Hi everyone,

Great to see all your stories! Glad everyone is still having a blast.

I thought I should share the past few week's adventures and developments, and what I have learned from them....

We as aspiring graduates are continually told, 'just keep knocking on doors... one day you'll knock on the right one', that's the way to get a job son-shine. 

Agreed, yes it is.  But how does one 'knock on doors' when these doors, per-se, don't exist? Offices of our dream companies have burly security men acting as gatekeepers, telephones, e-mails and snail mail are answered by PA's and receptionists, and sometimes the office address itself is no more than a PO Box? Is it any wonder that sometimes/often this advice falls on deaf ears?

At the 2009 Undergraduate Internship evening a couple of weeks ago, a great speech came from the R&D director of Glaxo-Smithkline, whose name escapes me at this present moment (should have written it down).  He said, "Grab any opportunity you get", which is a far more evocative way of saying "Just keep knocking on doors", in as many words. It's something I'm far more inclined to believe gets you results, gets you places and builds your momentum, and it is momentum I believe, rather than knocks, that open doors. Think of it as more of a ram-raid than a newspaper delivery.

I have found that the more momentum I build from harvesting meaningful relationships with people rather than delivering them the morning papers (my C.V and cover letter), the easier it becomes for things to happen for me, and so the more door stops I need to pack to prop all those doors of opportunity ajar.  Of course, my pockets can only fit so many door stops, and so some juggling must occur in order to keep the better prospects open whilst letting other doors of opportunity close up.  Furthermore, we all must be aware of the dreaded Trap Door, the one that should you open too far, swallows you up for you never to return to the same place you stood before.

Allow me to demonstrate before this all gets a bit confusing!

It's been 2 weeks since I won the Marketing Society award, and whilst I still have no degree results yet (everyone says these don't matter anymore anyway), I have had interest from some very exciting places as a result of people I met on the evening (not naming any names as of yet, sorry!).  One of these involves my being 'hustled' by one senior member of staff to the company board after a week of to-ing and fro-ing of e-mails to see if I was into it (opportunity 1).  Another involves a funded PHD (opportunity 2).  These 2 doors have opened through my current momentum, as far as I can see.  Being quite dynamic as it is, I already have other doors propped open but none as significant as these, and so some juggling of door stops must occur.  What do I want to pursue, and what do I want to close off?  Each represents an entry into an entirely new environment where opportunities will differ greatly form the ones I am used to at the moment. 

The decision was difficult, but one that I came to surprisingly easily when I stopped thinking hard about it and let my heart decide. I decided to decline the PHD and wish to pursue the other opportunity, the PHD representing more of a trap since in accepting it, I feel I would let far too many good contacts go cold.  This is a decision I was told I would 'regret in 6-months' by the person who made the offer, which is a comment I know will encourage me to prove that individual wrong (that's just the kind of person I am). And of course, I can't actually prove the decision I made is in fact the right one, but by closing the one door I felt wasn't right, all the others in fact remain open, and so I feel I made the right choice. 

Gordon Brown, marketing director of Tennent's told me in a speech last year, when you can't make a decision, always rely on your gut feeling. He said you would know when was right to do this when the time presents itself. I think it just did.

Slainte!