Are you a High Achiever?

I met up with an old school friend at Christmas. We only manage to see each other once or twice a year as he lives in London and I still live on good old Teesside where we grew up together. A conversation we had really got me thinking and after seeing a related article in a magazine and having a change or circumstances in my own life I mulled over about what we'd discussed.


The day that we had met up, my friend had already visited another friend and they'd been discussing who the 'high achievers' were from school. I found it interesting that every person mentioned had moved to the city and now worked as a freelance writer,  was in a good position for ITV or was jet-setting around the globe. Admittedly these are fantastic achievements, especially when you consider how competitive the job market is these days, but when I thought about the other things in their lives (I only know because of Facebook) then the rest of their lives didn't seem quite as well-rounded. Again, I'm not saying that you need a partner to be happy, but I know at least one of them had a failed engagement so I figured that at least one of them did want more from that aspect of their lives. I suppose what I'm asking is: How do you classify a High Achiever?


Career -wise, I've hopped around a bit. Now at age 30 I've still never settled on one thing I've always wanted to do. I'm more a 'Mr Ben' type who would like to have lots of experiences until maybe one day I've found something I LOVE. I've worked in retail, pharmacy, admin and I've been self-employed and I've loved most of them for different aspect of each role. I must say at times I've been very envious of people who have always known what they've wanted to do, they've focused on getting there and they'll do this job until they retire. I suppose by 30 I expected to be on more money and a bit more settled than I am, but then every other aspect of my life is perfect and this year I'll be taking on my most challenging role yet - being a mammy! I've heard the pay is rubbish but the rewards are second to none ;)


I class myself as wage poor but experience and love rich and so I would class myself as a high achiever. Of course I'd love to be on more money but I wouldn't swap it for anything that I have in my life. I was lucky enough to meet my husband when I was 19 and we'll have been together 11 years this year. We're blessed enough to have a baby on the way and we work hard to have nice experiences and a beautiful home and are lucky enough to have amazing relationships with our families and friends. That's something all the promotions and money in the world can't earn you. So if I had that conversation again, I might argue that myself and other people in a similar position to me are also 'High Achievers' and need adding to that hallowed list for less obvious but equally as important success.

Flukey is a word that may describe this?!

I went to work as usual yesterday for the new place and then when 5:30 arrived, I nipped over to the pharmacy to meet the lady who had phoned up the night before. I was a bag of nerves waiting for a grilling about how I thought I was suitable to work there and then waiting for them to tell me just how unsuitable and inexperienced I was for such a job.

The lady (lets call her 'L') took me outside the health centre for a little chat as it was insanely busy inside. L asked what I was after with regards to work and I told her "full time as I have my house to pay for". Then she moved onto the make or break "what is your work background?" question. I couldn't lie and told her that my only experience was the last 6 or 7 months as a receptionist in the Dr's surgery. It was a bit of  a blur after that with me jabbering on about how "I'm a hard worker and willing to learn and have pursued further education to better myself la la la" but the interview only lasted a total of about 5 minutes and didn't go how a normal interview would. I was waiting for her to say she would let me know when she turned and said "well as far as I'm concerned that's the interview done with, can you start Monday?" You could have knocked me down with a feather! Full time? Yes. Min wage? Yes, but with training it's only set to pay more. I didn't want to come off as ungrateful but I asked if I could start the following week so I didn't drop the new place in it after they'd been kind enough to offer me a job. I think L thought it was quite honourable because she was quite happy for me to start a week later than she'd asked.

So there you are. I'm going to be a Pharmacy Girl! I think this goes as far as I want it to now because with an opportunity that I would never walk into otherwise and a bit of hard work and showing willingness from me, this could be a whole new career! Mental. I've got a lot to thank the Doctor for, as the day I got my notice he had obviously been putting some very generous and magical words in for me. I love the very bones of that man. He is truly one of the kindest and greatest people I have ever met. However hard a worker I was, I would never have got an interview with the pharmacy otherwise.

I am one very smiley and happy young lady. Here's to a new adventure!

Jobs and trying to find one quickly!

If you had asked me what I wanted to be when before I left school I would simply have said "well paid". Years on I have realised that people should just be grateful to be employed at all.

There are a lot of people in my position. I've stuck in at school and university and was told that a good degree will open the door to most jobs. What I've found is quite the opposite and that's not necessarily because of lack of work experience. I've worked since I had just turned sixteen so it's not lack of effort there.

Where the blame does perhaps lie is the way I've approached my career. A bit of a scatterbrain approach is how I'd describe it and that's maybe because I would like to split myself a few different ways and experience lots of different jobs and sectors. This does not make for a good, or particularly focused C.V.

The thing I find the most frustrating is that people can't or won't give you a chance these days. I've fallen lucky this year as when I was made redundant in March, I put a cheeky application in for a sick leave cover job in a field I'd never experienced or really entertained before. I was offered the job - my current employers really took a chance on me - and thankfully it paid off for both of us. I've loved working there and met some great people and learnt some new skills and just generally interesting stuff. Unfortunately, the lady who was on the sick, is now returning to work and although she's well within her rights to claim back her job, it leaves me in an awkward position. Sad times.

So the job hunt begins again, and for the past few weeks it's been at its time consuming and soul destroying best. Apparently I'm qualified for nothing. Some people have inferred I'm over qualified and some people said I'm under qualified. Fair dooos about the under qualified bit but I can never quite get my head around being over qualified. Ok maybe you don't want to invest in someone who might want to move on quickly but then surely thats true of any level of qualification. Surely the fact that you're applying is enough to let someone know you want AND need this job?

Wish me luck. This is an emergency!

Back to the Drawing Board

Well, today has been a strange day so far. I had a job interview which seemed to go well and was actually quite enjoyable. The less enjoyable part was knowing that I got told today so everytime my phone was buzzing I was almost having a cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, they chose someone already doing that role somewhere else. Grrrr, how about internal applications only? Back to the drawing board...

The other slightly distracting thing is that I have a disgusting cold that has totally come out of nowhere. Saturday I was fine and then since Sunday I've been getting progressively more sniffly and sick  which probably didn't sound too impressive in the interview this morning. I'll blame the cold if I don't get picked haha.

I think when you're waiting for news of any variety it can be very distracting indeed. Things that you intend to get on with seem not to get done somehow and then if you don't get the news you want the whole day seems wasted. Mind you, a few book reviews I'm doing have kept my mind on something other than employment so it wasn't a complete loss.

Have you had any big news (good or bad) that you've been waiting on recently? I'd love to know I'm not the only one or to share your successes :)

A bit of a bummer...does anyone want to employ me?

Sorry my blog posts have been a bit few-and-far-between but this past week or so has been a bit strange and not in a good way. On Thursday I got made redundant. It was a bit of a shock which resulted in a few tears, but part of me wasn't surprised because of what has happened recently when I've been forced to take a reduction to my contracted hours and other rubbish things.

I don't really want to get into all the details but to be honest I've been a bit gutted about it all after doing a lot more than my job description meant for me to do. The thing I'm most gutted about is that it was a great job. I loved the people I worked with and loved the job I did. Now I'm left worrying that I will find it hard in the current climate to find a job which is a pretty rubbish situation for anyone.

So whilst I'm trawling the job page in the paper and scrolling through endless job sites, if anyone wants to offer me a shiny, lovely new job please do! I'll love you forever!