My life is not like 'Girls', the new show that's just premiered on HBO about girls post-university struggling to find paid employment and make ends meet. Actually, it is quite a lot like that, but unlike the 'Girls' I don't sponge off my parents or have delusions about being some great artist.
I did study art at university, but I don't want to be an artist. I always wanted to something within the industry, and thought (perhaps naively?) that studying my passion would allow me to work with it in some way. Arts administration, arts PR, that kind of thing.
People aren't lying when they say the job market's hard. I know other people think that graduates should stop moaning about being unemployed because LOTS of people are unemployed, but it really is an indescribably demoralising experience to come to the end of those 3 glorious years, in which you have worked hard, despite what some people think (ok, I could have worked harder). But I achieved good things, and was ready, am ready, to knuckle down and really make myself invaluable to an employer.
Some graduates might consider earning an online degree while they work in order to enhance their job prospects. For example, Anna Maria College online offers a variety of programmes. Thankfully I'd worked part time during university, so on graduating I had a bit of money to keep me from starving. At first I held out for that big break, but then I started doing part-time bar work. People tell me I need to lower my standards, but I've applied for so many things: Jobs in arts administration, general administration jobs, dogsbody stuff for the person who does the administration, bar work, those awful sales jobs where you stand on the street annoying people.
The good news is I have an internship starting in a few weeks, a great 'foot in the door' opportunity. I don't know if they'll be able to employ me, but it's a step in the right direction. I just wish they'd pay me!