail – my first (progress!) – came from the Yorkshire Post, despite me making a geography faux-pas on my application (see entry 2).
The jobs I have applied for so far have asked me to simply send off my CV with a covering letter. This doesn't give me much chance to express what makes me stand out, and failing to get interviews isn't giving me the chance to convince employers why I'm right for them.
The one job that was different was for a staff writer role at Triathlon Plus, a magazine based in Bath at Future Publishing, the same company my sister works for in ad sales. They want someone who could quickly slot in to their small team and pull their weight without much training, something I feel I'm ready for.
They asked me to submit an original short piece that would fit into the news section of the magazine. I interviewed amateur triathlete Dan Sheerin, the brother of a friend, for my piece. I am reasonably happy with it but I haven't heard anything back yet.
With the football season about to start I've been looking into the possibility of covering some matches for the nationals, something I always considered as something of a pipe dream when I was growing up.
I got in quickly enough to become the Burnley correspondent for the Fanzone section of Times Online. This, coupled with my continuing writing of match previews and reports for Burnley's FansOnline website, means although I won't be getting paid, at least I'll be able to write about something I love, and be published.
Decreasing funds mean I can't afford to even think about leaving home, but with Burnley's promotion to the Premier League there is suddenly heightened interest in the club, which I'll hopefully be able to turn into writing jobs as the season continues. My reckless spur-of-the-moment decision two months ago to spend almost £500 of my overdraft on a season ticket might yet pay off.
I have got my old job back doing weekend evening shifts in a bar in town, which gives me enough to live on (if not to save anything) but it does mean my sleep pattern always feels unnatural. I've been finding it really hard getting up to write in the mornings after working until 2am and not going to bed until much later. And I feel guilty for any time I spend away from the computer during the day, even though much of my time at my desk is admittedly wasted on Facebook and Twitter instead of writing.
Luckily a friend from uni, Scott Goodacre, has been re-launching his website, The Music Magazine, and I've been helping with that, writing news stories, reviews, giving opinions on the design and offering ideas for the future evolution of the site.
For now, that's all ...
