Job Tuition

Valuable Work Experience

July 25th, 2007 by Jennine

When I first started working I was always turned down due to lack of experience. To compensate for this I updated my computer skills and then set about trying to get my foot in the door. The Russian Travel Agency wasn’t much help work wise, but I did gain valuable experience. I learnt how to answer the phone professionally with slow and careful speech so that the foreign callers understood me and how to type quickly reading illegible writing.

After completing my computer course, I set about registering with local temp employment agencies. Although I lacked experience, my personality and strong typing skills more than made up for it as well as the fact that I was willing to relocate to anywhere within the state to work. My first job was located in Adelaide and lasted six weeks but luckily I got great feedback and my temp career took off.

It was great, not only did I get to work in various industries; I gained invaluable experience and made numerous friends which I still have today. I worked in remote locations, in both private and public sectors and as my reputation grew so did my confidence.

Temping was a good choice for me as I was able to learn things about myself, such as I hated filing, doing dishes and overbearing bosses. Yes, there were a few temp jobs where I had to wash coffee cups, spoons, dishes from lunch and morning teas. I also learnt that I was a good typist, a quick learner and apparently had a quick wit which got me out of trouble as many times I got myself into it.

After 12 months of doing temp work I landed my first permanent position with a local dairy factory where they processed milk, made ice cream and other dairy products. This was another horrible job but I stuck it out until they sacked me a week before I turned 21. At the time I was devastated but in hindsight it was the best thing that could have happened. I went back to temp work, travelled more and discovered that I was more than happy temping.

Temping paid well, and at my age I was earning a decent wage – nearly $200 a week more than some of my peers and if I didn’t like the place I knew it wasn’t permanent. The job at the dairy was hard going, stressful and I was a victim of bullying by one of my superiors. Being young, I didn’t have the confidence to stand up to her and there were no bullying laws to protect me at the time. It was difficult and unnerving to go to a job day after day knowing that everything you did was going to be picked to pieces. This is why today, I believe they did me a favour.

I know bullying is wrong, but in me it helped develop strength of character and now that I’m older I’m less likely to tolerate it. At the time it nearly crushed my self esteem but when I returned to temping I flourished and this seem to be the pattern until I left Australia and worked overseas.

However, I did have a couple of permanent jobs where majority of the work was great but there would be one person in the establishment who just like to make life difficult. For me, the only way to deal with them was to be sarcastic and let them just get on with it. However, there would be a point where I would wake up one day and go enough is enough and quit. I would hand in my notice that day and leave at the end of the period. It’s funny, I would warn my parents a few weeks before hand that it was coming but could never pinpoint when it would happen. I guess I felt if I told them before hand they couldn’t be disappointed with me leaving another job.

I’m a great believer in that if you are good at what you do and treat people with respect and courtesy then jobs will come your way. You do have to go out and look for them but obtaining work is possible you just have to be flexible.

Next article I will write about my overseas experiences in both temping and permanent positions.

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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

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