It’s Not Simple
The life we all want to achieve isn’t linear. It’s harder than it’s cracked up to be. It’s confusing and frustrating. It makes sense why it’s not simple.
‘No-one will give you the answers straight; you’ll have to learn to read between the lines otherwise you’ll be left behind.’
I have a few takeaways from today.
Which can be applicable to all.
This may be centred around me, but it can be used to influence others.
Because the overall mood of the event was one of uncertainty.
Everyone in their third year of university has had the stark realisation that all of it is coming to an end.
Some, for the first time, are striving to find a challenge after university.
Others are focusing on work and will deal with it once the time comes.
Whatever the approach, this event does three things:
- Creates fear and ambition
- Challenges society stereotypes and vulnerabilities
- Generates rejection and inner conflict
It’s hard to see how one event can do all this.
But I suppose if you’re going in with a strong purpose, it’s either fulfilled or not.
I was intrigued by the whole concept.
I wanted to know more about the OECD specifically.
Having visited for a conference in June, I was aware of their programmes and wanted some more information.
Which I got, and feel very mixed emotions.
It’s highly competitive, more so than Oxbridge and other top global universities.
As a programme, it offers so much and the standards are equitably high.
So while I’m motivated to give it a go, I’m not riding in with much optimism if any at all.
The trend across all international organisations appeared clear.
You go to LSE or Cambridge, you have a better chance of getting into a programme.
That’s the statistics.
Mainly due to the number of applicants, but also their employability with their label.
Kings College students have some chance, but anywhere else better be world-class individuals.
Apart from this statistical impingement on the rest of the UK universities, there are other strong requirements.
One is that you have to have experience.
No matter what programme, experience is essential and not desirable.
You’ll be picked based on your past drive.
And it makes sense, and I think it’s the best way to see work ethic.
If you want a job in a specific field, you’ll find it.
That’s if you really want to.
Applying to thirty jobs in twenty-five days in January made that clear for me.
I got one interview and I got that job, so I had one for thirty and one for one.
Whether it was luck or coincidence, it doesn’t matter.
I could be sitting here not knowledgeable.
I could sit here like everyone who hasn’t got their experience.
It’s very possible.
I wanted experience in media, in whatever field, and it so happened I landed on this.
So I think this event does those three things.
Why?
Well, let’s go through them.
1. Creates fear and ambition
There were people at the event with PhD’s struggling to get a job.
As our hierarchical system dictates, you as an undergrad or a masters student are less likely to get a job to someone with a higher qualification.
So you feel an immediate sense you’re not good enough.
That you can’t do it.
That people are better.
You didn’t do enough.
Survival of the fittest has come front and centre.
Now, if you’re clued up which you might not be, you’ll realise that time is finite but not as much as it is in your own mind.
Life is short, sure.
But I wouldn’t want to waste wondering what could’ve been.
Because it’s going to make my mental capacity smaller.
So, this fear should actually fuel you.
Make you want to seek hard for the experience.
More than ever before.
Realise that entitlement is hurting you and move forward with humility.
It’s not all going to come on a plate.
Be desperate, this is the time to be.
2. Challenges society stereotypes and vulnerabilities
The trajectory of life after school is set for many.
The government has made it ‘impossible’ to leave school without job-seeking qualifications.
It’s a beautiful theory, but has awful applications.
People often go to seek their ambition outside of university or vocational college.
They’ll find some success.
They’ll see failure.
But they’ll either grow or ignore it all.
In university, you’re so normal that it’s actually quite laughable.
You’re so socially comformative.
You can’t escape the normality of it all.
The vulnerability of university is found in job-seeking.
The stereotypes persist that only those who work really hard get jobs.
People who get in for doing nothing are lucky.
Not always the case.
Events like this show you the diversity of the talent pool.
Not so much that you can compare, rather that you can set yourself.
Setting a benchmark and comparison are separate actions.
If anything this event helps to deconstruct the bureaucracy.
You see the real emotion and struggle of students with better degrees or more experience than you.
You realise that you really are very normal.
And everyone will get there in their good time.
3. Generates rejection and inner conflict
This event is the turning point for most to not even attempt applying.
There was a lot of shaking of the head.
A lot of misconceptions blown out of the water.
Reassurances that kept people’s sanity completely destroyed.
For most people, this might be there first time of reaching an existential crisis that affects the future.
Most of the people in that room are forward-thinking, they know want they want; they just don’t know how to get it.
And that’s why they attend, to find the answers.
Unfortunately the answers aren’t there.
Or in black and white anyway.
This event signifies a flip switch.
There are no best practice to applying to these jobs, except being from LSE and having experience in a related field.
Which is obscure and cuts out most people in the audience.
If you want it, if you’re passionate about it, you’ll find a way to be known.
Countless do it every year, and that’s where they are better.
They are proactive and happy to fail.
What are you waiting for?
It’s not simple