Hi everyone I’m Beth! I’ve been lucky enough to have been taken on by J & PR for a week of work experience and when asked for something to put on the blog the first thing that came to my mind was the dreaded F word: Future.
Being 23 is often seen as being too old for work experience, as it’s most often associated with secondary school. However, at this point it’s work experience that is helping me decide exactly what to do with the next 60 years of my life. As I seem to have lost the instruction manual which tells me what to do next.
I studied Performing Arts at university, as when I started I believed that I was destined to be the next biggest West End star. However it soon became clear to me that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and, to be completely honest, I had lost my passion for it. But I worked through it, coming out with a grade I’m very proud of and that key £27,000 piece of paper that tells the world I kind of know what I’m talking about.
On the day you graduate it can feel like the safety net of education drops you quite sharply into proper adulthood. And so I’ve had a thought about what I wish I’d known when finishing:
1: It’s ok not to know what you want to do when you leave, most adults feel the same
2: There’s no rush to find a job, new jobs appear all the time
3: The person who will most likely put the most pressure on yourself is you
And so if I can give any advice to anyone out there in the position it would be to try anything, particularly a work experience placement or two. From doing this I’ve met some amazing people, such as the fabulous Shropshire Festivals team and of course the lovely people of J&PR. Do I know my next steps yet? Not really, but I’m a whole lot happier now and excited to figure it out.
