Working for Free.

This coming week is going to be my third week of work experience at the Retirement Village Association (RVA) and I am in love with the place. Because I have so much free time, I have offered to do an extra day a week there. In my eyes work experience is a really good way to fill my time and get experience for my resume. I study public relations and marketing, so if you don't have experience when you leave uni, your not going to get a job. Mainly because of my working commitments up until now I haven't had the ability to do any work experience until now, but thats something I am changing. As well as working for RVA, I am also starting to do some marketing work for Mullaloo Surf Club, so that's another thing to add to the resume.

Kat (my boss at RVA) and I often discuss getting jobs after uni. She graduated in 2005 so she is still considered relatively 'new' to the industry but has done so amazingly for herself. It's so daunting to be graduating school this year, because I am so eager to get working. Obviously, I usually undersell myself and my experience and thats something which Kat is helping me change. I have spent the past 3 years since leaving high school studying and working in office environments, so as she tells me...though I don't have all the marketing and PR experience yet, my experience in customer service and the business world is a load more than most graduates. She seems to have a lot of faith in me, even suggesting to apply for a marketing managing position which might be coming up within the year (90k a year, I would DIE) and reassuring me this is something I can achieve. Not to mention, if all works out for the best I may be getting a job with her at RVA permanently (which is basically my dream at the moment). These possibilities and the assurance I am getting during my work experience is actually making working for free worth while. In my industry, it's not what you know...it's who you know and it's your connections and networking group which will get you places.

It's been tough 'living in limbo' as I call it. I don't want to apply for jobs in case it works out at RVA, but I am struggling not working both financially and mentally. I am still a believer that everything happens for a reason, so for the foreseeable future that's what I am relying on. I guess that's the point of uni, you struggle and you work without pay and you kill yourself studying and then at the end of it, if you do it right...you leave your course and find an amazingly well paid and fulfilling job. All I know is right now, I am happy to get the opportunity to gain experience in two completely different fields of marketing and PR.