I don't know much about life after graduating. I haven't been a graduate for long, but I will share what little I know and what I've experienced so far.
Unfortunately, with the current economic and employment situation AND being one of many new graduates, it's very difficult and unrealistic to get a job soon after graduating. Although my friends knew this too, many of them got/are very frustrated and down because they're back at home and are having a hard time finding a job.
One of the advantages of me being so detached and realistic is that I had already mentally prepared myself for graduate life. I knew and didn't expect to get a job (definitely not a graduate level job) anytime soon after graduating, and I knew it would take more than a year to work out what the next step in my life would be; career route, where to live and settle down etc...
I caught up with one of my friends when I visited England recently. She's a couple of years younger and has just graduated university. Everything she was telling me is exactly what I felt and what some of my friends are still feeling. She said "I knew it would be difficult, but I never thought it would be this hard!"
I know everyone gets told "Don't worry, hundreds of us are in the same boat." and "You'll find something. Something's bound to come along." But let's face it, knowing there's loads of people going through the same thing doesn't really help. Especially when you hear about people getting new jobs or moving out of home or getting a house etc... It's hard. Life is hard.
It's hard being stuck at home. There's only so much you can do to preoccupy yourself. Especially when all you have is your student loan debt, possibly an overdraft and/or a credit card debt (depending on how good you are with your finances) and whatever little money you've managed to save. With hardly any money, your family at work or school, and your friends scattered around the country, there's only so much day-time television, reading, housework, filling in job applications, walking around and shopping you can do every day every month for God knows how long.
Even as I'm writing this, I can't say I'm feeling eager to go back home because this will be what I'll be returning to. Although I'm working abroad now it's only temporary. It's amazing and I love my job but it's a mix of experience, fun, saving money and sticking my head in the sand. I know I need to go back home and resume my life where I left off so that I can sort my life out and live the kind of life that I want. It's going to be hard.
One thing that's annoying all of us (the unemployed) is this key issue with getting a job at the moment:
This simple picture summarises one of the biggest problems at the moment.
Degrees are taking a backseat whilst experience has stepped into the spotlight. As the competition for vacancies as well as the number of graduates are rising, it's becoming more and more difficult to get a job. Employers don't care about your degree as much as before since most people have one. So what matters now is how much experience you have. It's hard even for those with experience to get jobs, let alone young people who've just come out of university.
I have older siblings and friends, and I've seen how difficult and rare it is to actually know or to do your dream job. Some may regard this as being pessimistic, I don't. It's simply one of those things in life that should help you to acknowledge what you have and to make you appreciate things more.
I've managed to do something I never actually planned or thought I'd actually be doing. Somehow I'm in Korea teaching English at a boys middle school and absolutely loving it. I genuinely never thought I'd love it half as much as I do. I planned to do one year for experience (travelling and work experience) and to save money. But in actual fact, I'm now doing a second year and am still in love with my job. For me, this is amazing and special for so many reasons.
1. It's a big deal for me to be genuinely happy. I've explained my ups and downs in past posts. I've always been content with my life, but that's as far as it's ever gotten. Obviously I've experience happiness, but it's an emotion that comes and goes. I've been happy; hanging with friends, seeing family and so on ... But I've never been happy with my life. Right now, I am happy and I love my life. I love my job, I love being financially independent, I love being generally independent, I love Korea and I'm loving life.
2. I never expected to love teaching or Korea half as much as I do. I wanted to teach from the beginning but I expected more hardships and stress. Especially teaching in a foreign country. Instead, it's given me the motivation to find a job that I love and really want to do. I now know it's possible to find a job you love that can make you smile and give you financial stability at the same time. It's nice knowing both are attainable in one job without having to choose one over the other.
3. It's also given me hope. A little boost that I can actually be happy and live the way that I've always dreamt of but never truly believed it would be anything other than something in my imagination.
As much as I love my new life, I know it's not a life I will pursue; it's purely a short-term way of living for me at the moment. No matter which way I think about it, I can't see myself living and settling down here. While the people are lovely and super friendly, I can't help but miss my oldest and best-est friends and family. I've adjusted to my new life fine, but I wouldn't choose to live here. Only because, in my mind, Korea will be nothing more than a mini-adventure. It's been amazing and it still is, but there's no way for it to be anything more. I know if I stay here any longer then it will start to taint the amazing memories that I've made here, and I don't want that. I think I've gotten all I can out of this experience and it's nearly time to go back home and find my dream job.
So whilst this has been a small chapter in my life; it's been amazing, thrilling, adventurous and insightful all at the same time. I suppose, in a sense, it's been like a world-wind romance. It's swept me off my feet, revealed a new, different and exciting side to myself, and it's been short and sweet. To cling onto it would just be forcing something that was always meant to be short into something longer; ruining it all.
