A Year out from my master's degree
And I'm still unemployed. It's not for lack of trying. At least, not completely. I've gotten a few interviews, and I'm happy I got that far.
I have two main obstacles--motivation and impostor syndrome--and they feed into each other. It is hard to be motivated when you feel like you don't know enough or work hard enough, and it is hard to feel like you know enough or work hard enough when you are not motivated to improve your skills or reach out to employers.
I am starting to worry that it has been too long since I have been in that world and I've forgotten everything I learned. I know that isn't completely true, but I genuinely don't have a desire to review or improve my skills on my own time. It's my time. I wish that was an acceptable excuse.
I do consider myself a good worker. Once I set my mind on a task, it will get done. The problem is that I am only a good worker when I know it is time to work, and I refuse to do that on my own time unless I find it fun. For example, I've learned a ton of new skills related to spreadsheet automation in the past few months because I've made spreadsheets to track games, and I find the problem-solving of it all to be an interesting game in itself. I doubt I can show these spreadsheets to potential employers, though, and it's not like I can translate what I've done into a line on a cover letter or resume.
On a brighter note, I have picked up volunteering and I've already met a lot of cool people through that before even doing an official shift. I also started making a real effort to eat better and exercise regularly, which has improved my mood and energy quite a bit. Now that I'm starting to figure out what I like, I actually find myself wanting to talk to people more and wanting to exercise and cook, which is wonderful. I may do some more posts about it later.
I don't know if there's any career advice that I haven't already heard, but if you feel inspired to give some, I won't turn it away (especially if you work in libraries/archives/museums and/or you're autistic). Thanks for reading.