Month: November 2019

Networking is just another word for decorated

Mia2 Comments
colourful game pieces
Made in Canva

On Wednesday I went to a job fair. I went to listen to a few speeches and nothing else. One was about why there aren’t many females in ‘Information technology’ and the other was about knowing the right people. The rest of the speeches isn’t relevant to this post. What they had in common was networking. In my opinion, networking is just another word for decorated. You have to be “colourful” and be ready to come out of your shell. In other words, be something you’re not. They say you should be yourself but not exactly yourself. This is very difficult for a shy or introverted person. Especially when you should promote yourself about the things you’re good at. Especially females have this problem. We are too modest about our skills. Not everyone can do everything. Life is a learning process and things you can’t do, you can learn.

I don’t like networking and I wish there was a way to avoid human contact altogether when it comes to that. I also don’t like places with a lot of people gathering around in small spaces. I don’t like pretending I’m outgoing when I’m not. I didn’t talk to anyone at the job fair. Except when I met one of the speakers who’s a Finnish celebrity who works on TV. I wasn’t nervous at all when I met him. I wish I could walk to another stranger to introduce myself that easily. When I went to a job interview on Tuesday I wasn’t nervous either. But I never know what to say so I give short answers. Which is probably one of the reasons I don’t get anything. I also don’t know what to say what skills I have. At least not what could be useful in the job market. I can do a lot of different things but I’m not good at either of them. I’m just average.

In one of the speeches, it was said the worse thing that can happen is a no. But I’m not afraid of that because I’m used to it. The worse thing is when you think you hear a yes but then they change their minds. Or you have so much hope but then it’s smashed to pieces one way or another. Then you think why bother when you get nothing in return. That’s what networking is, disappointments and decorated shallowness. The only person who can succeed is someone who knows how to represent themselves. For other’s, it’s much harder. It’s quite sad how job search is more of a circus these days. It’s not only what you can do, but it’s also about what you could do for them. It’s not real, it’s a decoration and people don’t want to or can’t do anything to change that.

Finding your own sound is not easy

Mia5 Comments
sheet music as birds
Made in Canva

Finding your style. Finding your niche. Finding your voice. There are different ways to say it. You can also say, finding your sound and it doesn’t need to mean music or any other sound thing. Finding something I want to do that I wouldn’t get bored of has been the hardest thing. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve studied more than work. Sometimes I wonder if I chose the wrong sound.

In blogging, finding the right niche hasn’t been the easiest. I know I wanted to be different and write about a lot of things but a lot of people don’t want to read about everything. I wouldn’t either because there are only 24 hours a day and I need to sleep. Recently my posts haven’t got that many likes which make me wonder are my blog posts uninteresting. I mean, I do have 671 followers and only a small part likes the posts. Maybe I’m just nitpicking. My kind of blog wouldn’t get 50+ and I’m not expecting that either. I’m really glad I get likes for my older posts from time to time. Finding your sound in blogging doesn’t come easy. You have to experiment and then find the sound later. That’s just a hint for new bloggers out there. Unless you’ve already found yours.

When I studied graphic design in Helsinki Design School, our illustrator teacher said something like. It’s not about being a person who thinks they can’t draw, it’s about what style you have. I don’t remember if it was exactly like that though. So my style must be drawing awful and ugly things. Yeah, that will sell. Just being sarcastic there. Drawing just isn’t my thing and why should I try to get better at it. There are a lot of other real artists out there. I don’t know what my sound in graphic design I have. There seem to be so many others doing the same thing so how can I compete with those. Maybe when boring and nothing special gets popular. The education was supposed to motivate me but it was the other way around. The teachers were just too nice to tell me I didn’t have what it takes. Maybe it’s my imagination. All I feel is a failure when it comes to design in general. But don’t take it as a white flag for surrender. What do teachers know anyway? Pro or not. They just teach you the basics and the rest you have to find out yourself.

I’ve found the sound I want to dance to and that’s something creative. I never wanted to do anything “normal” I could do something like that for a while but I wouldn’t want to do it all the time. I don’t want to do just one creative thing but several things. Finding your own sound doesn’t happen overnight. It takes some time to find it but I’m sure I will.