Career anxiety

I’m in my penultimate year now, so I have to start planning a strategic and effective exit plan.

You’d think that after turning 20 and making it past half of my university journey, I’d be able to peep into a magic ball and paint you a vague picture of my future – but I’m no Professor Trelawney nor am I Raven Baxter. With the absence of prophecy to reassure me, I can only afford to go through the cycle of worry every 20-something-year-old goes through when it comes to mapping out their future plans. Which is an odd feeling to feel as I have never had this much anxiety surrounding my prospects.

When I was a kid, I had always envisioned myself graduating high school, going to college, and getting into uni. The only thing I had to do to make sure my plans unfolded the way they should was to just study hard, get involved in some extracurriculars and get the ATAR I needed to get into my selected program. 

Getting a job, though, I don’t think is as easy as studying hard and joining a few after-school programs. Finding a place that is hiring is already like a game of Easter egg hunt these days, especially if you’re trying to get into a career that is outside your degree.

Studying law has been interesting but I know my heart doesn’t actually want me to practice it once I graduate. I want to get into the creative industry but it’s not as easy to secure internships and jobs when every other creative company I come across seemingly prefers to hire those studying in said line of work (which makes total sense!).

So I search and search the depths of LinkedIn and other job sites to secure an internship, but my efforts have not been fruitful thus far. Am I starting to get a little anxious? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t because, in all honesty, I am actually freaking out a little. With no education background in arts or communication and only a couple of semesters to go, I must figure out a way to get my foot in the door so that I can have a full-time job in the industry by the time I graduate. 

Not to mention seeing all your friends getting internships and jobs – more fuel for the anxiety, hey? It’s so easy to want to just plop on your bed and give up then but I don’t think that’s a very helpful course of action either. The only way to get what you want is to work towards it. So, I will trudge forth and keep trying and trying and trying.