I thought I'd be fine. Six weeks to dedicate to job hunting - plenty of time! I thought I was bound to find something. We're now half way through the summer and I've only applied to two jobs.
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I'm not being lazy, it's just... I don't know how to do this! I don't know what to type into the search bar. Job listings have big, scary titles that don't tell me much about what they mean, and when I click on 'more info' I get an essay of 'day to day' tasks that make no sense to me whatsoever. It doesn't help that 99% of the job listings I've come across look something like this:
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR
We are a small start up company looking for an enthusiastic, creative, hard worker to join our team! We're offering a generous salary of £18,000 per year. A minimum of 10 years of experience as a social media content creator is essential, preferably for a multi-million pound, global company. You also need to have a sizable TikTok following and a history of 10 posts a week for the past 2 years minumum. A masters in Instagram is beneficial but not essential. If that sounds like you, apply now! Xoxo.
Yeah okay, I exaggerated a bit, but you'd be surprised at just how accurate that example is. Even a £10 per hour job at Legoland requests "previous experience in entertainment at a resort". The cheek of it, by the way. Who do these people think they are, requesting 'experience' and offering a tenner?
Any Dream Jobs Going?
Then there's the small matter of paying my mortgage. I have one paycheque left. ONE. I'm getting a bit scared. "It will be fine" people have been telling me, "you'll find something." It's only just occurring to me that these are things people say because "oh shit, so you're going to be unemployed? That's terrible" isn't really socially acceptable. I know I will find something eventually, but time is running out! It's getting a bit stressful.
So, the plan is... apply for more jobs! I ideally need to find something that pays me enough money, isn't too far away, is prepared to fully train me, that I don't hate. In fact, I left teaching because I didn't love it like I wanted to love it, so I don't just want a job that I don't hate, I want a job that I love. How am I suppose to find that? I'm too old to be a dancer. Becoming an actor takes a long time and doesn't provide a stable income. Production would be fun, but producers are losing their jobs left, right and centre due to the acting strikes. I enjoy writing but I don't have the talent to do it professionally. More than anything, I don't have the confidence. I believe in myself, don't get me wrong. I just don't believe that other people will believe in me. I know I could do any of these jobs, but I picture these companies receiving my CV and raising an eyebrow, "umm a Drama teacher? What's any of this got to do with the job description?" Or even worse, "ok so she's a 29 year old failed teacher with no experience. I think we'll pass."
I know I didn't make a mistake leaving teaching. I am sure I did the right thing by taking this leap of faith. It was always going to be a risk and it was always going to be scary! I'd just really like to get to the part where I get my dream job and am really happy and earning lots of money.
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