Providing bread and butter on the table ie: our working life takes up such a large part of our time that I feel it should have an element of fun to it. If you're looking for a job, looking for some guidance as to what to do next this is the area for you.
There are links to other sites as we couldn't squeeze it all in here and I'm not pretending to know it all just provide a structure around which you can start to think about short and long-term career goals, or consider other available options. The journey's important, so I'm not going to do all the work for you, make sure you have something to take notes with and remember to send in more specific questions to the work Q&A area :D
My sins also include studying for the Fda in Journalism and Practical Media, I'm a freelance journalist and a loan parent of a five year old son. My career in short has given me experience of training, recruitment, health & safety, security, employment skills, sales and management. If you'd really want to know more about my career to date I've included a brief history in the work section.
I have 12 years experience of managing and facilitating and in short as long as fun is included on the work schedule a lot more gets done. I hope my section is a lighter way to help you through the career maze whilst still holding on to what else is important to you.
'The best things in life, aren't things'. Art Buchwald
BRIEF CAREER HISTORY:
My career has been varied starting when I finished a B-Tec National Diploma in Sports and Leisure Management. I taught myself to touch-type during the two years and temped for a while when I left College.
TIP: Having office skills of some description will always keep you in work, even if it's only a temporary gig.
I then worked for both the Police Studies Centre within Exeter University, progressing to Office Manager and took high ranking Police Officers around Europe to study European Policing. Eventually a mortgage and an increased sense of social responsibility attracted me to a management position within a Drugs Project.
It was an 'interesting' time and within five years I was part of the management team that grew the project from eight people working within Exeter to seventy people working all over Devon and Dorset. Responsible for staff, security, health & safety administration and finance the post was varied and pretty stressful. I frequently worked seventy hour weeks. When I left, I was proud to be informed they had to replace me with three people. I had been offered a commission with the RAF, however a horse riding accident put an end to my 25 mile a week running and fitness regime. Changed my destiny in a split second.
I was then offered a promoted position with Avon Health Authority as Facilities Manager, responsible for a £2m budget, 11 team leaders and 70 staff. This was great, but although I was good at my job I realised my heart wasn't in it anymore and the work was no longer challenging.
I went to a local recruitment company TACT Personnel to find alternative work. Surprisingly, impressing the manager so much she offered me the Account Manager's job at Howmet recruiting and managing temporary staff. We quickly changed the recruiting processes and went from one to one interviewing to group interviews of up to 40 people a session, three sessions a week. It was so successful I was quickly earning £30k a year. Little ole me, in little ole Exeter - anything can happen. I can honestly say, I've never enjoyed a job so much, the buzzy atmosphere and the social life I had working in recruitment was phenomenal.
Nothing lasts forever, 9/11 put paid to the American owned company Howmet's growth and 212 temporary staff were whittled down to 30. I love a challenge and responsibility for thirty staff was not. I moved from recruitment to self employment and took up a contract with a local training agency, whilst also working as a door supervisor and running a small door security company.
Becoming a mother put work on hold temporarily and when I returned I craved some stability, so took up a position as Advertising Account Manager for the Sidmouth Herald. Here, again, I was successful and within three months offered promotion to a larger paper, but working for Archant I realised I wanted to be a journalist and an old dream resurfaced.
The rest of my career is, 'in progress' so to speak. I've returned to University, proving the key to success is to never stop learning and it's never too late to start again. :D
Whether you're hunting or gathering stay happy. Julia :D
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