Dan (the big lad) says: It’s a strange thing, university. In his 2008 autobiography, Mark E. Smith, front-man of The Fall, referred to it as a “luxurious prison” before scornfully adding: “Once they (students) get out, once they're released, they're good for nothing other than having weekly reunions with their old housemates, getting jobs with their old housemates, or staying on to receive more educational therapy or forming p*ss-poor bands. And they've all got foppy fringes.”

Despite being friends for almost three years (and housemates for one of them), Music Editor Stephen Kelly and I are finally beginning to realise that once we’re ‘released’ from HM John Moores University into the big, bad world of journalism, sparks could fly between us.

As a pair of aspiring music journalists, it is hardly inconceivable to think that one day in the not too distant future we could both be applying for the same jobs. If that scenario was to occur and we both made it to the interview stage then it is also highly possible that we would have to prove our worth to potential employers by down-playing the other’s talents. It’s the kind of thing that could easily ruin a friendship, so is it a sacrifice either of us would be willing to make?

Our first taste of this came when roles were assigned for this website. It’s reasonable to suggest that perhaps Stephen was always ‘pencilled in' for the position of Music Editor because of his talent and experience of being NME’s regional reporter for Liverpool and also having work published in the Guardian. Nevertheless, I too had ambitions as a music journalist and was happy to provide Stephen’s ‘opposition’ for the role.

Next came a spontaneous joint interview in which Stephen and I (with little preparation) were asked to pitch ideas for the Entertainment index and state precisely why we should be considered for the job of Music Editor. Undoubtedly, the toughest part of the interview, however, was when we were asked to declare why we’d be better for the role than the other candidate. It was a tense (heartbeat, increasing heartbeat) and unpredictable moment as we both tried to think of a diplomatic way of putting it. Thankfully, we were both man enough to get through it without causing disharmony between us... and Stephen was given the job.

Stephen (no, that's not an optical illusion, he really is that much shorter) says: Freelancing at a national level can bestow a certain level of arrogance among anyone, never mind a twenty-one year old - who, as most lecturers know, normally don’t need anything else to inflate their youthful egos. Sods.

What with myself writing for the NME and The Guardian over the past couple of years, I will be the first to admit that I have lapsed into the assumption that things will be easy come graduation. After all, with my experience, surely editors will be falling over their desks to employ me? I probably wouldn’t even have to do an interview; I could just show up and take someone’s desk.

I soon found out it wasn’t to be though. Having spoken to music freelancers who – despite being far more established than me – can’t get work, and being told again and again by editors that the industry is firing, not hiring, I’ve realised it’s going to be grim out there. Graduation was always a stepping-stone to me, now it's an abyss.

No more did this all hit home than when this Music Editor position came about. Rather than sleepwalking into the role on the basis of prior experience and reputation, I instead had competition in the form of my best friend, Dan.

Daniel Burke, a man-mountain who (as you can see above) makes me look ridiculous, was applying for the same job as me. Albeit on a smaller scale, it served no less significance in providing a snapshot of what is yet to come.

We were both sat down and given the ‘interview from hell’. If hell was a classroom.

Throughout this we both had to compete for the role just as you would in a real job interview, putting emphasis on our abilities... while at the same time downplaying each other's. In the end I got the role, but I quickly learnt that beyond the bubble of university and in the world of work, this town really ain't big enough for the both of us. Especially when Dan became my boss as the overall Website Editor...

In the future I won’t be the only one applying for jobs, there will be massive competition. Competition not as kind as Dan, who will still be my mate years beyond uni.

Or at least until we meet 'eye-to-eye' for a job again...

Shorthand Sue

Website team