The Job Hunt

There is no denying that getting a job in a global pandemic is hard. But being a graduate and looking for a job in a global pandemic… well that’s harder.

Thousands of Australian’s have been stood down, made redundant, or completely out of the job. And for me, a 21-year-old graduate with plans of traveling her way through 2020, the world all of a sudden felt like a black hole.

I was worried about losing my internship, losing my 5-week prepaid holiday to Europe, A trip to America, and my job in retail.

How on earth was I meant to even think about progressing my career with all of this shit going on?

If you know me, you know I am an over-thinker. I quite literally ‘think myself sick’.

How will I pay my car registration with no income? Am I going to be stuck in retail when I have so much more ambition for myself?

Self-talk and my Mum calmed me down and I started to look at this pandemic with a more grateful eye.

I was given time to think. Yes I had to figure out how to get all my money credited to hopefully use in Europe next year and that was stressful. But now I have something to look forward to next year.

But what was eating me up was that my perfect plan was now blown into little pieces right before my eyes.

I am an organised person, I plan out my week around my work schedule and at University I was always submitted work early. So the fact that my organised and well-thought-out year was in shambles, really shook me.

I cried a lot, but I picked myself up and quite literally thought, “okay, what now?”

I was going to hold off finding full-time work until I had seen a bit of the world, and traveling is restricted for god knows how long now, so it was time to roll up the sleeves.

I decided I gained enough knowledge from my recent internship that I didn’t want to work for free anymore. I had enough confidence in myself to read job descriptions and say “yep, I can do that."

The Job Hunt Begins...

I spent my free-time on LinkedIn, Pedestrian, Indeed, Seek, and Jora, applying to any job within the realms of Digital Marketing that I truly thought I could do. I didn’t care if this was casual, part-time, or full time. I just wanted to break into the industry after donating my time in exchange for knowledge for so long.

I had a few bites back through email, asking me to prove myself and convince them that I am the better choice amongst my competitors and I never heard back.

The old worrisome Kate would normally be totally defeated by this. But I used all of this as fuel to keep applying. Surely someone thinks I am as capable as I know I am?

I had one interview. I thought I did great. Turns out I did but they found someone who was more of a cultural fit for them, and this is okay! Every interview is a learning curve and even though I thought I really wanted this position, I wasn’t that deflated.

I always ask for feedback when I am rejected, and this is the most admirable thing a job applicant can do (in my opinion). If you are showing that you want to learn why you weren’t picked, well I think the employer has missed out on a potentially fantastic employee.

I submitted 5-15 applications every 3 days and heard back from maybe 10% of the employers. A lot of the responses were copied and pasted, but in the current environment, there is almost triple the number of people in the job search too.

The odds were not so great.

Just last Thursday I got a phone call I wasn’t expecting from 1 of the 63 applications I sent through. It took me by surprise as that same morning I tried to call another employer to get myself a step ahead in the application process.

I heard of the company of course, they resonated with me out of my 63 applications because this was one of the jobs that my eyes lit up for when reading the description.

I interviewed on Zoom 5 hours later and had a great experience, and was told I would hear the outcome the next day.

Boy oh, boy did I barely sleep that night. I had to work in my retail job that day, and I was anxiously waiting for the phone to ring.

Long story short, I got the job and I couldn’t be happier and to be honest, I couldn’t be prouder of myself if I tried. I proved myself wrong in that I am not going to be stuck in retail (not that this is so bad for those of you who chose retail as a career, this was just not for me).

I proved that hard work, writing cover letters, and staying relevant after finishing your course pays off. I have my internships and my Content By Kate website and Instagram to thank, as well as my perseverance.

If you are a graduate reading this, please do not lose hope. I let my mind get the better of me far too often, and once I grounded myself, I got shit done and I made it happen.

Stay positive and keep on keeping on.

It will happen if you want it to.

Kate xx