I graduated in what was possibly the worst year you can imagine. The latter half of my third year was spent in the confines of a very small two-room flat. Needless to say, it was the most depressing end to a three-year journey ever. To make matters worse, I had graduated and there were no jobs for recent graduates. The pandemic had grabbed a hold of the world’s brakes and wasn’t letting go.
To complicate matters even more, none of my family lived in the UK. I knew I was in a sticky situation. I didn’t have a family house to move back into after I graduated, nor did I have a particularly desirable degree. During my three years at uni, I’d taken every opportunity, every part-time role I could. I stacked my CV up with as much experience as I could. After I graduated, I had a small pool of money to pay rent, bills and food with while I looked for a job. I spent days scouring Indeed, LinkedIn and CV Library. I was left in silence, and if I was lucky I might get a rejection. This went on for months. I thought I had experience. I had worked multiple paying jobs at university and yet… So many times, I was told that didn’t qualify as ‘industry experience’.
Every day grew more and more frustrating, depressing, infuriating. I found some temp work with Talk Talk but I was almost ready to give up when I stumbled across a job post on LinkedIn. I looked it over, and while I thought to myself, ‘I could absolutely do this’, I was fully expecting another silent rejection. I applied, then continued my temp work, and almost forgot about the application when I got a call-back. I was invited to attend an interview at BGFG and the moment I stepped through the office doors and saw what was going on, I was overwhelmed by a sense of dread. Dread that stemmed from: “If I don’t get this job, I’ll be heartbroken.”
I had gone through my temp role with TalkTalk pretending to be someone else. I never spoke about my hobbies because no one shared them. I kept to myself and just slogged on through each day. But here, with people I knew shared the same interests, I realised I could be myself and do a job that meant something. So during the interview, I was just that. I had become so accustomed to rejection that I figured I’d rather just chance this interview and be myself. No super professionalism, no false appearances or forced personality. I was completely myself. And soon enough, the interview felt less like a job interview and more like a conversation.
The call I got the following week to say I’d got the job was the happiest I’d felt in a very long time. And things have only gotten better since starting. I’ve gotten to be myself and enjoy my days at work. I’m surrounded by people who I can talk to and completely be myself with. I’m learning new things from them and I always feel valued and appreciated.
I’ll admit, I was worried. I was joining the company right in the middle of the whole Activision scandal and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about working in a largely male-dominated industry. I even looked at the BGFG website before I started to see if there were any other women in the company and was relieved to find a few. But I was still worried. And yet, the second I got here, I never felt like I was on the outside. Okay, I was a little shy and apprehensive at first, and I didn’t get too involved. Everyone knew each other and I was the ‘new one’. But during the first office social I spoke to more people, got to know them more and immediately felt as though I’d been here for a longer time. Within a few days, I knew everyone’s names and I could joke around with them.
I’m not micromanaged, which means so much because I’m trusted to do a good job. And my method of working is respected. I put my headphones on and listen to music while I write. Working at BGFG has given me exactly what I want. I get to work in an industry I want to, use the degree I worked hard for and I get to be myself every single day. If I want to have a quiet day, I can. If I want to talk to my colleagues, I can. I’m not scared to talk to my superiors and my colleagues are teaching me so much too.
I know that my ultimate ambition is to become an author or games writer, but I also know that I’m going to be happy sticking with BGFG for as long as they’ll have me.