Consistently inconsistent: a relaunch

Linkedin-Merchant (definition #15)

NOUN

1. Someone who wrote a whole post about staying consistent and then proceeded to be inconsistent for over a month

• Me, a hypocrite: "I feel like being consistent has helped me to create high quality content and I hope to stay that way!"

Dear Network,

Welcome back to Officially Unemployed! Before we start this post I will briefly address the reasons why I have been offline for a few weeks and you've had a break from me polluting the internet with recruitment conspiracy theories and general bitterness.

I returned from Canada in December thinking I had a job essentially lined up for 2024 and was looking forward to getting going, I was convinced this was the right move for me and a great launchpad for a career after a ridiculously long recruitment process. However, for a variety of reasons, this job did not materialise and the process was halted towards the end of January.

What has ensued since then has been some serious soul-searching, some panic, a hell of a lot of applications, and a new job at a pizza place in Chepstow. I am finding the process challenging to say the least and my applications spreadsheet is showing a lot of reds and yellows.

Sob story over. This is not the point of today's post at all.

I think the main takeaway of my month of "soul-searching" was that I'd like to do this blogging and writing thing for real. Careers in PR, content creation and marketing are the types of things that I want to pursue and feel will bring me the most happiness as, at my core, I am creative and want to find ways to drive engagement for my own "brand" (gross) but also for companies that spread important messages. I also wonder if consistently clowning the modern recruitment process is actually the best way to go about getting hired so you may be seeing less of that from now on (I'm sorry @everyonewhodoesrecruitment). Before you click off and start throwing internet rocks at me, I want to say that I will continue with my (sometimes too) open dialogue about my journey and calling out the ridiculousness of Linkedin and the job market. After all, Take That did say at some point, "never forget where you're coming from".

In all seriousness though, I want to delve a bit deeper into these kinds of careers and industries as they are amongst the most popular for humanities grads like me that thought they'd study "something they liked" at university rather than go into something useful and lucrative like computer science or whatever it is they do in that grey building on campus. First off, I think there's this perception that creative careers are under threat now from Generative AI and, if that is the case, will the competition for places become even stiffer than it is now? Is our ability to speak the language of the computer programmes at our fingertips going to be what sets us apart? If everyone wants to do social media, how do we create an extensive portfolio that shows versatility across social channels and content types when we can't get jobs anywhere to start making that content?

I don't know, so I'm just going to start.

In true LM fashion, this blog has always somewhat had the purpose of developing my voice and give me something to show employers. I think pairing my (f)unemployment journey (or indeed my mission to end it) with important subject matters like AI, the role of influencers in marketing and music, some principles of PR and stuff like that, whilst developing my style and tone, will be a productive use of my time. I plan to run some polls, experiments etc, one of which I'm starting this week. There is also the small matter of applications and trying to move out of my parents house so you'll get some insight into that. My "call to action": Follow me on my journey to a fulfilling job that I don't hate!

Anyway rant over, the takeaway? We are so back. See you in the next one, merchants!

Your favourite hypocrite,

AT