Now I realise that some people, due to personal circumstances, have no choice but to stay in certain jobs and that is fine but there is too many people who are settling. Speaking to friends, I hear time and time again that it is too hard to get a job now so there is no point trying and that you might as well stay where you are (usually in part time roles not using or developing relevant skills).
Since graduating I've applied for over 300 positions, of this around 75% of companies didn't bother getting back to me and most others (politely) told me I had no chance. I've had around 7 interviews, been hired twice and have to say I have been lucky however, I would not have given myself the opportunity to be lucky if I didn't try.
An old Burmese saying is:
"Who aims for excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims for mediocrity will be far short from it"
getting to the interview stage gives you much better odds, and yes I know it can be depressing getting rejection after rejection but not trying is beating yourself. In getting 2 roles I received at least 298 rejections!!! We need to take risks (within reason), push boundaries and give our all so we can say we put everything into it. I'm willinng to bet that the majority of people sitting in jobs now after recently graduating certainly did not aim for mediocrity.
Please feel free to leave suggestions or details of options available to recent graduates and others in similar positions.