1980 – aged 16 & during the school summer holidays, I applied for a few jobs & was successful in my first interview at the local TSB! I’d half considered applying to Uni to become a Librarian, but I was excited at the thought of working, so didn’t return to school & left with 5 O’levels, grades A-B & 7 x grade 1 CSEs.
1980 – at the TSB, I learned how to provide great customer service & how to use a computer; I loved working with cash & foreign currency & balancing my till (the assistant manager tested my mental arithmatic each day); I enjoyed interacting with customers (little old ladies who came in every day for company & a chat) but hated targets & having to ‘sell’ financial products to each person I served.
1987 – 1989 – I started a family young, first with a son, then a daughter & losing a baby boy in-between.
1990 – with two small children, I worked part-time at at Barclays, based at one branch, but covering the whole area as relief cashier when necessary. Becoming full-time in 1996, I progressed up to First Cashier, managing staff & responsible for efficient running of the counter & team, branch cash, ATMs, safety deposits, foreign currency & customer satisfaction. I loved the variation the role required, but hated performance manging my team & once again, those damned sales targets! I experienced the Bank’s restructure many times & my job became more & more stressful with more to do, but with less resources.
1996 – realised my ‘dream’ of working in a library, Nottingham University Hospital’s Green’s Medical Library, part-time out of hours. I did enjoy this, looking forward to my evening & weekend shifts assisting medical staff & students to find journal articles, manage & operating the stand-alone computer database (no internet!), checking books in/out & filing them back on the shelves.
2000 – I left the bank (a house move necessitated leaving the library in 1997) & worked in the sales office of a gas detector manufacurer using a DOS computer order/despatch/invoice system. Responsible for shipping detectors worldwide, I liaised with courier companies & learned how to complete various customs documentation to ensure units were delivered on time – even to meet US navy vessels during their brief stay in port. After 18 months, my role was made redundant.
2001 – worked for a large printing company, set-on as receptionist for their new state-of-the-art facility. Being there & involved whilst the factory was built & equipment installed, I soon became the Manufacturing Director’s PA. I loved the manufacturing & engineering process, in an open plan office looking out over the print floor. Eventually, in my own (admittedly lonely) office looking out front, I supported the CEO too. The company grew too fast, went into administation & was bought-out in 2004, but my role was made redundant as the new directors wanted their own EA. The job description was re-written accordingly, to include shorthand, which I couldn’t do, despite trying to learn a couple of times!
2004 – I went against my gut instinct (due to an agency sending me for interview) & obtained job as EA for the Corporate Finance Director of the UK’s largest car dealership. My banking experience was put to use as I managed the online transfer of funds for the most expensive cars. Although my colleagues were, in the main, lovely, I hated the job, the office environment & politics (all the directors’ EAs continually competed), the inflexibility of my employer & even disliked my boss who tended to manipulate people. I left after a few months. I should have listened to my gut!
2004 – obtained two part-time jobs for Nottingham County Council. One was out-of-hours (early mornings & alternate weekends) as central contact for Social Services Adult Homecare, liaising with clients, their carers & area team-leaders to deliver the best possible care services. The other, two days-per-week, in Education for Governing Body Services, working with the Clerks to schedule meetings & type-up accurate minutes & assisting school heads with their staff recruitment, placing vacancy ads in Education newspaper supplements, managing responses & sending out application packs.
2005 – I used my love of alternative therapies to demonstate & sell essential oils & skincare products by party-plan. I’ve continued to use essential oils ever since & have my go-to favourites.
2005 – was recruited by husband & wife team to work part-time at their social enterprise supporting people with mental health & other difficulties. I began by assisting the advocacy worker for a homeless charity/social landlord, attending resident meetings in hostels & supporting tenants facing eviction etc. Then, I managed the older person’s support service with team of independence workers each supporting a case-load of vulnerable & elderly clients. I was also the Directors’ PA responsible for facilities & tech issues with IT equipment. I was often found on my hands & knees under desks manipulating network cables, taking laptops apart, or logging into the server, following instruction from the IT consultant by phone. I kept my Notts CC homecare post (until made redundant), but left the education role, I also continued to demonstrate essential oils at evening parties.
2007 – after being made redundant from Notts CC Social Services, I changed from working early mornings starting at 6.30am, to late nights as a night club receptionist finishing my shifts at 1.30am! This was a revelation as I’d never ‘clubbed’ in my youth… I also supported the venue manager with the Gold Members Club & other admin duties. I was never tempted to serve behind the bar though.
2010 – after a difficult year, my social enterprise employer went into administration & I was redundant again. I worked closely with the Insolvency Administrator, moving clients to other support services & spent hours clearing out the office & all equipment, selling as much as possible. I decided not to look for another full-time post & started to operate as a freelance Virtual Assistant. Aware of my initiative & organisation skills, the Insolvency Administrator actually referred one of my first clients.
2010 – whilst building my VA business, I worked as part-time PA for the CEO of a charity supporting organisations working with learning disabled people. I was set-on to support the retiring CEO &, supporting the Trustees, assisted with recruitment of his replacement. The new CEO didn’t last long & six months later we had to recruit his replacement!
2011 – I became an exam invigilator for a year, back working for Notts County Council Education Services. My secondary school age children were in-turn, horrified & amused, seeing me at their school.
2013 – after two re-structures in three years, my charity PA role survived the first but, not wanting to apply for the new Office Manager post, I was once again made redundant. This enabled me to focus full-time as a Virtual Assistant & later that year, I also quit the night-club receptionist position. For the first time in many years, I had just one role, but many different clients! As a VA, I worked remotely most of the time, but also onsite, mainly local, but due to supporting Boards & minuting meetings, some were in London.
2017 – I became a 100% Virtual Assistant, taking advantage of my flexible business model to leave the UK & travel Europe working online supporting clients. Hubby & I packed-up everything we owned into our car & set-off with two dogs & a parrot. I ensured I always had a good internet connection & was able to continue to support clients seamlessly, on occasion & when necessary, flying to London. After travelling for some months, a little issue call Brexit, an unexpected pulmonary embolism, then a pandemic halted our nomadic lifestyle. We happened to be on The North Costa Blanca in Spain & love it here. We always knew we’d find a place to call home, somewhere we wanted to remain &, whilst forced to stay here, the area actually does suit us nicely &, certainly in the near future, it’s unlikely we’ll move away.