How To Maintain Your Post-Uni Creativity

Transitioning from a practical university degree to the dreaded job hunt can be soul crushing to say the least. Nobody is going to judge you if your enthusiasm plummets back to Earth with your mortarboard. Still, it’s important to remember to keep your head above water in this critical period.

Keep the bills paid

The hardest part is out of the way and you made it through uni’s end in one piece. But not everybody stumbles out of their graduation ceremony and straight into their dream job. In fact, for a lot of students, the next step from graduation is into a zero hours contract in the service industry, much to the shock and despair of their well-wishing parents.

Don’t knock menial labour ’til you’ve tried it. You have the rest of your life to find your dream career. If paying your rent with whatever work you can find feels like progress, stick at it.

Keep your creative juices flowing

Above all else, don’t leave your creativity behind. University might have drained you of your spirit, but it’s important to remember why you went in the first place. Because you love what you do!

It’s easy to feel defeated by the whole process when things don’t immediately fall into place. But there are small steps you can keep on top of to ensure that they eventually will. Get creative – practically, financially, artistically – and you’ll feel a lot better for it.

Why not turn to sites like Instagram, Tumblr, and Blogspot in your spare time? Keep practicing your art, building a portfolio as you go along and potentially even having your work discovered by an employer.

Put yourself out there

Maybe you finished your music production course and felt a little hard done by when your final piece didn’t make the top 40. Websites like soundcloud and bandcamp can be great places to showcase your work while building a fan base. They also offer feedback from listeners and other musicians, and maybe even donations from generous supporters.

Ask your university for help

University careers services are part of what you pay for with your degree. Make use of them.

Keep your friends close

On most creative and practical degree courses, you can find a student Facebook page. Here, like-minded graduates can stick together and help each other through this transitional period. Use this space to share your work with others, stay in touch with course mates, and keep your eyes open for any real work opportunities.

All in all, keep on doing what you love even when it feels like you left some of that love at university. You likely won’t feel this way forever and the worst use for your degree is settling for something that doesn’t make you happy.

Inspiring Interns is a graduate recruitment agency which specialises in sourcing candidates for marketing internship roles and giving out graduate careers advice. To browse graduate jobs and graduate jobs Manchester, visit their website.