The work we do

[Nyala]

I'm interested to know what kind of jobs we've all had to do in order to make a living and settle in our new homes.

When I was a school-leaver in Zim, I went straight into a building society as a teller and over the years progressed into reception, admin, pa, gm secretary...bla, bla, bla. I never did any courses or had any formal office training, I taught myself how to do things in an office - including how to use a computer. When I first started using them there was no such thing as windows and we worked on those ghastly screens with green or orange writing - anyone remember those? Anyway, after 22 years office experience and a good track record I could pretty much get any job I wanted.

My world and confidence came crashing down on me when I started in the job market here in Australia. I found I was competing with and losing jobs to school leavers with nothing more than a 6 week crash course at the training colleges. All my experience counted for nothing as I didn't have the all important 'papers' to prove I could do the job. I was losing out on the most basic reception jobs coz I couldn't prove on paper that I could answer a switchboard.

After a while of total demorilisation I started applying for and accepting any job that came my way - I did housework for a few months and a whole lot of factory work - the things I've seen!!! I would never have believed I'd do it ten years ago. Then an agency gave me an admin test and realised I knew something about an office - that started a whole new era of temp jobs. I hated it, I was never anywhere for long and still could not secure full-time work. The agency had a gem in me, an admin chick they could use to replace annual leave, maternity leave and so on. They weren't going to find me a job.

Two years of this was enough, I decided that in order to gain full-time work, I needed the coveted 'papers' so I decided on a whole career change. If you're going to do something for the rest of your life, let it be something you enjoy so I studied nursing. I now have the 'papers', full-time employment and hopefully will never have to see the inside of someone elses dirty house or a factory again. Nurses are in demand so I can basically work anywhere I choose.

[OneTime]

In Aus I've been in the same job since I got here, so nothing to report there. I'm still studying part time at the moment though, so a career change is on the cards.

In the UK I did a few crappy jobs to make ends meet when I was younger.

I got conned into doing door to door "sales" when I first got to London. I was 18 and answered a job ad for "trainee managers needed for successful marketing company, no experience necessary" and got sucked in like thousands of other South Africans. You know those annoying folk from gas/water/electricity companies that knock on your door and try to convince you to change suppliers? Yep, that was me. I only lasted 3 days though. Having doors constantly slammed in your face is soul destroying. I'm now friendly to door to door people, because I know they probably got sucked in too.

I did the customary waiter/barman/banqueting porter work in Hotels for a year or so. The pay was pitiful and the hours were long. Much of our spare time (the little we had) was spent in the pub, spending what little we earned. A vicious circle!

I worked in construction for a couple of years in London, which was pretty good - hard work but good money. We did pretty much anything from sweeping construction sites, pulling electrical cables, offloading trucks, lugging stuff around. I worked with a couple of friends, so it was pretty social. I think we spent more time in the pub than actually working. Should have stayed in construction. :D