So the summer days have ducked and slipped past us. It is September, and for those graduated this year, it’s a moment of horrible clarity. While failing to have a plan or concrete employment during July and August seems like a usual and fluid state of affairs, facing down a long winter in the same position is a truly unnerving experience. This is the first September in several years to be absent from reading lists and timetabled commitments, and it has arrived. The time has come to reflect on how we have spent our first graduate months.

Between working strange and unusual hours at strange and unusual jobs, I am still job-hunting; my months since graduation cannot be said to be going swimmingly. Checking job websites daily does, however, provide some macabre entertainment. Jargon is quickly learnt. Ignore any advert that requires outgoing people or those with spirit. It is charity mugging. Money-motivated? Up for a grinding, commission-only sales job? And one quick question, when did ‘graduate job’ become synonymous with ‘unpaid’? Whilst all in favour of linguistic evolution in meaning, it is galling to click on ‘Graduate Jobs’ only to find reams of internships and work experience that claim to great opportunities, but on further inspection appear to be three months of unpaid admin, just within sniffing distance of a competitive industry.

Of course, there are internships that provide what they should, swapping the green enthusiasm of a raw graduate for an insight and experience within a company. However, there are many that do not. I have seen an advert for an internship in the film industry that actively specified, not only should applicants be willing to work long and hard in difficult conditions and have a specific political viewpoint, but also that they shouldn’t be applying for the internship in order to gain experience. Goodness knows what the company was expecting - individuals there for the pure love of photocopying and making tea? Tea and warm photocopies do both have a special place in my heart, but even I would like a little knowledge out of an internship.