hello pilgrim. this will be fairly long but please read:
it might be tempting to let all this anxiety paralyse you - sometimes we can pretend that worrying ourselves sick about a problem means we’re at least doing something, even if it isn’t something productive.
calm yourself. be methodical. is it imperative you do something related to what you studied? are you following your miles davis 101 handbook, friend, and allowing room for improvisation? if you are only willing to explore a narrow field you could well miss the bountiful meadow just beyond yonder ridge, where bunnies frolic and so on.
from your post i gather you actually have a leg-up on most of your peers, as you have some solid practical experience as well as the degree. practical experience seems to count for just as much as a degree, i’ve noticed in these post-crash times, so bear in mind you’re a little ahead of the curve right there.
i never went to university, sixth form drug abuse, class anxiety stemming from my council estate upbringing and wonderfully nefarious sex saw to that, but i know how you feel because everybody feels the same anxiety about life, and just as many of us still feel it even if we appear to be “getting on”.
years ago, when i was on the dole and desperate to find a job so i could move out again, i chanced upon a vacancy for MP’s assistant. what are the chances of that. i looked into it and applied and ended up having an interview at my local MP’s office (think it was their office). anyway, i had no degree, no qualifications, no experience, but i got the job. it would have been a great job, working between leeds and london, meeting pols, learning how government works, etc, but i got another job at the same time that paid a bit more so i took that. point is, i got that job without quals or degree or XP, so i’m sure you would have smoked it. wish i’d have taken it now, tbh.
leave room for maneuver, don’t hem yourself in. it might be that you have to take a call centre job or something in the meantime while you look for the real shit. trust me, you will feel miserable in a call centre, cos i did, but you need to pay rent and you need to bear in mind all is transient, you won’t be like that forever and you can always do what i’m doing now, which is quit and take a chance.
oh and northern employers of all stripes are generally knocked out by people from oxford even if they’re dipshits (which you are not) due to the accent and the word “oxford”, so if worst comes to worst you can move up here and live in my kitchen for a bit while you get on your feet.