Jobs. Part 1.

Since I moved to Southampton I've been searching for a job. That's what you're supposed to do, isn't it, when you finish university - you're supposed to enter the scary world of work. Which is something that, I'll admit, I haven't got much experience in. I've only had one 'proper' (ie. regular paid) job, which was when I worked at Marks & Spencer for 2 and a half months around Christmas 2010. The longest shift I've worked is 5 hours. So, perhaps understandably, I'm somewhat apprehensive about the whole thing.

I did apply for Saturday jobs when I was 16/17, but only to a very select number of shops (Waterstones, Disney Store, Past Times and a couple of stationery shops) because I was a shop snob. And when I say apply, I mean I handed in a basically empty CV to a shop that wasn't hiring (this was back in the day before online applications made applying for jobs 376 times easier). Needless to say, my vain attempts to procure a job were unsuccessful.

In my second year of university I decided to get myself a Saturday job volunteering at an Oxfam bookshop so that I could get myself something - anything - to put on my CV. I discovered I quite enjoy serving customers on a till. Some of the people I worked with were rather on the odd side (to put it politely) so it wasn't the most fun of places to work (my managers were lovely, but after I moved from the morning to the afternoon shift, everyone else was strange to the point where I had no clue how to interact with them), but I did enjoy the knowledge that I was helping a charity while also getting some shop work for my CV.

I didn't even need any kind of experience to work at M&S, which came as something of a surprise. I answered a bunch of questions correctly on their website, and was automatically given an interview. It turned out to be a role play rather than an interview, and I totally nailed it. I'd hoped they'd keep me on when my Christmas contract finished, but the job they offered me was a late night shift in food, which wasn't what I wanted, so I declined it.

And now I'm in search of a real job - preferably a full time one, so I can have enough money to pay rent and bills and have money left over to buy pretty things from time to time. With so many jobs requiring previous experience, it seems as if my only option may be to work in a shop. I had an interview at Argos and got the job, but then I went and got chickenpox so I couldn't go to the induction day, and I haven't heard from them since, despite being assured I'd hear in due course (this was over a week ago). I'm taking it as a sign that there are better things in store for me (although, hopefully, not actually in a store). I had an interview for a job as a receptionist at a lovely hotel in Winchester today, so I'm crossing my fingers on that one.