Job Tuition

Life Experience In The Workforce

July 7th, 2007 by Jennine

I’ve never been a person to stay in the same job for too long, I think the longest I’ve been with one company is two years and I spent 5 ½ months on study leave so I don’t think the full two years counts. During this time I’ve had many work opportunities and attended more than my fair share of job interviews. One thing I have learned over the years is, no matter what anyone says, job interviews are still nerve wracking for both the interviewer and interviewee.

I’ve decided to do a series of articles detailing my career, discussing my worst interviews and best interviews and the interesting experiences I’ve had along the way. I’m a believer that we won’t be remembered for the job we did or how long we were in a particular job but for the person we were and how we made people around us feel – I like to think that I’m a positive influence who people like being around. Therefore, when I got bored with a job or decided it was time to move on – I did. Sure, I don’t have any long service leave accrued but then how many people actually take their long service leave – not many it is quite often cashed in.

In my last year of High School, I had no idea what I was going to do when I left but was quite confident that I didn’t want to do further study. I was burnt out and needed a break from the day to day schooling. My parents decided that I was to move to Adelaide and complete a diploma in Travel and Tourism. That was fine by me, I got to leave home at 17, meet new people and party. The course was 12 months long and looking back it was the same as the last year of High School, not enough studying and too much socialising, but I was young and needed to let my hair down.

I still passed the course with great grades, nothing lower than 97.5% but I could have done better. Once the course I found myself in a situation that I couldn’t believe – I was unemployed. I applied for jobs in Adelaide regularly and attended interviews on a weekly basis with no joy. Every interview feedback was I was great, but there was someone better who had more experience. I was frustrated how was I to get experience when I couldn’t get a job.

Finally, I won a position with a Russian Travel Agency, definitely not my dream job. I hated it with a passion. The office smelt of cabbage, I couldn’t understand anyone who rang as the accents were so strong and my boss was pushy and rude. It’s weird I haven’t been in that office for 16 years but I can still picture the dinginess, the pictures on the wall like it’s ingrained in my brain as someplace I don’t want to return. Needless to say, the feeling was mutual and I left after six months.

Even though it was a horrible job, it did help me with my work plans. It gave me the push I needed to sit down and work out what I wanted to actually do. I went back to Business College and completed a computer operator certificate and this I took seriously. It was a six month course and just before I completed it I started hitting the streets again looking for work. Employers were impressed with my results and typing skills but still no experience. I contemplated doing a traineeship even though it was severely underpaid and then I stumbled across the employment agencies.

Next article: How I gained the necessary experience to become a valuable employee in future jobs