There is a lovely metaphor Carol used in her book for creative people finding their place in the world. She talks about the story of the ugly duckling, where the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan. I wish that this was true for everyone.
I graduated 5 years ago at 26. At 31 I have made some small progress with work experience, but not in terms of career or salary. I am pretty embarrassed with how little I have to show for myself for my age.
One of the biggest misconceptions in the UK with young people is that if you go to University you have a strong chance of getting the job you want. From my experience it is only worth it if you do a course that is a) a practical course which is skill related training relevant to the job field, and teaches you how to find opportunities/work or B) a course which involves work placements within the industry.
Most employers want people with practical skills/experience over people with fancy titles after their name. The problem with university courses is that most of them (with exception to points A or B) have very little relevance to that subject in the real world, and therefore don't prepare graduates for the real world. So many people end up going back to the jobs they did before they studied their degrees. Not much of an investment considering the cost of tuition fee's and student loans. I personally have a debt of more than 20k from deciding on higher education.
To add insult to injury creative subjects such as Art, Drama, Music are considered by some employers as 'not real or serious degrees'.
Since graduating I have had to start from scratch with learning about business skills and marketing, whilst working low paid day jobs, so I can continue training and doing my creative work in the evening (I am a musician, I write music on guitar and teach).
I just wish I could find a day job that I fit into.
I try very hard with day jobs that I do but unfortunately my INFP (myer brigg) personality seems to put me at a considerable disadvantage. you see, most people want someone who ticks all the boxes and fits into all the boxes. This means that in an interview they will pick the energetic extrovert, even if he/she has less skills or knowledge. Anyone else apart from me seems to have a chance.
All my good qualities seem to be overlooked because it takes time to really know me, so I have had to try and create an act to give people what they want, which can work with limited success (but it's very draining pretending your someone you're not!).
The most success I've had seems to be with the very small number of people that I've given music lessons to. In a questionnaire I sent out recently they gave some very positive comments and one of my students scored over 90% in an advanced graded exam thanks to my coaching and his dedication and following of my advice. I'm slowly learning more about networking & marketing and business strategies, but again due to my personality it's never going to be my strongest skill, hopefully if this business grows big enough I can outsource some of this. In the meantime I need to find a career/day job that I fit into where I can be myself and be appreciated for my contributions and not invalidated .
It seems ironic that someone with two university qualifications (BA Music & HND Art) ends up earning less than 8K a year. Creative sensitive caring people just aren't valued that highly in our society,which is why I'm trying to develop a tougher streetwise persona that I can switch on when needed.
Looks like this ugly duckling hasn't turned into a swan just yet. Perhaps I still have time to shine, but it feels like time is running out, as the older I get the more difficult it will be for people to take me seriously.
Best of luck to everyone out there chasing their dreams.
The ugly duckling