I remember recently telling a friend of mine who had asked how my job searching was going that I’ll happily work my fingers to the bone if it means I never have to write another essay again. Every now and again I am prone to exaggeration, and making the odd mountain out of a molehill, but on that occasion every word was the truth. For myself, and many others, essays were an ever-present school struggle that ultimately helped to tarnish my positivity towards studying. Once you’d completed the draft, which was usually 2,000 words or more in length, seemingly endless revisions would lie ahead, and as I got further into sixth form these would usually involve scouring the web for incredibly tedious “critical material” in the desperate hope of fulfilling the marking criteria. I think I’ve made my disapproval clear enough already!

Indeed, life is that little bit more rosy now that the pressures associated with demands like those are no longer present. I’m very thankful for this and any apprehension that follows is microscopic compared to it. Therefore, my upcoming work experience placement at the local job centre – starting on Tuesday – is something I am looking to seize fully by the horns. The tasks waiting for me look to be perfectly suited to my skill set, heightening my optimism towards a challenge I know I can accept with confidence. That’s certainly an effect that writing essays never had on me. Everything about my position will be practical for me, from the desks I work at to the toilet I do my business in. Having been to the job centre yesterday in order to sort out all of the formalities, I now feel totally familiar to use the resources that are to hand in the best way possible during at least the next four weeks. Virtually nothing is daunting me about this – not even the return to an early start. Essays could be intimidating no matter when you started them!

With this mindset, I’m feeling very positive about life in general, and I at least partially have a distinct lack of essays to thank for that. I’ll go in to start on Tuesday with my head held high, being very grateful that I’ve finally found the work I’ve spent so long looking for since October – and in the very place that’s been helping me do that. What’s more remarkable is that the whole opportunity only came by chance. Had I left the job centre dejectedly after that Employment Event, at which I had not been able to make any other breakthrough, I might never have found myself at this point – one that will hopefully help me gain the experience that so many employers look for when recruiting. And there won’t be a single essay in sight…

Mason