A Day in the Life | Unemployment

     My previous ‘day in the life’ posts all centred around my various jobs at the time – find them here – and I wrote them thinking to give an insight for other prospective ESL teachers. However, my life these days largely consists of job hunting – filling in applications, sending emails and making calls, and going to interviews and trials. None of it has led to an actual job yet though, obviously, so it’s getting very boring and repetitive (yes, I’ve been to Berlin, but otherwise I can’t be spending too much money on fun stuff until I have an income again!). So this day in the life is my average day at home (not applicable for day trips to Edinburgh for interviews) while living with my parents. Disclaimer: this is meant to be a somewhat humorous post, so times are only for indication, and details should not be taken too seriously! I’ve also only been job hunting for a month or so, and living with my parents, so I know I’m still in a fairy fortunate situation – I’m more fed up and bored than stressed or panicked! And I’m sure there’s plenty of other people in this same situation (with degrees and transferable skills, but not enough relevant experience) who can relate!

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9am – Be woken up by a phone call, from a job I don’t remember applying for, or from someone who found my CV online, offering me a job I don’t want. Roll over and go back to sleep.

10.30am – Roll out of bed. Why get up early when I have nowhere to be? Eat breakfast in bed, drink coffee, watch TV. Maybe do some yoga, as it’s the only activity I’ll get all day.

12.00pm – Lunch time. Relish in the fact that I haven’t had to cook in months, since I’m living with mum & dad again. Try to avoid arguing with my brother.

1.00pm – Play the piano. Get frustrated at sticking keys and how out of practice I am and how cold that room is. Get interrupted by phone notifications, with half a dozen new rejection emails.

2.00pm – Blog stuff. Spend too long trying different outfit combinations. Get frustrated editing photos because of dodgy lighting or because it’s just plain boring. Try to think of new post ideas, when I’ve got nothing new in life to write about. Attempt to write a post but get distracted by other stuff online.

3.30pm – Drink more coffee. Run out of ways to procrastinate and start job hunting again. Call back companies that never followed up after interviews. Trawl through page after page on different job boards. Try to personalise cover letters to jobs, but end up repeating the same stuff in all of them anyway. Copy and paste CV contents into dozens of online application forms. Receive dozens of ‘confirmation of application emails’. Never hear from most of those companies again.

4.30pm – Begin to question if I’ll ever find a job. Question why I seem to be so unemployable. Question what my future will look like. Question if I’ll ever be a proper adult. Panic.

5.00pm – Full blown, existential, quarter-life crisis. Take a nap.

6.00pm – Tea time. Update my parents on the job hunt and negotiate lifts to interviews as required. Argue with my brother.

7.00pm – Remember I never finished that blog post. Finish, publish & promote it, even though it’s not the best time of day for promoting.

8.00pm – Half heartedly scroll through more job listings. Apply for anything that’s a one-click CV send, because I don’t want to do more forms and cover letters.

8.30pm – Give up, eat junk, and watch TV. Feel vaguely guilty for not having achieved more today.

2.00am – Go to sleep. Because I don’t need to be anywhere in the morning!