I graduated University with high hopes of things to come, but little did I know of the troubles that lay ahead. Unsure of what career to really pursue I decided to start applying for some finance jobs, the most related field to my degree. However I ran into a hurdle from the start. I found that I actually got bored filling in the application forms for such jobs so much so that I rarely even finished them.

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'"What about finance Motivates you?"
"Describe a time when you have been a leader in a difficult situation?"

It’s questions like these that just made me lose the will to live, and reconsider my enthusiasm of being a graduate taking the first step in a career. Firstly, I'd be hard pushed to be convinced that someone can really be motivated for working in Finance. And secondly, what do companies expect graduates to have to talk about leadership wise? I've just spent 3 years studying a subject, not heading a business that was going under. Without lying and embellishing some mundane university story, most would just be left with describing a group coursework fiasco that had gone awry.

Reevaluating my life a few months later after a fair share of unsurprising rejections, I went travelling for a year in Australia before crash landing back home to reality circa 2015.

Having the experience of a lifetime while I was away, I was now back where I left off before travelling, only a year none the wiser and now with no money to my name. After working long hours at Asda to gain some money back, I finally found a career path that could combine my interest in writing and my analytical thinking which had led me to an economics degree. This was digital marketing. An Oasis of untapped potential and new career prospects sprouting everyday.

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Naturally, I then started to apply for some jobs in the area to see where I could get to with the skills I had. The answer: not so far. It seemed to be the usual case of needing 'experience to gain experience' cycle, a curiously common case in todays world that many new job seekers are finding. It’s a paradox that companies and recruiters seem to swear by. But why shouldn’t they? There are so many people looking for work that they have every right to then expect the person they're hiring to have good experience in the market. Its supply and demand (economics throwback). It just means that some graduates with no experience are getting left out of the loop.

FireCask

Fast forward a couple of hard months, and I'm thankfully given the opportunity to gain valuable experience and knowledge at a award winning start up called Firecask as a Junior SEO Consultant. During my first month here I've been learning and living digital marketing, getting the chance to see how all the different cogs in the company work. From Outreach to Link building and Content Creation I've been taken under the safe wings of the amazing Firecask workforce, who have been welcoming from the first day I arrived. Working here has only furthered my belief that I've finally found a career path that I can be excited about.

Digital Marketing seems to still be in the infancy of its life, with new techniques and ideas arriving constantly, making it a stimulating place to be at the moment. It’s comforting to know that everyday when I come in to Firecask I'm going to learn something new, contributing to tasks that are actually interesting and gaining that ever elusive experience I've heard so many people talk about.

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Maybe it’s the coincidental rise in vitamin D intake I've been getting from the sun finally coming out for the first time in months, but things are once again starting to look up :)