Sup Brooke. I'm not sure if you want to hear this, but I had a similar experience with education and work and also felt lost and confused.
My background previous to my studies was music, and I did a few animations for friends occasionally. No trad-animation or artistic background really. I got lucky with Newgrounds front page featuring a short I made one summer which then really kicked off my seriousness towards animation and my interest to study it. SO… I totally ballsed up picking a specific animation course and went the "general" route studying a two year FdA in Digital Design and then a top up, third year BSc in Graphics Communication at Bath Spa University. At the time, I was frustrated with the course I was on as I can imagine we had the same experience not feeling like we got the bang-for-buck. So I spent the last two years of study quite bittered about the whole experience. In my second year I took on some freelance work via some ads I found on Gumtree/caught wind of at uni. These were like "we have £250 to do a 2 minute animation lol" or "£120 for a WHOLE website m8". I think the lowest I ever charged for a job was £60 and it ended up taking a month to do and the client never used it! I rule!
Clearly, I was inexperienced as I didn't understand how to fulfill briefs (and boxers, fnar fnar) properly and understand the client, and, ultimately, the audience's needs *glares at university course*… *glares back at myself for probably not listening in class*! Besides, with the amount I was charging I clearly had no value on my skill set, meaning I wasn't confident enough. Because of that I thought I'd go and work in a web development agency in Camden, London between my second and third year, as an intern. Money wise: the internship offered travel and lunch, but during the interview I asked for £12,000/year. I worked for them for three-ish months and returned to do m'third year.
My last year of uni was basically "set your own briefs", which was great, I could set myself a project, do it with a tool I wasn't great with and develop and get something to put in the portfolio. Because I built up a body of work in my last year of uni, and was lucky to have some success with one of the projects, I applied for one job, at a web design agency in Farringdon, London, BOOM got the job with a sweet salary of £22,000/year. I worked there for six months and really learned how an agency works, money managing (too much boozing at uni), clients and, importantly, understanding briefs.
By the time I got the job, my previous portfolio of works was getting me attention on the freelance market somehow and was getting a few requests and jobs in from that. I ended up going freelance the start of 2010, as a New Year's Resolution — And mostly because I wasn't sleeping anymore — and now I've been freelancing since then working on various animation, video and web design/development projects. I'm definitely in my dream job status at the moment and I get to do it how I like and create some awesome outcomes for my clients. I do probably earn less than the £22,000 I used to get from the previous job — my last tax return clocked a small £4,000-ish income considering I had been in business officially for four months when the tax year ended (haven't done my taxes for the year gone thus far) — certainly I'm working my way towards more money, because I want to take on less projects… Because I like sleep
… But because I feel I'm getting better at what I do with each project and that the work keeps getting better and the clients keep getting happier, which makes me happier, which is what I've always wanted to achieve with my works: To make someone happy!
So… The lessons that I learned with the whole job thing:
Time: As you can see, the above didn't happen overnight. It bothered me that I wasn't on £50k, and it bothered me that university didn't help at all with finding jobs when I was post-grad-core. Mainly, there's that feeling that it just wasn't happening quick enough; Appreciate that moment where you think it's not happening quick enough, as you'll find once you get into a job that time becomes a thing of luxury!
Internships/volunteering (for companies/agencies, not individuals): If you're currently unemployed and on the dole, do them! Make sure they cover your expenses at the very least, or be cheeky and ask for a sod-all salary like I did. It's better to develop and learn skills, and the business, than to do nothing. Besides, you haven't got anything better lined up right? So why the heck not? Plus, you can slap it on your CV and portfolio! Bonus. I know I mentioned I worked at a lot of web agencies, but the same applies for most creative industries… Fingers in pies, I say! Some people will scoff at what I just said, but in an industry which basis its employment and salary on experience (which also ties in with the works and quality), it's kind of important to build it up and really work on it.
DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF: This is the most important lesson I've learnt over the years and it's got me into the position I am nowadays. In creating personal projects and showcasing them (either on the web or at film festivals) I found that more doors opened and new clients popped along for a yabber. Not only did those projects help me get work but it also gave me the opportunity to explore new stylistics and technologies, which meant I was keeping up to date and learning new skills to deploy in future projects. Heck, I even took up life drawing classes and went back to traditional animation roots for fun! I also did a music video for my friend's band just because I wanted to hold a video camera for a couple of hours and get to grips with Adobe Premiere. And, to top it all off, it feels fucking awesome to make your own stuff, am I right? I know a lot of people here animate for fun, a bit on the side sort of thing, and they know how satisfying it is when they make something that looks great, and their audience and peers love it. Not to mention it'll keep the inner-creative in you sane.
No idea if this is of use to you, or to anyone, but this is from one frustrated graduate to another and I can only offer my experience that this pube-less chin has to offer thus far and maybe that someone finds some use or inspiration out of it. I dunno…
TL;DR: Work on projects for yourself and build up a sweet portfolio; you can also intern/volunteer whilst you do this and whilst you're on the dole. It won't happen over night, but if you stay focused, you'll get there and achieve what you want to achieve quicker then you'll imagine.