Olympic Dreams

In a week when the nation has been gripped by the euphoria of the Olympic Games, I have come to an unfortunate realisation; I am unlikely to ever fulfil my childhood dreams of becoming an elite athlete.

After trying my hand at a number of sports as a youth, I soon found that I was distinctly average at pretty much all of them. At the humble age of 23, in sporting terms, I am past it. Take the example of Michael Phelps: the man has won 19 Olympic gold medals, amassed a small fortune in career earnings and is about to retire at the age of 27. I've got 4 years on Phelps, so I either need to get training for Rio 2016 or make my living like a mere mortal.

This highly topical preamble brings me round to the main point of this post: the trade off between earning a decent living and pursuing your career goals. I have always been envious of professional sportsmen; to make a career from something you love doing, something that may well have started off as a hobby or pastime, must be immensely satisfying. Unfortunately, for the majority of individuals, there must be at least a degree of sacrifice. To earn in a year even a fraction of what a footballer may earn in a week, graduates may find their way into careers they may not have originally foreseen. This is not to say that people cannot grow to love and enjoy their jobs, but I find it difficult to believe that many young children lie awake at night dreaming of becoming a management consultant or chartered accountant.

Everyone has different motivations. For some, a generous salary and the accoutrements of wealth are the only motivation. For others, job satisfaction and a healthy work/life balance are of more concern. As for myself, I want the nice house and the foreign holidays but not at the sacrifice of everything else. There are plenty of supposed 'graduate jobs' out there. As I've discussed before, jobs boards are full of advertisements from recruitment consultants offering immediate starts, £20k salaries plus £30k+ OTE; what is more, they require no previous experience and aren't specific about the subject of your degree. If you can handle the intensely competitive and commission based nature of the job then it certainly seems tempting.

I've been seriously searching for approaching 8 months and it's true to say I've been fussy. I've so far avoided the scatter-bomb technique of sending out CVs speculatively to as many employers as possible. Instead, I have focused on jobs that engage with my interests. As frustrating as it is to be earning £6.13 per hour (a generous 5p above minimum wage), I'd rather not sell my soul simply for the sake of a graduate job I have no interest in. To spend 40 hours a week working in a role that you dislike must be utterly soul destroying. I need to put my efforts into something I care about, something that engages me. If it pays well that will be a bonus.

For now, I shall continue as I have been. I might also try a few more sports, there's time yet...