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Every since, I was a child it was my dream to go to university and get a degree in journalism. And pursue a career as a war reporter. Part of that dream has become reality on 10 December 2007, as I successfully passed my exams with reasonably good grades. Although I have to be honest, it was difficult and at some point I was forced to quit, but I am not quitter so I kept trying through very tough times.

During the graduation ceremony, I felt extremely happy and excited because I have achieved my goal. Life has several phases, a few days after the graduation ceremony, my next step was to get a job as journalist/researcher or at least in the media industry, which is the hardest part of life.

After sending hundreds of CVs and filling several applications respectively, I got some interviews where I had not been successful to secure the job. But I was optimistic as I had just graduated. I got offers from jobs in banking sector and recruitment sector, which I turned them down (not a very smart move, but it happens to us from time to time).

I didn’t know, the UK economy would be in a recession just after a few months of my graduation, and I sincerely believed that I could get a full time job as a journalist in local newspapers, but I was wrong.

Despite the fact that I have a degree in journalism and my whole life is devoted to this particular field, and I am prepared to go as far as any war zones in any part of the world and report from the front line, even though if I know that my life is in danger, yet I will go for it.

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Graduation Photos with classmates

I am so passionate about journalism that if I search the Oxford Dictionary to find a suitable word that would describe my passion for it, I am sure I will not be able to find the correct word. I am not the only person who is facing the unexpected obstacle of life, like me there are thousands of graduate students who are in the similar situation. For example, in my journalism class, there were about 20 students who were planning to become journalists.

Out of twenty students only two of them including me have continued to work in journalism sector, the rest have given up after a year of job search. The last time I spoke with my classmates a couple of months ago, they told that they were still working in the same shops or for the same company as they used when they were students.

Credit Crunch has made every thing even worse, most of the people who worked for one company for twenty or thirty years have became the victim of Credit Crunch, losing their long term jobs and houses and business. It is a bleak year for people around the globe. For the first time in a decade, UK employment rose to almost 2 million in the British history since the Labour party came into power 1997. And the worst is not over yet according to governor bank of England Marvyn King.

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When I was a student at university, I have had done plenty of work experience not only for local newspapers and radios but also for national newspapers including The Independent, which is among one of the best  British newspapers. Yet despite all the work experience and three years of completing a degree, I haven’t managed to get a full time job as a journalist. However I am working as a freelance journalist for several websites, which I am thankful to that.