Since graduating in fashion over the summer, dissatisfied with how her university prepared her for real life, Lucy Nicholls has tried to make it in the freelance world - trying out a variety of short-term gigs from merchandising to photo shoots.

Jobs came to her, but she found she wasn't so good at going after jobs - a vital skill to succeeding in the competitive environment of London freelance fashion.

"I felt I wasn't confident enough."

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This is an update of Class of 2012, the AP's yearlong exploration of Europe's economic crisis through the eyes of five young graduates. Follow the class on its new Google plus page: http://apne.ws/ClassOf2012

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So she plunged into trying to find a full-time job that would give her the experience she needed to succeed. She tried online job hunting sites and scanned Twitter feeds for openings, but found they weren't much help. She says her best chances came tracking individual companies' in-house websites.

She applied for vacancies at a trendy online fashion shop called Asos. Eventually she was invited to interview for a job as a merchandising and editorial assistant.

"Amazingly, I got it."

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