Junior's job search: My five a day

Junior Ayanbeku took part in the 2009 Brunswick Internship Programme, the unique training initiative run by Brunswick, Unicorn Jobs and our sister company Taylor Bennett to address diversity issues in the PR and corporate communications industry. He is now looking for his first full time PR role and is blogging about his job search experiences for esPResso.

This is blog one, for more of Junior’s blogs click here. If you know of any job opportunities he should consider email junior@unicornjobs.com

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Junior Ayanbeku, and I am a Journalism graduate from the University Of East London and a former Brunswick Intern.

Unfortunately, unlike some of my colleagues on the prestigious Brunswick Internship Programme, I didn’t secure a PR job straight after the internship. However, seven months on, I am still convinced that PR is for me, and earlier this month I decided to step up my efforts to find that entry level job.

I want to share what I hope will be an inspirational journey, for myself and for the thousands of other graduates who are also embarking on the big challenge of finding that first full time job in the industry of their choice.

My thoughts on leaving university, in the summer of 2009, were probably the same as most of my contemporaries. We’d been watching the recession unfold while doing our studies. It was like slowing being tipped into a furnace, and I think we were all just praying that the economy would pick up by the time graduation came round, so you could do your family proud.

But it didn’t really happen like that. And while things may be picking up now, we have a big backdated ‘catalogue’ of recent graduates all waiting in line to be employed. I am one of them.

Seven months is a long time to be unemployed, especially after completing such a great internship, and I admit at times I felt like a complete failure. But the times for asking questions like “why me”? are in the past, now I am asking “why not me”?.

I met with Sarah Stimson, from Unicorn Jobs, in mid-July after watching presentations given by the latest batch of Brunswick Interns. It’s always nice knowing I can still contact the people I met on the internship for help, and Sarah did just that. She helped me put together a job search plan, and suggested I blog about my experiences for esPResso, which I gladly agreed to do.

After providing me with some general tips about job applications, Sarah helped me compile a list of the top 150 PR agencies I could apply to, and we agreed I would apply to five agencies every day. And that’s what I have been doing.

The first week hasn’t been a great success if I am being honest, with many HR staff being ‘out of office’ due to holidays or just not replying at all. In all I had only seven replies from my week of applications. However, one recruiter was kind enough to give me call after I accidentally sent the wrong document (silly mistake – I could have kicked myself!). She assured me it happened to the best of us, and I really appreciated that.

I also received a reply from a notable PR agency telling me that it had just accepted a batch of interns and had no internship places available outside its scheme. The weird thing about this reply was that I enquired about its internship in February! Five months for a reply!

But these things are unlikely to happen overnight! It’s a new week and so my five a day applications will resume. I will keep you updated!