Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Jobs: tricky things. Slippery, elusive – at least in these times.

When I first came out of university, there was barely a job to go around. In the arts field, the creative field, there were even less than many of the other areas; and it made it relatively impossible to find the sort of work I wanted to find.

Now, with my post-graduate course drawing to a close, I’m having to look around at jobs that I can apply for when it finishes. And I had better start now I suppose. After all, it’s better to get the applications in as early as possible than to wait for a few weeks.

Doing the extra course was partly because of that. And, partly, it was so I could separate myself a little more from the next batch of hopefuls graduating and flooding the market.

And while it strikes me that the job market is a lot better this summer than it was last year, it’s still, inevitably, going to be hard to get a job.

So this time I’m approaching it with a different mindset. This time I’m happy to do anything, at least at first. Mostly anything, anyway. Even if it means using the old elbow grease and doing basic office cleaning work.

At least until something more my preferred thing comes along. That way, I can be earning something and not just sitting around doing nothing, and I can at least maintain something of a social life.

Who knows – maybe something ideal will spring up just in time for the course to finish?

When I was reading the Times online today, and after a bit of browsing, I stumbled on this article: an interesting piece about how business is looking slightly more peachy for tech firms in the UK.

It reported that a number of companies were seeing profit rises after a difficult 2009. One company, in particular — Wolfson Microelectronics — reported strong sales over the first few months of the year, and predicted yet more growth as demand for mobile phones and other consumer electronics continues to recover from the murk of the recession.

They also said it had launched nine new products in the first quarter; a list including audio amplifier components for mobiles, and a digital audio hub.

It’s good to see companies like this rising out of the lows of the recession, and continue to create new products.

There was a similar story here, about the battery life of mobile phones. I know my own smartphone is painfully battery-consuming. The little battery bar disappears in an instant, if you actually use the thing, and don’t leave it sleeping in your coat pocket.

Of course, when you’re at work, you can have all sorts of business phone systems at your disposal, and aren’t restricted or limited to using your mobile, but I must admit, I still like to be able to use mine.

And anything that can increase its life length, so I am not forced to switch it off for an hour or so each day in order to use it on the train home, is a welcome invention.

New Years Eve and Day have vanished in a blur, and now here we are in a properly new year, staring 2010 in the face. Everyone is making their new year’s resolutions. Traditionally, of course, this is a time for change, a time for a fresh start, a time for renewal. This is a time to be the person you want to be. But some things, it seems, don’t change. I was browsing a list of property prices in 2010, and couldn’t help but notice that here, in the property market, things seem as horrible as ever.

I’m almost certain that I read something about house prices going up, and might have even blogged about it a while ago, sometime towards the end of last year. Some news story or hint or glimmer of hope that suggested change – of a good variety – was on the horizon. But evidently I remember wrong.

No matter how you look at it, things for our economy are still not looking good, and as a recent graduate, that’s quite a scary thought. I still know people who are looking for a job over a year out of university. There was a time when having a degree alone was enough, but not anymore.

All the word at the pub tonight was about mortgages, too – even mortgage rates are under the shadow of this repression, which, like the enemy in a horror movie seems to never go away.

Here’s hoping things pick up soon. Otherwise, it’s not much of a happy new year so far. It’s not just affecting property buyers and home buyers, it’s affecting everyone countries’ property investors if things continue this way. Or any countries’, for that matter. But I suppose you can say that about a lot of jobs, in these times.

This morning, just as I got back from a walk with the dogs, the local newspaper came through the door. On the front page was a very gloomy, very big picture of a house, and an accompanying story of how bad the house market is looking at the moment. As you might expect, the whole thing was filled with news of the recession; now a sort of endless, brooding, dark cloud that is swallowing our lives.

I decided, after seeing it, that I’d look it up a little bit online, and see if it really is moving as slowly as the article said it was. And there are all sorts of property news websites online – it’s great for that sort of thing. Rather interestingly, there are a number of similar sounding stories there as well. Including one that says, rather darkly, that house prices are set to fall even further over the next 18 months or so, and aren’t going to get better until around 2015. It must be hell, with such low property prices, if you are trying to sell. Certainly not a nice time to be dealing with it all.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t options out there. If you’re looking for a quick house sale, then there are still ways to do it. I suppose it might come with the slight downside that you’ll have to settle for less money … but it could be something of a blessing to get rid of your house so quickly, especially in a market like the current one. Sitting around, trying to sell, only to run into the metaphorical brick wall over and over again can only add to the depression.

And there are forums, too: real estate forums, and all sorts, that are all there to help out if you do find yourself immersed in this sort of thing. And they are a brilliant thing, because they put you in direct contact with other, similar people who are also going through the same thing that you’re going through.

Yes, the internet can be such a marvellous thing sometimes.