Okay, I apologize ahead of time if this post is ridiculously long. I'm curious to see what you guys have to say. I think this'll more so be a rant if anything... and I need to get it off my chest. Don't think it'll make me feel any better because I am pretty stressed over this overall.
I graduated from college in December with a degree in journalism, and I've been looking for work since then. It's stressful. I've sent out many applications and such, but nobody's ever gotten back to me. Not even an interview. So I edited my resume and it looks so much better now, so I'm hoping someone will at least get back to me and go from there.
In the meantime, I've been in desperate need of something to do throughout the week. I just sit at home all day browsing the web. Only time I'd leave the house is to go to the gym in the morning. It is incredibly boring and frustrating. So I was looking into volunteer work 2 weeks ago. I came across a post from a museum in Los Angeles County asking for a volunteer writer for their monthly newsletter. I was so happy I came across this, thinking this is the perfect opportunity for me to do journalism-related work so I can expand my work experience as far as the journalism field goes.
So I sent them my resume and dropped off my application. When I dropped off my application, I also had a brief chat with the manager there as well... and things seemed to be quite good. Fast forward days later, her assistant sends me an email saying they would like me to redesign their entire web site from scratch as it is rather outdated. I wasn't too happy about this. Yes, I have web/graphic design experience. Yes, I put it on my resume -- but it didn't mean I am looking for design work (doesn't help that I've had 6 yrs of design experience here). I just simply wanted to be honest and list all the work experience I have in general. I didn't say anything, as far as whether or not I accept the duty. I just asked what program they had used to make this site and so forth. I didn't want to say "Yes, sure!" and later have to backtrack and say "No, I cannot do that." And of course, I really do not want to.
I applied to be a writer. Not a designer. Plus -- making an entire web site from scratch is hard work. It's the kind of work you'd have a paid employee do. No way am I doing this for free. Maybe if I was a student in need of something to add onto their design portfolio, sure. Or if I was extremely well off and wanted to do something on the side even for free, sure.
But I'm not a graphic design student. I was in college before I changed to journalism though, but that is my point. I don't do web and graphic design anymore. And -- I'm in desperate need of money. I (literally) cannot afford to do such work for free. Making a web site is tougher than journalism work even...
So I'm just rather annoyed about this. I just can't help but feel I'm about to be taken advantage of. I don't mean to boast or anything, but I have more skills and experience than the average volunteer these places get. I have journalistic and web/graphic design background while everyone else is barely trying to finish high school or college... and their work experience is more than likely retail work. And this makes it easy for these places to get all excited that someone like me "wants" to work for them for free. I'm rather worried about this. In the email about the web site redesign, the assistant also asked that I come by the place this Tuesday to talk about scheduling and so forth. I don't even want to go anymore. I just want to drop everything related to the museum now. I just feel that even if they're okay with me deciding not to do their web site, it'd make the work environment awkward for me because I know they really need the site redone and such, yet I'm refusing to do it for them despite my background.
I may just go anyway, and be blunt about things... saying I will not do this without pay.
Even then, I just no longer want anything to do with them now *shrug* I don't like where this is going so far and I haven't even done any work for them yet. I told my mom about it but she doesn't understand. She thinks any experience is fine -- but it's not. If I want to be in the journalism field, I gotta at least get more journalism experience at this point. I only have 1 year experience and that is like... nothing. It's not enough to most publications (ones that pay their writers, at least). It's just strange for a journalist to apply to be a writer for a newspaper or something, and 90% of their work experience on their resume is graphic design... especially more recently. But my mom doesn't understand that. If I keep doing graphic design work, I'll gradually forget all my skills or something from journalism (i.e., reporting/writing skills), so what the hell is the point? Plus, I don't even want to do web/graphic design for the rest of my life.
I don't even know what to do. I just know I'd eventually get out of this, but I feel so stressed. I hate being in situations like this. I seem to put myself in situations like this a lot. I'd get some sort of offer I had been wanting, and I'd approach it all with pure enthusiasm. But then... the person would expect me to do way more work than originally thought, and before I know it... I'm screwed over and taken advantage of. No pay. Nothing. My mom thinks I'm just being picky and bossy (which I hate), but... really, something like this really makes me feel uncomfortable.
I feel it's making me feel even worse with how my mom is reacting. She believes any free work is good, even if you are overworked and taken advantage of. She just doesn't get it. So I just feel extremely guilty for having a problem with this museum.