My life and jobs (General)

Member Name: jennikitten

Product:	General
Date:	28/11/08 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's been interesting

Disadvantages: I don't get paid much!

A lot of people seem to do quizzes for this, but I thought I'd do something a bit different and say a few things about my life and jobs.

I'm 22 soon, and I lived in Manchester for the first 18 years of my life. During this time I concentrated mainly on school and college (and was lucky enough not to have to get a job), which enabled me to get into the University of Nottingham in 2005.

So I moved to Nottingham, not knowing anything about the place or people, but quickly settled down and started enjoying living there. At the end of my first year I got an email from my department advertising a job proof reading programs for a local company. I didn't really need the money at the time but I thought it sounded interesting and the experience would be really good, so off I went and applied. They pretty much accepted all the English students that applied and passed the test they'd set, so a couple of months later I was working in my first ever job in the first ever office I'd really been in. The job was fun, and very flexble - it worked around me so they would phone me up and ask if I could come in or not. I think the biggest advantage was that I didn't have to work during revision and exam time, whereas my friends in public service jobs did. During this time, I did a lot of interesting things, working on programs for lots of multinational companies and the government, and even editing robot manuals.

After I finished uni I started looking for a full time job. I also started applying for work placements in Nottingham that looked good. After 2 weeks of applying for jobs I got accepted for a work placement just a 20 minute walk away from my house. Though the company was tiny, everyone there was lovely - and laid back! It wasn't unusual to be told we could go home of a Friday lunchtime, and they were really good about letting me take time off for interviews. During my placement here I created three websites for a consultancy firm, including one network group for several lawyers and legal groups.

After a few rejections, about 4 weeks into my placement I got accepted for a job writing catalogue copy for the catalogue group in Britain that's won the most industry awards. Two weeks later I moved over 100 miles south west, and here I am! So now I write and edit product descriptions for around 15,000 products across 10 catalogue websites (and sometimes the catalogues themselves). I've had to learn several new systems and programs and processes over the past couple of months, but I'm getting the hang of it now. I'm the only official copywriter at the moment, though I do have back ups at the busiest times of the year (e.g. now), and despite the credit crunch I'm doing my best to cling onto my job even though several people in my department have recently lost their jobs.

I know my initial experience really helped and I've been very lucky. Even though a lot of my friends are well-qualified, they had problems (or still have) getting jobs, not just because of the credit crunch but also because employers consider experience and skills to be very important.

Summary: Good work experience