April Fool

It is April, and it is fair to say I am feeling like a first class fool.

Not that I've done anything particularly embarrassing or terrible, none more than usual anyway. But this is the month that sees my dissertation hand in, and the end of my life as I know it.

I am a final year student, and the pressure is on. Typically, I have not made it easy for myself. The two most competitive areas of work to get into are psychology and - you've guessed it - media.

One night I woke up to the realisation that after graduation I really had to find a job. Not just find one, but really I had to have one in place ASAP.

I took to absolutely hounding the internet, desperately searching for internships, jobs, work experience... anything really. I consider myself to have quite a good CV, and like a lot of people, assumed that I would find a job pretty easily.

But what I didn't think about enough was that I am wanting jobs at big places. No, not big, HUGE. I'm talking Elle, Vogue, Glamour, Cosmopolitan... magazines that are read by millions of people, lots of which will want a job there. So why on earth would they pick me?

One useful tool: Twitter. What a great invention that social networking tool is. You can follow the major mags and companies, cos anyone who's anyone has a profile. That said it isn't exactly a shortcut. I have '@replied' every major magazine editor going, all to no avail. One even started following me off their own back, which got me cruelly excited, then has thus far lead to nothing.

It does, however, bring you to companies you wouldn't have heard of, and has successfully secured me work with an up and coming fashion website. All's not lost, ey?

What I have come to learn so far in my struggle is that it is just that: a struggle. It's not easy, it will take a long time and it will be hard.

Surprisingly (or naively) I am still optimistic. I'm continuing with the @replies, emails and phone calls, and do believe that some day I will get my foot in the door and enjoy a successful career in the fashion industry, with a pug called Tubs, lots of handbags, an amazing flat and Robert Pattinson as a husband.

Okay, so maybe the last part is a bit too optimistic, but a girl can dream...