The Application Complication

Originally published on www.instant-impact.com

For those who are trying to break into the creative industries whether its in journalism, marketing, fashion, advertising or PR it can feel as though it’s easier to get through immigration or break into a bank vault, wearing a very fetching yet itchy balaclava, than kicking down that otherwise heavily padlocked door.

It’s an annoyance that will come to all of us who are trying to make it in a very difficult industry where unpaid internships, extremely long hours and a second job are the norm. But aside from the fact that for many, the majority of these jobs are located in London thus making it hard to afford the move from wherever you’re currently located, the biggest annoyance when it comes to trying to crack the creative industries is the dreaded application form.

We’ve all endured it and we’ve sighed a nauseating sigh of disbelief once we’ve downloaded the seemingly never ending questions on the application form that wants to know everything about you, the fact there isn’t a question regarding your inside leg measurement is actually surprising.

The first thing they make you want to do is scream, run away and hide under your duvet at the sheer thought of filling out this form. It’s a generally tedious task that asks you everything that is already on your CV, so after spending a large chunk of time copy and pasting your previous experience and education into some boxes that clearly haven’t been formatted properly by a company that demands excellent Microsoft Word skills in their job description, you can almost feel the laziness pour over you.

However this isn’t the end as you then have to make yourself sound like the best candidate for the job in the relevant experience section, which is just asking you to tell them how you match up to the criteria in the person spec, which isn’t only a monotonous task that can take hours but also makes you feel vastly pretentious as it makes it sound as though the sun shines out of your behind. If that isn’t bad enough the section after this asks for more information about you that you may not have covered in the previous section, so you find yourself mentioning rubbish like you once mowed your grandmothers grass and that you were a top student in primary school because you have run out of self promotion in the last section and quite simply can’t think of anything else they would want to know. Maybe you drop your inside leg measurement in as a thought.

Alas the application form isn’t the only annoying thing about applying for jobs within the creative industries. If they aren’t asking for a 500-page application form to be submitted then they’re asking for a CV, cover letter and in my case examples of previously published work. Now for many people who have to work as well as apply for these jobs they don’t have the time to have written much for other companies, because they’re either searching though umpteen pages of search results on job sites to find jobs that in then takes 3 hours to apply for, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

Usually after sending this they usually then ask you for a written piece that they assign to you, if they haven’t already asked for this in the first instance. The worst part is after spending hours doing this you rarely hear back or get a rejection email that can’t give feedback due to the high volume of applicants, it just makes you think “why do I even bother?”

I find myself asking what’s wrong with a simple application process of your CV and a brief hello in the email because surely they will find out if you’re right for the job at the interview? That’s if you even make it to the interview. But apparently this would make it far too easy for you and the people reviewing the applications may have to do some serious interviewing, when clearly they’d rather interview a small handful.

It’s a sad state of affairs that so many creative people are failing at cracking the industry because they just can’t get their big break due to excessive job searching and application forms, which can restrict the time to be creative and create published work, or simply because the vast size of the application form is just emphasising a wave of laziness that has already been brought on by months of daytime TV and unsatisfying menial work.

Is Unpaid Work Building a Wall Around the Creative Industries?

Originally posted on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Its been a hot topic for some time now, how the creative industries are taking advantage of new graduates who are looking to get their foot on the career ladder. Many of us would have heard the debate about the fashion industry and how it was exploiting workers by offering them unpaid internships to help them gain experience.

However many of these interns have spoken out about how they were treated badly and made to work nearly every hour that was available, and all this for no pay. Many have spoken out about how this is wrong, but it isn't just the fashion industry that's doing it, many others are too.

For those who want to work in television, radio, PR or as journalists, they all have to undergo the same routine. For many recent graduates out there wanting to forge a career in their chosen industry doing this type of unpaid work, in some cases for up to 12 months, just isn't practical as it's just not financially viable.

To start most of the jobs in the creative industries are located in London, and as we all know the cost of living in London is pretty much unaffordable to most. Many taking part in these internship are also working part time jobs in call centres, restaurants and bars just to get a bit of money behind them, but this type of part time work isn't enough to allow you to live in the capital.

Therefore many young people who are fully qualified to do these types of roles just aren't getting their foot in the door as they either don't live in a commutable area to get to London, or their parents can't afford to foot the bill for them to work unpaid for 12 months. This is therefore preventing many people from entering work that they are qualified for, resulting in them having to take menial jobs. That's if they can get those jobs as many employers are worried that they'll leave as soon as something better comes along, which I wrote about in a previous article.

It's not just the fact that most of these jobs are unpaid, there are even websites offering freelance work that is unpaid with the hope of giving someone experience. But when you apply for any of these types of freelance work or internships the process you have to go through is very long and gruelling, and for the most part you end up with a rejection at the end.

Take freelance writing, many times I have had to undergo the sending of the application form, CV and cover letter, followed by sending some work, which then leads to an interview and a test article and in some cases even a second article, only to be told you didn't get the job as you didn't have enough experience, even though it was an unpaid entry level job. Many people endure this on a daily basis.

I've seen many job adverts from companies that say they cannot yet afford to pay people and this is why there is the offer of unpaid work. Although this looks like a way of hiring a number of people to do all the hard work in order to avoid paying someone by saying it's an internship. Now not all places are like this but you'd be surprised how many job adverts actually say this.

It only seems to be the creative industries that are getting away with this too, because lets face it, someone who has just qualified as a nurse wouldn't be asked to rush around a hospital and help save lives for no pay for 12 months, all in the name of experience. I know that student nurses train throughout the three years they are at University, but so do those who aspire to work in the creative industries, otherwise what is the point of spending the best part of £20,000 to earn a degree for that specific job?

As this issue is rife within the creative industries, and many people have already weighed in on the issue surrounding the fashion world it looks as though it's about time the remainder of the creative industries were looked at; before a generation of graduates fall to the sides as they just didn't live close enough, or have parents able to pay for them to get their foot in the door.

My unemployment/job centre frustration ....

So here I am at 3:15 in the afternoon sat on the floor drinking tea in a dressing gown and pyjamas, I am totally living the student lifestyle, the only problem is that I am no longer a student!

After 17 years of education and a nice big fat load of student debt I now finally find myself unemployed and with no money ... So much fun!

I finished uni nearly two months ago but only officially finished last week when my results came out ... Got a cheeky little 2.1 so that's always good. 

However now no one seems to want to employ me at all, I have GCSE's, A levels and a degree but the jobs I apply for doing what I want to do either don't reply or say I am not what they are looking for ... Please tell me how a recent journalism graduate with a decent degree isn't suitable for a graduate entry level journalism job? On top of that I have experience as a cleaner but no cleaning company wants me either, please tell me how I am not good enough to do a job I've done before?

So anyway after a trip to the job centre I was told I wasn't entitled to anything to help me live off because I haven't worked, which I have but due being a student I was exempt from paying tax but no one seems to care about that at the job centre. My trip was also topped off with a lovely stand outside in the freezing cold due to a fire alarm, so that absolutely made my day (detect the sarcasm?).

I just don't understand how some people who have never worked or done anything can claim so much money, yet someone who has put themselves through an education and worked can't have anything to help them until they find a job? Apparently if I had dependents I could, so no wonder so many people purposely get pregnant (and they do I've seen it myself).

So yeah here I am now ranting on a blog (that no one will probably read) because I have nothing to do except look at my little 'job diary' to show someone that I've been looking for a job, I really don't see how this folded piece of paper will help me find a job any quicker considering I was already doing exactly what they are asking me to do, but now I need to keep a record of it ... Such fun I must say!!!

Seriously this unemployment lark is getting a bit much now, the only daily company I have is the cast of Loose Women, I know more about Kate Thornton's  and Sherrie Hewson's love life than I know about my own (that's a lie but it sounded dramatic).

Anyway before I go on any further I am going to leave it at that ... At least I have a trip to Wales this week to help me through the constant boredom!!!!

Laters ....

So ....

Hello,

So its been some time since I've actually written anything on this blog that wasn't a repeat of something I had already written and had posted on another website, so here we go.

Well, to be honest there's not much to write about, considering I have now joined the mass numbers of unemployed graduates all competing for the same jobs ... It's so much fun!

I finished uni nearly two months and in that time I have applied to just about every job that's going, from cleaning and call centres to taking my luck at sub-editor jobs (unless you try you never know what will happen), but alas I have had no luck! :(

Well that may be a little bit of a lie, I had three phone calls to work as a cleaner, but since I am incapable of driving (I was born to be driven) I couldn't have the jobs, apart from that I had one phone interview and an actual one that ended in disaster, namely due to me stumbling over my words for the phone interview and the interviewer being incapable of interviewing for the other interview (never a good sign).

So here I am now going spare in my living room looking at the same four walls slowly becoming a domestic god, seriously I've cleaned this place more in two week than Kim and Aggie have cleaned in the last five years!

But yeah anyway I'm going to stop writing about my ever exciting unemployed 'house wife' status because I am assuming who ever is reading this must be close to killing themselves by now!

So I will update you on my non existent social life very soon ... I promise it'll be more interesting next time ... Well lets hope it is!!!!

Laters!!!!