In the past three years I have sent out more than 500 job related emails. I contacted leisure centres, swimming pools, private pools, sports camps, sports clubs and so on asking for work over my GCSE summer and beyond. Of those 500, 436 replied. Of those 436, I responded again to a further 282. I then whittled it down again, more and more, until I ended up with a select number of work experience placements, and a handful of real jobs.
I am not even 18 until February. Why then, did I feel the need to throw myself so wholeheartedly into the workforce?
Well, a few weeks ago I was sitting at my local leisure centre, when I eavesdropped on a conversation between two middle aged men and young student. It was a conversation that I have heard before - they were discussing the current financial climate and how this will affect my generation in the job market. "Are you going to be one of the lucky ones, who will come out of university and step straight into a job?" This comment began a train of thought for me: is it really just the "lucky ones" who find work? In fact, is it down to luck at all? Why can I not determine my own fate?
I categorically do not want to leave my future to chance. As youth unemployment breaks one million, I am determined to do everything within my capability to stay out of this statistic. For my 16th birthday, in 2010, I was given a choice: a holiday to Greece, or a swimming teaching qualification; I chose the latter. My friends deemed me insane for this choice: "You gave up the opportunity to spend a week in the Mediterranean, to spend a week with screaming toddlers in a pool?" Yes, I did - and quite frankly, it was the best decision I ever made. I qualified as a teacher within two weeks of turning 16 - making me the youngest swimming teacher in the country. After my GCSEs, I contacted numerous leisure centres in the area and secured several interviews. I chose the location (and the wage) that was most suitable. With a decent salary and flexible hours, I found myself thoroughly enjoying every minute and by the end of the summer, had made a tidy sum with fairly little effort. It is a job that I can always fall back on during the holidays, and have so far managed to buy a car, a laptop, a mobile phone and a week in Madrid - among other things.
Without wishing to insult anyone who is a swimming teacher, and as much as I love the job, it is not what I want to do with my life. It has been, and will continue to be, an excellent way to make money. But I want to become a writer. I am applying to universities to study English, and have so far received offers from York, Loughborough, the New College of Humanities and a place at Durham with a sport's scholarship.
Writing has for a long time been my favourite past-time, and it seems a fairly feasible career choice; and unlike my classmates who want to become doctors, accountants, engineers and so forth, writing is something that anyone can start and at any age - I am in no way restricted by being a student. On the contrary, I have secured good work experience placements. And I am also writing blogs. The more I write, the better my portfolio. I will have a good amount of work to show when I finally leave university.
I am young, perhaps naïve and idealistic, but I refuse to be passive. I am not saying that people who struggle to find work are lazy, or lack motivation; nor am I saying that those who do manage to find work are all passionate and determined. What I am condemning are those who sit back and do nothing: the people who simply look at the world, only see the negative, and then pity themselves for their bleak prospects.
The modern age is not all about financial doom and gloom, it is equally an age of possibility and opportunity. I may fail miserably in my attempts to become a writer, but at least I can fail safe in the knowledge that I gave it a damn good try.
Marthe blogs here and you can follow her on Twitter here
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