I'm slightly late to the party regarding New Year's resolutions but I thought it was time I sat down and truly figured out what I want to achieve this year as an excited, young and slightly scared creative. I’ve outlined 3 things that I want to accomplish in 2023.
1. Enter the Creative Industry and secure a job
I *hopefully* graduate in July 2023 and I’m really excited to break into the industry fresh out of university with a year's work experience. The creative sector in Northern Ireland is so broad and ever expanding and accounts for over 29,000 jobs in NI which is definitely a nice figure to think of when job searching! A few of my favourite places to search for jobs/internships include:
- LinkedIn
- Handshake
- NIJobs
- Indeed
2. Say ‘F YOU’ to imposter syndrome
This one might be easier said than done but I’m going to challenge myself to try and accept that the work I create and the things I do are actually good and that studying Interactive Media for nearly 4 years has very much made an impact on the quality of my work!
Like most people, I'm my own worst critic and when sending work over, I usually lead with ‘I hope this is ok and if it's not good, let me know & I’ll change it.’ This year, I am not putting my work down before people even have the chance to form their own opinions on it! It’s so daunting to put yourself and your work out there but 2023 for me is all about change & challenging myself.
3. Keep learning
During the first two years of studying Interactive Media at University, I remember looking at my time in education as halfway finished and getting one step closer to having a job. As much as this is true, I thought once I finished uni that my learning would be over and that I would be equipped with all the knowledge I could possibly need for the big bad world of work.
Throughout my placement year and now coming up to the last few weeks of final year, I can safely say that 2nd year me was very wrong – the learning never stops!
I've come to realise that the industry is so broad and wide that I’m going to have to continually learn and expand my skills. I hope throughout 2023 that I come away with more than just my degree - I hope to come away with skills I've learnt through free courses, paid courses, tutorials and learning from others!