My first job...
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| All the lashes I used to have in my makeup artistry kit |
My fun jobs...
If you follow me on social media, you'll probably know by now that I love makeup. I've worked on and off in the beauty industry for several years, starting with a job in a pharmacy that sold Clarins and Lancome makeup. I've also worked for Clinique and MAC cosmetics. For several years during university I was also a freelance bridal and special occasion makeup artist.
My first office job...
I actually got a job in my field (Human Resources) before I finished my business degree. So, for my last year of study, I juggled part-time study with a full-time Human Resource officer role. I worked for a jewellery company and spent my days recruiting staff for our stores, helping to deliver retail training and doing admin for payroll and OH&S.
My most unique job...
After spending several years in the HR and Training space, I wanted to try something different. So I got a job working in the Information Security team of a big 4 bank in Melbourne, where I trained staff on how to protect company information and educated people about cyber crime. I was way out of my depth when I first got hired for this job, but I learned so much and have used a lot of that information in my books (particularly in Dangerous Bachelors Club series for Harlequin Blaze).
Now I'm an author which is definitely my best job but you already know that ;)
What was your first job? Or, tell us what your most unique or interesting job was...if you dare!
Hi Stefanie
ReplyDeleteWOW some interesting jobs there my first job was in the mail order dept of David Jones for 3 weeks just before Christmas the year I did my school certificate that was fun packing Christmas orders for all of the big sheep and cattle stations in the bush then I started work in a bank after that stayed there for 6 years became a stay at home Mum for 10 years that was fun then got a job washing dishes in a club on Saturday nights which led to 25 years service a Frontline Management diploma lots of hard work and fun and now I am retired and have been for just over 2 years and loving it. Of course I have sold Avon and Amway along way in which I loved the make-up :)
Have Fun
Helen
You've had some interesting jobs too! We used to get the avon catalogues at home and I would always spend hours looking at the colours and images, pretending to pick the ones I would buy haha
DeleteHey Stef.My first job was a dish pig in the restaurant at the racecourse in my hometown. I had to turn 14 that year to qualify. I turned 14 on the 21st of December ;-) but I was essentially 13 most of that first year :-)
ReplyDeleteI worked there for 2 years and got paid $14.81 cents for 4 hours of what was very busy work! But I bought my first stereo system with that money!
You just scraped in! I have no idea why the legal age in Vic is 14 years and 9 months - seems like such a random choice.
DeleteIt's crazy to think how many hours you'd have to work to even get $20 back then. I think my first job was barely $7 an hour.
Love this post, Stef. That information security position sounds very interesting!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was at McDonalds. I have to say I loved it. Such great training and made for a brilliant social life too. I ended up managing the store while I was at uni which helped with spending money to fund a student lifestyle. But I had to supplement that job with a job at Country Road to afford to build up a working wardrobe (great staff discounts) for when I graduated from my business degree - those clothes were so expensive!
My little sister's first job was McDonalds too! They really did put a lot of effort into training their staff and helping them build skills. Jobs like that set you up, I think. You learn how to problem solve, how to make conflict. All good skills!
DeleteGreat post, Stef! Well, wow, you've had some interesting jobs! I started out working in a pharmacy at age 14, stayed there throughout school and in uni holidays. First job out of uni I worked selling advertising space which I despised with a passion, then I did a year in HR for a huge department store in London. While at uni I did some great work placements; one at BBC TV headquarters (London) in the newsroom and three glorious months at Sadlers Wells theatre pretending to work in their Communications team but really just watching the dancing!!!
ReplyDeleteWow working for the theatre would have been amazing! I bet you saw some incredible things while you were there.
DeleteI like this post idea, Stef. My first job was splitting and cleaning iris bulbs after they'd been dug on my parents' commercial flower farm. I had to work as hard, if not harder, than the women to prove I wasn't being given the soft option. Once I left school I trained as a medical lab tech and loved it. A super job. Then I owned seven day superettes with my then husband, tried office work and back to the lab once I'd settled down in a new city and new marriage. Oh, and in Canada I watered plants for 12 hours a day, five days a week at a garden centre. No comment. :)
ReplyDeleteThe flower farm sounds like an interesting experience! I imagine a lot of work goes into what people buy at a florist without even giving it a second thought.
DeleteMy first job at 16 was at a drive-in restaurant in my hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin. They had an order of "jobs". Girls started out learning how to make all the ice cream treats from cones, to sundaes, shakes and Root Beer Whirls (a root beer float mixed in a blender until it becomes a shake...so good on a hot day!) (Boys had to chop onions, make the hamburger patties and make the rootbeer by hand)Then we learned to work the cash register, and after that you got promoted to carhop!!! That was the best job. They were open until 2 am (after the car factories closed, they made a lot of money from hungry factory workers because the bars closed an hour earlier) and on Friday and Saturday they were open until 3 am. My sister, brother and all our friends worked there, so it was a lot of fun, especially in the summer, when we all chose to work the 5pm-closing shift (better tips, and we had our days free to sleep and hang out at the beach) I worked there year round in high school part time, and then through all my college breaks and holidays. Even after I graduated nursing school in 1978 I would work Friday and Saturday nights, because I made more in tips those 2 nights than I did work full time as a nurse. I quit once I had enough money to buy a decent used car and paid cash, but I still visit every time I go home to get a SpotBurger and see some old friends. Most of the gang I worked with in high school and college are still friends to this day, several of them even got married to each other (That's how I gained a great brother-in-law!) Once we were 18 and could legally drink, summer nghts found us bringing a watermelon to work, inserting a pint of vodka in it and letting it sit in the cooler until work was over. After closing, we would have watermelon and play frisbee in the parking lot until the day cleaning crew showed up. At least the police got free food from the owner, so they let us stay as long as we were behaving. My least favorite thing about carhopping was that they were open 363 days a year, so you had to wait cars in snow mobile boots dressed like an Eskimo! BRRRR.
ReplyDeleteMust be something about starting out with ice cream as a first job! A lot safer than using an oil fryer or something like that, I guess. Thanks for sharing your job history, I always find it fascinating to see what people have done in their lives :)
DeleteLaurie, your drive in restaurant sounds so exotic to this Aussie gal! I now have Happy Days reruns playing through my mind. It sounds like the perfect funnest first job (in the summer, that is). :-)
DeleteHi Stef,
ReplyDeleteI love your makeup! You always look amazing.
My first job was cleaning my sister's boss's house on Saturday mornings when I was fourteen. I really enjoyed it as it was a nice house and it gave me a sense of satisfaction when I finished. I still quite enjoy cleaning but now I pay someone else to do it as I'm too busy.
Aww thanks Melanie! I can't seem to shake the passion no matter how long I'm out of the beauty industry :)
DeleteThere is some satisfaction about the end product of a clean house, right? I love it when the house is all sparkling and tidy :)
You've had some fun jobs, Stef! Like Jen I particularly love the sound of the one in Information Security. I bet that was an eye opener. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy first job was as a waitress in a coffee shop when I was 15 -- I loved making iced chocolates. My oddest job was sewing the crotch in men's knickers for the 14 months between high school and university. Ah, the things we do... ;-)
I think you get the award for most unique job, Michelle!!
DeleteAnd now I want an iced chocolate lol
Stef, I love your post! Fascinating reading about your jobs and the ones in the comments too. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMy first real, paying job was when I was fifteen working in a guest house not far from home as a Sunday dinner waitress--which meant laying the table to the exacting standards of the housekeeper, taking the meals to the table, removing the dishes and helping clear up and wash up. One time I arrived the weekend cook was totally drunk - that was a challenge! The next week she showed up too drunk to do a thing. I was a reasonable cook and I'd seen her do her stuff so I took over while she slept it off - the guests had to eat! Needless to say, she got the sack.More surprisingly, the housekeeper offered me the job as cook. I took over, got more money, and got to employ my friend as the waitress which was even better!
Nothing better than working with friends, right? I can't imagine dealing with drunken co-workers, though. That would be very tough!
DeleteHi Stef, what a lot of interesting jobs you've had. My first one was picking grapes for the wine harvest!
ReplyDeleteFirst job was working for KMart - started as a Christmas casual and because I actually grasp this thing called customer service I was kept on. I don't remember what I was paid in that job but I do recall it was a few dollars above minimum wage plus I go a pay rise about 2 weeks after I started due to the timing of my birthday. I got forced to leave that job before I wanted to... moving back Wellington when Mum died left me nowhere near a local KMart so transferring wasn't an option.
ReplyDeleteSince then I've worked for Hoyts, KFC and currently work in the local tax department. I had to master that dip in the melted chocolate task with icecream while I was at Hoyts. The best part of that job was getting to see movies for free (these days movie theatres apparently only discount staff tickets) but the draw back is even 12 years later, I don't go to many movies at the cinema as unless it's one I absolutely want to see (eg Fast and Furious franchise or 50 Shades franchise) I'm not willing to spend the money without a guarantee it'll be good.
KFC - let's just say I spent too many years there and leave it at that.
Current job - since I'm in the call centre, some days can be interesting because of the varying of calls, but other days it tends to be the same type of calls all day so can get repetive. The only draw back of the constant variation from call to call is that it can get mentally exhausting. That said two benefits from the job - the organisation is good at encouraging other areas of the business to recruit from call centre, plus I'm learning things that will help me do my own taxes once I get published instead of paying an accountant (I may choose to do so anyway depending on time etc, but it's good to know I have the knowledge to have the option not to)