Now what?

One thing that is really getting on my nerves and frustrating me so much is this....

I've just completed my three-year degree in English Language Major and Literature Minor, and of course like many of us who experience university, I enjoyed it (surprisingly enough).  But apart from the goods times, I really did  enjoy my studies.  I had fantastic tutors; very few did irritate me, but those who didn't really inspired me.  I honestly thought my studies were going to be hard and dull, but they were not!

Those three years also helped me see what I was good at, and the career path I would like to have aimed for....first it was teaching (that put me off for so many reasons), which lead me onto publishing.  So, I got myself involved in a publishing module for two years.  After attending my first lesson, I thought I was crazy.  The aim of the module was to produce our one and only magazine, poem book and booklet from scratch.  I honestly thought I was going to fail that year, because I had no idea in how to even get started.

Well, to cut a long story short.  It was the best two years of my life.  From being scarred beyond comprehension to finally producing a fantastic university magazine, and then also producing a booklet for our client 'The People's History Museum' in Manchester.  It was great!  Publishing helped me to decide what module's I wanted to focus on - primarily on English Language module's. 

Learning the English Language wasn't so easy, and in the beginning I struggled.  But because I knew it was hard I was determined to push myself to get it right.  Many students ended up dropping out of the module - Sentence Analysis.  My tutor kept on telling me that I didn't get it - so I kept on telling him to show me until I DO get it.  It paid off.  After the exams, I came in the top fourth of the class.  Wow!  I was really chuffed.

This became my focused area of study.  Yet now that I'm out.  I haven't been able to find a job for the past two years in any form of editing, proofreading or other parts of publishing.  Everyone promised me that I only needed two weeks work experience to be valued by an employer.  I thought two years of physically producing our own magazine and booklet (with realistic clients) would be enough.  Yet I simply get 'Oh you have a fantastic CV' but then nothing else.  No call backs, no interviews - nada.

Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong???

On top of that.  I can't even get a simple admin job now or simpler still; a retail job or restaurant work.  I just sit and beg for temp positions.  I cannot grab that permanent job.  I even offered some publishing companies to work for FREE just to show them that I know I can do the job.  You'd think I'd get a call back....ah nope!  I know publishing/editing/proofreading is hard work, I know you need to follow very strict time schedules, and have several copies done at once.  It's a lot of work, but I enjoy it.  It's challenging and different.

Right now I feel like my brain is turning into boring mush, and it isn't being stimulated enough.  The only thing I'm taking the initiative to do is start my own business in providing English lessons on a one-to-one basis at any level.  I have to say, it is doing wonders - but still it's  not enough.  I've begun offering freelancing work in proofreading, and I'm constantly posting it out to companies (I only started today - so we'll see).  I know things take time - but not working after two years of university is 'kind of' taking the mick.