Work History

Oh, how I love working. No joke. I know that’s a really bloody weird thing to say, and most of you will be reading this in soul destroying offices doing a job you despise with people who irritate you to the point of committing Death By Stapler, but right now at this moment, I’m enjoying being at work - even if it is just three weeks temping. My mind changes on an almost weekly basis as to what it is I actually want to do, but nonetheless, I need to be working while I figure it out.

To the outsider, it seems as if I’ve flitted from temporary job to temporary job since leaving university, trying out different possible career options and dumping them when I realise they’re not what I want. I’m not sure if this experimentation is a good thing to have on a CV, or whether it’s a worrying “this girl can’t commit” warning to any potential employers, but I’ve come to the conclusion that doing something for free is better than doing nothing for free and sitting at home scratching my arse. And lord knows I’ve done a lot of something for free to avoid scratching my arse.

But to sort my head out as much as anything else, here’s a list of Things What I Learnt Since Leaving Uni.

Working in TV Ain’t For Me
I loved the initial 4 weeks work experience at the Big Broadcasting Company and when I was offered a job off the back of it, I snapped it up and had an exciting funtime. However, the money was awful and I hated making microwave dinners for an Arrogant Presenter before each live show. I realised I didn’t aspire to be a producer, or director…or much in the world of TV, really, so I left at the end of the series to pursue the writing dream.

Book publishing is tooooo slowwwww for Jooooooo
Reading is my favourite thing to do. Whizzing through a good book is my ideal way to spend a day, but the process of making that book is a long, slow, drawn out process. Unless you’re on the Michael Jackson bandwagon at Harper Collins this week, that is. It was all a bit too quiet and mundane, although working in the children’s department had it’s plus points. The clincher was that it required months of unpaid work to get a head start on something I wasn’t quite sure about. I let it slide.

Magazine Publishing Lit My Fire
Now this job, I liked. I had a week of working on the editorial team of a leading Woman’s Monthly Magazine (ooh err). Impressed the right people, enjoyed the deadlines and demands – but had run out of money after a summer of working for free and travelling. I needed money. Enter my old favourite…

PA to the Man Who Got My Name Wrong and Left His Dirty Coffee Cups on My Desk
Difficult man, but absolutely amazing working environment (got paid well too. Bonus) and the social events kept me busy through the breakup. I decided I could handle being a PA if I had enough to do and didn’t work for someone who called me Joanne all the time. Made good friends who I still see a lot. Shame they chucked me out when finances tightened.

I Left School For a Reason
I am never going to work in a school ever again, or believe my mum when she says “We need someone to fill in for a few days until we find someone permanent”. Cue 3 months as an admin assistant; which involved sitting in front of a computer with no solitaire, no internet, and surrounded by lots of women whinging about their weight and staff room biscuits. Shudder. I repeat: never again.

Freelance is mostly free
Ahh, the Writer. Writer? Writer? Where For Art Thou, Writer? I have no idea. He hasn’t contacted me since June, no doubt blaming travel commitments and things being typically manic. Things would be less manic if he let me help, but freelancers are solitary beasts and I fear he is too set in his ways to really let me help with the work load. However, I got great experience, a trip abroad and wrote for some big name titles, albeit under his name. Most importantly, I realised that the freelance life maybe isn't for me; working from home is no match for a buzzing office.

So children, what have we learnt?

Err…

Well.

I think I’d quite like to try working in a zoo. Or the lifetime ambition of a circus acrobat. Failing that, I'll just keep applying for jobs in a vaguely creative officey environment in the hope that someone says "Ello darlin, now then. I tell you what you little rascal, why don't you come and work for me?"

Or perhaps not exactly that, but you get the message.