The frustrations of a graduate in today’s English society

So, I worked really hard during my A-levels (Design & Tech, Art & Design), but even though my Product Design coursework had achieved an A* level of grade (which I was proud of), my exams brought me down to a dismal D.  Going to university to take on a product design related course was out of the window. I never understood why coursework and exams had to be culminated into one final grade?  Why be gifted at something practical and do really well on that front, at the same time not have all the theory and exam related written work mastered to be told in the end that you have a low final grade?  (It is so disheartening to accept this silly way of grading)

You learn by doing, you learn more depth by reading (over time), but without the ‘doing’ part, reading only gets you so far.  In a final grade I believe an exam should be separated from a coursework as this will show higher educational institutes and companies where an applicants strengths and weaknesses lie.  This would also give the student more confidence to study harder as they will not be upset by one factor bringing down the entire grade.

I always loved drawing and designing, using my creative imagination to provide medium for the world to enjoy.  Taking on a creative degree in computer games seemed right up my alley.  The luck of it all was that I had been accepted into a wonderful university.

I took on the university degree, and graduated with a 2:2 BA Honors.  The experience was well worth it and I would do it again just for that if I could, however attaining a career after university is a heavy task to say the least. I knew that I would be in jobs that had no relation to my degree subject for a while, whilst I looked for a career.  It is to be expected; one simply cannot just stroll in somewhere and be given a high paying art job (unless they are that talented).  But getting work that is closely similar to a creative/design role is near impossible.  ‘Experience’ is the keyword here.

So, I want an occupation, but I need the experience, but for experience, I need to do the work!  No point getting experience in a driving job if I need to enter a card designing industry (of course I am aware of the experiences one may attain in any role such as communication skills and teamwork etc that can be of many uses).

Sound familiar? What’s the point in hearing people say ‘oh it’s life, you graduate and end up doing something completely different’ Why should it be this way?

I know this isn’t always the case; however, I am on jobseekers allowance at the moment for a second time. How does that make me feel?  True every penny helps and I am grateful to be getting anything at all.  Still, not the greatest of encouragements when many employers look at you on paper and think ‘too overqualified for this role, should be going for something bigger’ and others say ‘not enough relevant experience, can’t help them’.

I would work for free in any creative job to learn ‘the ropes’ as it were in the company, to see how things work and to show the employer what I can do.  This would give them time to consider my relevance to the company and if I would be worth investing time and money into (trial period). Unfortunately this is easier said than done.  All this money has gone into courses and training, but there isn’t the workload and opportunity out there after it all.

Well, I am not an angry or hateful person, but this does seem like quite a ‘rant’.  I may even have my facts mixed up or misunderstood,  it’s just frustrating when I (like many people out there) have worked so hard to suddenly be 22 years old, sitting in my room, not having a career, job or much money to have a place of my own, typing away, thinking, what am I doing with my life?  We aren’t getting any younger and time seems to go so quickly these days.

(3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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