Finding courage and confidence after graduating
Written by Jenny Taylor & Illustrated by Aelfleda Clackson
Published 6th August 2021
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Confidence and finding courage as a graduate can seem like a daunting skill and mindset to practice or even master. Especially when you're unemployed, the uncertainty is threatening, particularly in the middle of a pandemic.
But searching for a job when you've just graduated, you will often find yourself hopeless, criticised, or under pressure - all the while you receive little to no reply or feedback for your job applications, your CV or your portfolio. It's no wonder that it can impact your confidence and deter hope and courage.
When you find yourself without confidence, you might find yourself stuck, in despair for inspiration, trying to reach out of impossibilities, instead of finding yourself with a shed load of creativity and ideas.
Over the years, I have found my confidence comes with a shred of intuition, and the more knowledge I have taken in, the more confident I have been in making decisions.
“The more knowledge I have taken in, the more confident I have been in making decisions.”
Since graduating in 2019, there have been ups and downs. I was unemployed for a year until getting a job, and I often felt like giving up and setting a new plan of action by giving up on my chosen career in graphic design. Perhaps that was more the imposter syndrome holding me back, but finding confidence in myself had helped me get over it.
Despite the situation I was in, there were steps I took to ensure I kept hope. It taught me how to make uncertainty exciting, showing you can turn no action plan into a plan for certainty, optimism and hope.
Connect, Connect, Connect
After my years at uni, a great way to start building confidence after graduating was connecting with creatives online. Towards the beginning of the pandemic and throughout, it was incredible to see people being proactive - sharing their work, setting up video chats and sharing advice to young creatives. It showed how valuable networking was, and taking part in this boosted my confidence.
Some great reasons to approach a creative of any level or profession could be:
Offering your services - ask to do work for/with them
Asking for feedback (CV, website, portfolio, cover letter, specific piece of work the recipient might specialise in)
Work experience (with a company or a freelancer)
Advice or asking a question
Meet for a coffee for general chit chat
Mentorship
Showing appreciation for their work
@ Aelfleda Clackson
It can be nerve-wracking asking for feedback on your portfolio from a stranger, and you might be dreading what they'll say. But receiving feedback is the first step to helping you find your strengths, and who knows, connecting with someone might get you some work through recommendation, or better yet, they could take you under their wing as your mentor.
Britney Packnett (How to build your confidence - and spark it in others, 2019) discusses the impact of finding support from others to boost your confidence: “Permission births confidence, community nurtures it, and curiosity affirms it.”
Surrounding yourself with the right people is an essential part of confidence. However, it is equally as important to fill those around you with confidence. I have personally found confidence when I have made others feel confident, even in giving small gestures of kindness and compassion.
Practice makes perfect
Approaching other creatives you hadn't previously known might be a first time for you, and that's totally okay. While you might find confidence in receiving feedback, it will be handy to get a second opinion in practising receiving criticism.
In contrast to this, you may find yourself on the other end, giving constructive criticism. Despite the discomfort people may have in judging other people's work, honesty is a step towards embracing vulnerability and finding confidence in speaking up and asking questions.
Aside from feedback, mastering your practice or skill can change the way you solve problems. Practising your skill, or learning a new one, can encourage you to explore new skills with persistence and courage. It will enable you to work more efficiently and confidently, as well as adding the cherry on top of that CV or portfolio.
Play to your strengths
After leaving university, I found myself creatively burnt out. I had no idea what personal projects to do in the meantime or how I could write about myself for a job application. It was a challenge until I discovered how beneficial it was to write a list of my strengths before starting writing about myself at all. Adding to my CV, I could also explore possibilities for personal projects - to improve on weaknesses and build on strengths.
Inspired by other creatives that had shared their work online, the first step to doing this was making sure I had projects I wanted to share. I was ashamed of much of the work I had done in university. My way of moving past this was starting brand new projects. A new project is an exciting prospect. You can learn new skills, challenge yourself, discover more about the way you work and how long tasks take you, and they prove you did something while out of a job.
Mindset and wellbeing
Along the way to finding confidence, I found it was infinite. No matter how much you did or what you did, it became clear it was just as much about mindset and wellbeing than it was about what you could do to build your confidence. From personal experience, I have found positive self-talk and self-confidence changes the way people see you. But having confidence was also about finding a balance between productivity and downtime in your life. Despite popular belief, the 'grind' doesn't make you more productive or successful.
“Despite popular belief, the ‘grind’ doesn’t make you more productive or successful. ”
@ Aelfleda Clackson
In a TED talk by Shawn Achor (The Happy Secret to Better Work, 2011), your mind at positive is 31% more productive and creative. Searching for a job can make it challenging to maintain a positive mindset with rejection and the feeling of no hope.
In Achor's talk, he listed five things you can do to create (and maintain) a positive mindset:
List three new things you're grateful for over 21 days, which rewires a new pattern for the brain, scanning the world, not for the negatives, but the positives.
Journaling about one positive experience you've had in the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive the experience.
Exercise teaches your brain that your behaviour matters.
Meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once - instead, meditation forces you to focus on the task at hand.
Random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness - writing one positive message to somebody within your support network.
Confidence starts with humility
Having graduated, I expect you're hoping to knock the ball out of the park with your epic work and the confidence you bring to the table. However, keep in mind where you stand as a brand new graduate. If you've already worked in an agency, you will know what it's like to work in the same room with people that have plenty more years of experience than you. And that's not to discourage anybody. You're just about to start a career, and you have plenty of time to learn the trick of the trade of the mid-weights and seniors that surround you.
Making mistakes, asking questions, speaking up and accepting criticism is all part of learning and having a creative career. There's no shame in being vulnerable and having humility. More often than not, people that support you will be eager to answer your questions than see you struggling quietly in a corner.
“Making mistakes, asking questions, speaking up and accepting criticism is all part of learning and having a creative career.”
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Space for confidence to live and thrive
It can be easy to let rejection get you down, and in my experience, if you believe in yourself, people will believe in you. And where people don't see potential in you, someone else will. I leave you with a video Anthony Hopkins released last year to graduates of 2020 for those searching for hope.
Three more sources of information on confidence and courage:
A Bit of Optimism - a podcast by Simon Sinek: Confidence with Sarah Blakely
TED Talk - The Skill of Self-Confidence by Dr. Ivan Joseph
TED Talk - Teach girls bravery, not perfection by Reshma Saujani
“In my experience, if you believe in yourself, people will believe in you”
About the author
I’m Jenny - a graphic designer from South East Wales. In my spare time, you can find me listening to a podcast, geeking out over TED talks, or reading a book. I am interested in the relationship between leadership and mental health in the creative industry, seeing how barriers in communication can fix the multitude of issues creative workers have to face. I have a passion for adventure, film music, sharing knowledge, and learning new things.
