Day Five: So Far, Not So Good

So for those that don't know by now what this week of posting has been all about, it's zero week: the week where I hope to find out about the three big jobs/opportunities I've applied for. I mean I had no real idea that this week would be the week, but it was a best guess.

That guess is turning out to be, well, for want of a better word, wrong.

Let's have a brief recap:
Day one saw me employed in a little physical labour as I packed up my friends' flat. When I say employed, I mean voluntarily, of course...
On day two I hit the bottom of the pit of despair as I came to terms with the fact I might never hear back from these people.
Day three provided light entertainment when the BBC thought they would publish poor sensationalist fiction instead of journalism (if you read just one more of my posts, I would go for that one).
Day four saw me leap out of the pit of despair and I decided to branch out and apply for a different brand of jobs - a job isn't for life (though some are just for Christmas).

And here we are at the end of the week - the week I had thought would bear some fruit in my 6-month-and-counting job search. So far, not so good.

I may have thrown in the towel a little and started looking for jobs that might not be my first choice, but I'm still holding out the hope that I can get a breakthrough. This may come on Monday when I have my meeting (see day three), it may not come for months.

What really annoys me is that I know how good I am and, though I hate to quote the article about my hairy friend again (at the point I'd just like to say he is not my friend, I'm merely being ironic) the quality of journalism in that article is, quite frankly, poor. I don't care that he has his window open in his flat - if he has his window open in the middle of a cold snap in February, he can clearly afford high heating bills and his economic situation isn't as bleak as we're made to believe. This is mindless drivel meant to stir emotions for a man that, if he shaved his large beard off, would stand a much better chance at getting a job. Ms BBC Journalist: please don't treat me like an idiot, because though I am unemployed, stupid, I am most definitely not.

But back to my hairy friend for a moment: he's having sleepless nights and he doesn't smile very often - he's been out of work two years. If you're looking for someone who should be downbeat with their confidence dashed against some metaphorical rocks, may I direct you to the Manchester man who has been turned down from 1,500 jobs. Ouch. Our hairy friend has some poor A levels, according to the article; this guy is qualified in IT.

It seems that unemployment doesn't discriminate on qualifications. I have a good degree from a good university, and I'm struggling as much as the IT man and my hairy friend. The economy is so sluggish that pretty well all aspects of the working world have been touched and those with little or no experience (primarily the young) are suffering the most.

Today is my day five - five out of five for this week, and I still haven't heard from the big three. The companies I've applied for jobs for always send an email with a yay or nay, so I know that I'm still waiting, it's not as if they won't ever get back to me. It appears that I will be stuck in this state of suspended animation for a little longer.

So what's my solution? Well I have no choice but to target next week as being 'the big one' and come Monday, zero week (now zero fortnight) will resume...