Putting traditional stability aside to pursue my true career goals and passions with Collaborative Future's programme

In this blogpost, one of our newest members of the Creative Futures programme anonymously shares a bit about their experience of gaining employment as a graduate of 2019 and beginning their career in the pandemic.

Creative Futures cohort on the Introduction Week, September 2021

Graduation

My graduation day was unsettling; there was a nervous anticipation in the air. I had left my hometown of Nottingham to travel back to my big city life in Manchester, where I would finally conclude the past 3 years practicing and studying Fine Art. My time at Art School was complicated; peppered with moments of euphoric breakthroughs and alternatively, dense confusion. I'd had an interesting time there to say the least.

After my last day at university and the contract on my student house was up; I had not found anywhere to live, my friendship circle was dropping like flies and I had no job. I quickly found myself packing my belongings and I into my friends car to be shipped off back to Nottingham. I moved back to my Mum’s small suburban home, into my childhood bedroom, where I mostly spent time in the garden videocalling my friends and trying to process the recent endings and spliced connections. After 3 weeks of sleeping on a single mattress fold-up bed, I dragged myself and my suitcases back to Manchester to stay in my best friends spare room. That summer was defined by brightly coloured salads, coffee mornings and job applications.

Then came along graduation day.

My Mum was almost late because of a delayed train, so I was feeling rather anxious as I awkwardly stumbled up the stage to clasp sweaty palm to sweaty palm with the presiding officer.

That single handshake, the symbol of the archaically long, racist and classist roots of our education system and a reminder of my tentative positionality in this institution.

I'd also got a call that I'd been successfully hired as a Food and Beverage Assistant to work at a co-working space.

The 'Post - Graduate Crisis'

Fast forward a couple of weeks, the graduation high died down and I was just a regular person working at the restaurant/cafe/bar in a co-working space in the financial district of Manchester. Like many other art school students, I entered the post-graduate world of work as a Barista and Bartender. Initially I was excited by working there; learning new skills, socialising with new people and as a new company, there seemed to be the promise of working in different areas of the business.

As the months passed by, I discovered that I hated working in hospitality.

Everyday I felt a bit more of my soul leaving my body with pieces of it stuck to white businessmen’s credit cards and wallets.

I was so drained by working there that I wasn't inspired by my paid creative opportunities and I couldn't muster the energy to make any art work.

It was becoming clear very quickly, that none of my creative skills would be used in this job. At most I was allowed to have a go at writing out menus with chalk onto black-boards but it turned out that I was actually not very good at that. I eventually ended up leaving that job after 4 months and spent 5 weeks 'funemployed'. Whilst working at that job I had moved house, however I was living with debilitating allergies and we had a severe mouse problem. That 5 weeks of no income, allergies, illnesses, mice and poor mental health welcomed me into my next hospitality job where I stayed for 2 weeks before making a quick exit back to Nottingham before the year of 2020.

Over my 5 weeks of unemployment, I had started to apply for Universal Credit. I spent days trying to build up the courage to go to the job centre and when I finally made it there, they told me to apply online.

I started my application and then never finished. Something kept holding me back from applying; I felt defeated, like I'd failed and that I wasn't resilient enough.

Finding the golden needle

When I moved back to Nottingham for the last time, I finished my UC application and started to claim payments at the beginning of 2020 and into the pandemic like many other people. Being a part of the mass of people claiming financial support normalised this for me and largely removed the shame and stigma of claiming Universal Credit. Speaking to people that I know in the arts, taught me that a lot of them have had to claim benefits at some point in their lives. I think that makes a lot of sense- finding entry level jobs in the arts can be like finding a golden needle in a hay stack.

Despite this I've actually found my artistic career begin to bloom over the pandemic... I joined two arts collectives in the city, I got a poetry commission, I was a regular speaker on a podcast and I was invited to be an Associate Artist with my local art gallery. I've been able to work at some jobs intermittently too, like at my friends plant shop and at John Lewis. I even worked at a Castle for 3 months. Whilst in the midst my most recent job search, a colleague from my previous job recommended I apply for this internship at Collaborative Future.

I was worried that the deadline had passed but then I saw that they had given an extension. I really felt that this was such a blessing and a gift from the universe so I quickly hammered out my application. I applied on the website, it was a CV-less application with 3 questions which were, "What work would you love to do if you didn’t have to worry about earning money? Which aspect of the programme do you think you’d benefit from the most and why? What unique perspectives or experiences do you have which draw you to this opportunity?"

I felt like I was rushing to answer these questions and in a way I struggled to answer them. I was between a rock and a hard place - having quit my last job, being emotionally drained and then trying to quickly fill in this online application form which was quite unconventional. I felt like my answers didn't fully represent me how I would've wanted to be seen, but maybe they were more honest because they were written from the place that I was in at that moment. At that time it was hard to define my motivations which is funny because I'd been thinking about them for a year and a half over the pandemic.

For the interview I was requested to do the High5 strengths test and record my strengths so they could be discussed, I was asked to complete and present a task and informed that they would ask me questions about my application. I was feeling a bit daunted by the Zoom interview when I saw how much there was to prepare but I saw that I could bring notes, so this made me feel a lot better especially as someone can be anxious about public speaking. The interview was relaxed and I felt eased by Sonia and Prisca who were my interviewers and are mentors on the programme. They contacted me later that day and I got the job!

I was attracted to the CF programme because I had the opportunity to be paid to make my own art, gain mentoring support, receive ongoing training and be paid the London Living Wage. Plus, I could work remotely and create my own schedules. I did of course consider other opportunities. Initially my sights were set on another job because it was more 'traditionally stable' i.e. working for one company, no freelance work, no juggling projects for different companies, clear outcome of career progression... I ended up taking this job because Collaborative Future got back to me very quickly which I liked as I wanted to secure some work ASAP.

Once I accepted, I began to feel like this job may better align with my true goals (of working as an artist, a facilitator and dabbling in holistic-wellbeing practices) and support my development more than the 'traditional' job route.

Programmes like CF are so valuable for young people in the arts, especially in smaller cities where there are limited entry level job opportunities. Often times, the only job options are to work at the big institutions that make you feel like you are a cog in a machine (and where you feel you can't leave because there is no where else to go...) Companies don't want to take risks on unexperienced young people today, so opportunities like this internship with Collaborative Future are a game changer for someone who is keen to gain experience and confidence in their career.

Inspired by Anon’s story?

You can support our work by joining our next work placement programme, purely focussed on young creative talent in Nottingham. Find out more by emailing hello@collaborativefuture.co.uk or by booking in for a chat here. Or, you can always buy our team a ko-fi!