I'm not sure entirely who began the hashtag or why it came to be, nor have I any interest whatsoever in trawling Twitter to find out the origin - but I do enjoy anything that gets me thinking about my past and realising how far I've come. So in the interest of procrastination; I set about creating my own list:
I mean, I felt like my list was pretty standard really - except the clear penchant for emojis - to me it's just my life and my CV.
One thing I noticed though, as I was scrolling through the hashtag and reading other peoples' past job titles - is that I am an incredibly nosy individual. I saw things like Magician's Assistant, Blueberry Picker, Cardboard Box Maker - and I realised how diverse the working world is and I wanted to ask SO many people about so many of their past jobs!
...Genuinely though it's probably solely because I'm just a right nosy bugger and I know there's bound to be a few funny stories involved if your job title is "Burrito Folder".
Anyway - I digress. What's in a job title? I figured it might be interesting to talk you through some of my past jobs and let you know what I loved about them, what I loathed about them - and how it even came to be that I ended up being a teacher - I mean, apart from the fact that I have always wanted to be a teacher (seriously, always - that's a post for another time).
So - a quick run through of my jobs, because I know you're all just dying to read my CV. It's not like you have anything else exciting to be doing on a Saturday night, is it?
Receptionist
Pretty standard really. Answered the phones and took messages in a car dealership. Made teas and coffees for customers when they came in to buy cars. There was a stack of Women's Weekly magazines left under the desk for those quiet moments that sometimes happened, you weren't allowed to get caught reading them. I used to redraft the Post-It note messages that I left for the salesmen to ensure that only my finest handwriting would be viewed. Spent a lot of time doodling.
Fleet Driver
Basically this one time when the aforementioned car dealership were short of drivers and a car needed taking to a dealership in North Yorkshire - I was more or less just thrown a set of keys. I'd only passed my driving test about three months the first time I did a driving job and it's safe to say I was scared out of my wits to have been entrusted with a brand new Vauxhall Zafira. After I proved myself on that one journey I was often called upon to deliver cars to fleet customers up and down the country. It was a pretty good job to be honest, if you got stuck in traffic it meant you got paid more because you got paid by the hour. Never imagined I'd be so pleased to be sat on the M1 in standing traffic all the way back from St. Albans.
Sales Assistant
I think everyone's had the standard retail job at one point. I was a Christmas temp at Boots - and I genuinely loved it. It was during my second year at university; and although I only worked for them between September and January I took any available opportunity to take on extra shifts. I loved the team I worked with, I loved the fact one of the Clinique girls did my false eyelashes for me after work on a Saturday, and I probably put at least 70% of my part-time wage back behind the tills because I always knew when the best offers were on make-up and stuff. Genuinely once bought a pair of No7 eyelash curlers for four pence. FOUR PENCE.
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I mean this one is pretty open to interpretation. My degree was in Graphic Design - and I worked in several graphic design jobs over a few years but mostly in small placements here and there. I mostly worked on campaigns for car dealerships across the UK - making print advertisements and other bits and bobs. I enjoyed the work whilst I was there, but now I look back with hindsight and more wisdom on my side and realise that actually the opportunity to develop my own creativity was pretty much nil. Of course it was, I was a junior designer - that's just what happens!
Service Advisor
Once again - a car dealership job! Sensing a pattern here? Yeah - I've been in the motor trade for the majority of my working life. For about two and a half years I worked as a service advisor - this means I was the person you spoke to if your car broke down or needed a service/MOT or brake pads or if something else needed fixing. It was a job I LOVED; I worked with amazing people - most of whom I'm still in touch with now, it was undoubtedly one of the most stressful jobs I've ever had (quoted by some as "the worst job in the dealership") and yet also one of the most rewarding. It was in this job that I learnt the actual meaning of "customer service" and also that the customer is NOT always right - in fact, the majority of the time they're very, very wrong... I got shouted at on an almost daily basis for things that were 100% not my fault - and yet I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.
I could literally write an entire blog post about the pros and cons of being a service advisor but I feel like that's maybe just a little bit of a niche item and you'd be bored to tears... However, one thing I will say is that if your car ever breaks down and you shout at the service advisor about it - you're an absolute piece of work and you need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror pal.
Division Manager
This was something a little bit different - I was hired to look after a brand new division in a laser cutting company. They'd bought a new machine which worked with materials they didn't previously work with, and so I was brought in to explore all of the avenues for new business that the new machine brought with it. This was a job I enjoyed but it wasn't quite clicking for me - I was pretty much the only person in my department and I seriously, seriously missed being customer facing. I stayed for about nine months before applying for my PGCE, nicely leading us on to:
Teacher
Ahhh! I mean technically I've not even had my first day as an NQT yet - but I am a teacher. I love it. It's genuinely the job I've always wanted - when I was little, if you'd asked me what I wanted to be then the answer would have been 'teacher' and now I feel like I've finally got myself on that path.
So anyway... That's been a little explore through my #FirstSevenJobs - get yourself over to Twitter and take a scroll through the hashtag to see some other examples of first jobs - and see how your list compares!
I'd absolutely love to know what other jobs you've had and what you loved (or loathed) about them, so leave me a comment below to feed my nosy mentality.
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