Introducing...
Deborah Stevenson and her blog One in a Million
Age:
Education: (Deborah's not actually a student but she's a recent graduate and when she emailed us saying she "wrote a blog about being a graduate in this current market, I filled it with every emotion I could", we just couldn't refuse her!)
"I’m interning for a charity in Kingston Upon Hull, I managed to gain a paid internship after I volunteering with someone who knew someone!"
Twitter: @DebStevo90
What’s your blog all about?
My blog focuses on unemployment, and the variation of emotion that a graduate feels when entering the job market. I also wrote about my trips to the job centre, to show that people are not being supported as well as they should be, and those that want extra help cannot gain it because there simply isn’t the staff or time.
Describe your blog in three words
Honest, funny and unafraid.
Why did you start your blog?
I started the blog because of my frustration about job hunting. I never expected to graduate and walk into a job but I thought I might find something even part time to keep me afloat whilst I looked for something permanent. I was angry because I was let down by the job centre time and time again because they only care about targets, they don’t care about the specific needs of people and the advice they need. I had an opinion and I wanted to get it out there, 99.9% of the feedback I received has been positive – I wouldn’t have carried on if people didn’t bother reading it, but I’m at around ten thousand views now.
One in a Million blogger Deborah Stevenson
How long have you been running it?
Eight months.
What makes it different from the rest?
I’m different because I write as if I am telling you the stories I write about, I don’t try and make them fussy, I tell it how it is. Friends who read my blog, feedback on how they can hear me in their heads telling them the ridiculous things that have happened to me whilst job hunting
Who would be your dream guest blogger?
David Cameron – I’d like for him to write about unemployment, to see if he actually knows anything at all about how emotionally draining it can be.
What was your last blog post about?
My last ‘real’ blog post was telling my readers about a paid internship I had gained through volunteering – It felt really good to tell people that my hard work paid off!
What’s been your “blog highlight”?
There are a few posts which I am proud of. The Citizens Advice Bureau twitter account found my blog and tweeted the links quite a few times, the blog post they seemed to really like was about ‘the stigma of being a JSA claimer’.
I also wrote a post about a local company who were scamming people, this got a lot of attention and others came forward and said how they were scammed by them, it opened a lot of doors to meet others who were feeling exactly the same.
A real highlight was being featured on a local blog, although only local it felt amazing that others thought what I was writing was important and should be seen by others.