In keeping with the Festival of 50 theme for 2017 (are you following along on social media? Look for the hashtag #festivalof50!), I now present for you:
50 Fun Facts about My Career
1 – My first paid job (that was not my mum or stepfather paying me to wash their cars or other chores) was as a child model, when I was 12. I got paid a couple of hundred dollars for one afternoon’s work from memory – an absolute fortune to a kid back then!
2 – Then, I started delivering catalogues. It was a tiresome and time consuming task, not helped at all by the barking dogs, people abusing me for leaving the catalogue on their doorstep rather than their mailbox (they were paying me extra to do so). Not a job I would want to repeat in a hurry.
3 – Because I had a January birthday, I was one of the youngest in my grade and watched with envy when others started getting part time jobs in Year 9. I had to wait until I turned 15 in Year 11; my first part-time job was as a Christmas casual sales assistant at Angus and Coote jewellers.
4 – I was very proud of this, as working in a jewellers carried a certain amount of prestige, compared to packing groceries at a supermarket!
5 – I stayed with Angus and Coote until I finished teacher’s college four years later – the first three years at their Toombul store, before moving to the Strathpine branch.
6 – When I was in teacher’s college, I had the cruisiest job ever – one where I got paid to sleep! I received $25 a night to stay overnight with two children, when their dad was away on business trips and their mum had a night shift as a nurse. In the morning I woke the children, made sure they had breakfast and got on the school bus.
7 – Also while I was in college, I did a Friday morning shift in the canteen at the local football club, making sandwiches etc and serving the people who came to play bingo.
8 – After finishing college, while waiting for a teaching position, I found myself homeless and desperate for work. I even considered taking a job as a bikini car wash attendant!
9 – Instead, I started working as a casual checkout chick at Coles.
10 – I also did a Thursday night and Saturday morning shift in the office at Coles – staff would come to pick up their pay packets, and we also collected the takings from the registers and counted it.
11 – Thirty years ago this month, I landed a full-time job in the State Government Superannuation Office as a clerk (and of course it was there I met my beloved honey hubster).
12 – Like many office juniors, I started out in records. My job entailed filing, mail runs, and deliveries which quickly put paid to my expectations of a cushy office job, and being able to wear high heels. The pavers in the city wrecked them in no time, and being on my feet pretty much all day made wearing flats a necessity!
13 – After about 6 months I was moved into another team and finally got the desk job I’d wanted 🙂 . I loved it there, but then …
14 – About 18 months after I’d finished college, I was finally offered a teaching position. I figured after all that training I should at least give teaching a try …
15 – But I hated it right from Day 1 and couldn’t wait to go back to an office job. I’d been spoilt by flextime and the company of other adults!
16 – Within three months, I’d quit teaching because I’d found another job.
17 – I started in Brisbane City Council on 8/8/88 – and my new salary was about $5000 more per year than when I was a teacher. Yes, really!
18 – My new job was in the Rates Enquiries team, answering phones all day long.
19 – Back in those days, smoking was allowed in the workplace and most of my team were chain smokers, so I came home from work each day reeking of smoke, and desperate to shower! Gross.
20 – From Rates Enquiries I was moved to the reception desk. I loved the “glamour” of being the receptionist, but there was very little work to actually do and I was bored out of my brain.
21 – Then my mother (who also worked for BCC at that time) got a job in the same section so I had to be moved elsewhere.
22 – I was sent to another part of the Finance Division, relieving as a PA to one of the bigwigs, which I enjoyed.
23 – I also filled in as Alderman Graham Quirk’s secretary on occasion (now the Lord Mayor of Brisbane), though I doubt he’d remember me. I’ve no idea what he’s like politically but he was very nice to work for.
24 – Alas, nothing good seemed to last for long, and a permanent position was found for me in Salaries and Wages.
25 – My job was processing pays for bus drivers.
26 – The work was fine – there just wasn’t enough of it. Most days I’d be finished the daily tasks by morning tea and then had to try and “look busy”, which I loathed!
27 – By this time I was married, and had moved for love. The commute was an hour each way, so I started looking for work locally …
28 – We had been married 6 months when I got a job – as the relief officer in the Finance Department – at my local Council.
29 – The woman who trained me in the new computer system, grabbed my left hand in horror and said, “Oh my god, you’re married!” … turns out she thought I was a 17 year old school leaver, instead of a mature almost 24 year old 😉 .
30 – During this time I was based in rates, but often filled in for other positions – everything from cashier, to rates searches, to accounts payable, accounts receivable, rates collections, the rates counter, etc.
31 – The rates counter position ended up becoming permanent.
32 – I worked there with a much older gentleman, and it used to annoy me no end that customers would look to HIM for answers when I could have run rings around him with my knowledge. But they obviously thought I was just a silly young girl, and couldn’t possibly know what I was talking about grrrrr.
33 – I was promoted to a collection officer in the rates collections team, where my role was to chase up late or non-payment of rates, work out arrangements with ratepayers if possible, or pursue legal action.
34 – Unfortunately, dealing with nasty and abusive customers was part and parcel of this job.
35 – So it was a happy day indeed when I went on maternity leave to have my first baby in early 1994 :-), resigning at the end of my leave.
36 – While I was a stay at home mum, I started writing articles for magazines – and getting paid for it! This was the beginning of my writing career.
37 – I spent the first cheque I received from a magazine, on a luxurious new bedspread.
38 – It wasn’t until Miss 20 was in Year 1 (2002) that I started looking for a job outside the home.
39 – Alas jobs weren’t as easy to come by after a bit of a career break 🙁 .
40 – So I decided to sign up with the temp agency, which I knew supplied temporary staff to my local Council (my previous employer).
41 – Over the next 12 months I did quite a few temp jobs, some for the Council, in areas as diverse as Corporate Communications and HR, as well as for the CSIRO and a shipping company. Some jobs only lasted a few days, others for a few weeks.
42 – It was always scary walking in to a new workplace! The Council jobs weren’t so bad as I was already familiar with a lot of the staff and the culture (and by then the hubster worked there as well!), but being in private enterprise was a real eye-opener as I’d previously mostly been in the public service.
43 – It was a happy day indeed in April 2003, when I gained a permanent position as a library assistant (again, with Council). Being both close to home, and casual hours, it was just what I’d wanted.
44 – But when a job came up a couple of years later for an admin officer in Council, to write and produce newsletters for the community sector, it seemed meant to be. Four days a week (every Friday off!), local, writing, and a promotion – what more could I want? It was my dream job!
45 – So I started in the Community Development section, upstairs from the library, in January 2006.
46 – My job also involved a lot of work on the community grants program, organising community meetings and events; my days were busy but I was really happy there.
47 – There were many staffing changes over the next few years, as well as to my position, which I wasn’t always thrilled about – needless to say it was no longer my dream job, but I wasn’t going anywhere. Or so I thought …
48 – Then I was made redundant, in October 2012. I was devastated;
49 – But promised myself that I would take the lemons life had just handed me, and make lemonade. I was going to start my own business, writing from home!
50 – Which is of course what I am still doing today at Front Page Web Writing. Most of my clients are business owners, who come to me because their website just isn’t working for them (ie it might look good but it’s not getting any visitors or generating any leads or customers). Through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – both onsite (tweaking or writing their web content to get the attention of Google and other search engines), and offsite (building links with other reputable sites), I find enormous satisfaction in being able to deliver great results!
Wow! This was an easy post to write – the words just flowed – and yet there is so much I *haven’t* mentioned, like studies and courses I’ve completed, volunteer roles I’ve had, even my brief stints as a Tupperware lady and TAFE Adult Education teacher. Perhaps I’ll save them for another time!
Do we have any career experiences in common?!
This was by far one of my favourite posts to read. Here I was thinking I knew everything about you and yet I learnt a lot from this 🙂 Such an interesting read xxxx
When I wrote it I was thinking you might find it particularly interesting! x
Wow Janet, I loved this. Inspiring. ..
Glad you liked! It’s amazing when I look back on all the twists and turns along the way …
Very interesting. I worked full time from the age of 15 so never had to have a temporary job. I achieved well at school which landed me a cushy office job for a mining company that paid well above award so I left school.
Similar to you, I met Marty when we both worked at the Townsville City Council. We eventually left there together and went to England for 9 months. On our return we landed in Perth (broke) so we stayed there for 2 years, got jobs, bought a campervan and eventually drove it back to Townsville.
Naww another office romance, sweet!
That was really interesting Janet! I certainly learned a lot of things from this blog. I’m always amazed that you can find so many old photos and clippings for your blogs! I have a few things in common. My first job (aged 12) was delivering newspapers. I didn’t have too much trouble with dogs but remember being harassed by a group of teenage boys one time in a block of flats. That was pretty scary. Then, when in high school, I worked in a big department store in the city during school holidays and Saturday mornings. After I emigrated to Australia in 1974 my first job was in a little shop in the Valley that printed t-shirts and sold costume jewellery. I also worked for various government departments, including National Parks and Wildlife Service where my work included putting together brochures and displays, and drawing maps. I was on the social committee in one of my later quasi-government jobs. I helped to organise staff social events and put the newsletter together. I enjoyed writing some of the article and drawing illustrations. This was way before desktop publishing of course!
Trying to find old pics was hard – I wasn’t such a photo bug as I am now! I know there’s a really good photo somewhere from when I worked at BCC Rates Reception but do you think I could find it?!
You’ve certainly been a busy bunny haven’t you? I can see why you’re doing so well in self-employment – you’ve had so much worthwhile experience from all those jobs leading up to your redundancy – life has a strange way of looking after us ( one might even think there was a higher power involved!)
LOL funny that hey Leanne x