Hi,
I graduated from my bachelors (BA in Social Sciences) in 2013. When I graduated I was very confused about what I wanted to do, so I decided to move home and work for a before applying for Masters.
I took a job in market (qualitative) research about a month after graduating - mostly because of a general interest in culture and human psychology. I stuck around for 2 years because I was told it wouldn't look good if I left earlier, but by the end of it I was sure I did not want to make it a career. I then went into brand consulting, but left after 8 months because the place I worked at was not well managed at all - there were frequent (very) late nights, having to do work that I did not have the skills for and lack of proper training and poor management meant that I was absolutely burnt out by the end of those 8 months. So I quit without another job in hand or a back up plan, which they say you should never do, and took 2 months to just recuperate.
I then (on a whim, really) applied for an internship at a think tank in my city where I worked on the website and editorial team - collecting and creating content. I enjoyed this much more than my previous 2 jobs (I think I just liked the people I was working with much more). At this point, aware that I had already worked at 3 different places, I began to feel the pressure to commit to a field of study for my Masters, so I "chose" public policy, even though I haven't actually worked in a policy research think tank and am still not 100% sure I'm passionate about the subject.
I am now looking to apply for Masters in Public Policy for fall 2018. To fill my time until then, as I realize most places will not hire someone just for a year, nor do I want to get into the rigmarole of settling into a full time job, I am looking to apply for policy research internships. However, this will mean that I have worked at 4 different places in as many years.
How bad will this look on my application? Will universities be wary and think my application looks scattered and confused based on all the different places I have worked?
Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you!