Graduate Applications

So the plan is to get onto a graduate scheme and hopefully start September 2014, in an ideal world. Anyway during my lunch hour yesterday, I googled ‘top graduate schemes’ and I came upon the ‘Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters’, what a quick search where I got what I wanted in approximately 5 seconds.

This is a fantastic site for all of you in the same boat as me. You do have to pop in your details and register but it gives you more information than those who don’t. Currently at the top spot, is PwC. However, I’m not so mathematically trained so I’m not sure my application would pass the first stages. Also on the list are; British Airways, Coca Cola, Mars, Microsoft, Google, KPMG, BBC and L’Oreal. All are well-known, but I didn’t expect anything less.

With a first class degree and some experience to back me, I’m going to throw in all I’ve got with many of these companies and hope for the best. I mean, minus my A-Level results which were far from ideal, I’ve had a year in industry, I will have worked at a charitable organisation as a marketing coordinator, hopefully done some volunteering in an undeveloped country, been part of university societies as well as being captain for the Ladies 1^st Tennis team and travelled some of the world. Surely, that’s an offer they can’t refuse. On paper, I’m a well-rounded person, so what would be there reason for not hiring me?

On-line tests and assessment days

These few words are the ones I dread on an application. On-line tests scare the hibbyjeebys out of me, with maths not been my greatest skill (despite my parents disagreement) the majority seem to revolve around this. So what happens next, I fail the test and that’s it, I haven’t even got a look in. And apparently even if I got my parents with their supernatural maths-like abilities to do the tests, they test you again at the assessment day. ERGH! Maybe I should do a couple of practices in preparation.

And assessment days, a good friend of mine is now in a graduate scheme with HSBC but he went through a bloody gruelling process to get there. He had to put together a presentation, that bare in mind, took him weeks to create and then present in front of quite senior people within HSBC. I mean, talk about pressure. Not only that, but everyone talks about the ‘dos and don’ts’ of a group interview stage.

·         Do step forward and give suggestions

·         Don’t speak too much

·         Do show team skills and encouraging others

·         Don’t come across of too much of a leader

·         Do give off a positive, enthusiastic vibe

·         Don’t look too keen

·         Do provide constructive criticism – great idea however I think…

·         Don’t big yourself up too much

Surely, you should just be yourself and not have to follow some sort of unstated guidelines. Surely that’s want these big organisations want, someone natural and not faking all to get a job, because if said person was to be hired, having claimed to have all these magical skills that wouldn’t work out so well for the company.

Now, what is wrong with a good old fashioned face-to-face interview?

The sound of professionalism

This is just a short post to let you all know that I now recognise the sound of professionalism. After a few weeks in the job it just hit me. It is a familiar sounds, that you will all subconsciously recognise.

So I don’t drink tea or coffee, only hot chocolate however when everyone in the office is taking their ‘cuppa’ into a meeting you look out of place with your carton of apple juice. As a result, I have got into herbal teas like Blackberry and Acai berry or Green Tea with Lemon. So during this one particular meeting, someone did the tea round and I opted for the green with lemon and as we were sitting there I hear the sound and recognise that it is coming from.

The sound is basically the noise the mug makes when a ring on your finger connects with it. You know the sound? I’ve grown up hearing my mum do it, who I’ve always thought of as a professional as she touch types on her computer and multi-tasks on the phone and now I’m doing it. I feel that this is a turning point in my life where I can finally call myself a professional and an adult. Jackpot!

Adding to my experience

So after a month of interesting interviews and late nights working at the pub, I finally managed to get myself a full time job working as a marketing co-ordinator. To say it’s a great opportunity is an understatement, I can’t wait to learn more skills, develop my marketing knowledge, meet new people and experience work within a charity organisation.

I have decided to keep my pub job (the more money to save the better) but only work a few evenings a week. I may regret this decision a few months down the line, in fact as I type this, I already starting to regret it, but I’m the type of girl who doesn’t mind being kept on her toes.

Green-eyed Monster

So the weekend that has just passed took me half way across the country to beautiful Lincoln to take my 18 year old brother to Lincoln.

Now let me just explain that the last time I visited Lincoln was not exactly in the same happy context. It was during was second year of uni and my close friend and roommate was in a long term relationship with a boy studying at Lincoln. On the Saturday night, my friend, myself and another friend of ours went for a rather messy night out and on our return home, our friend’s boyfriend had basically broken up with her via Facebook chat (really?). So being the great friends that we are, we made a alcohol-induced pact, sealed with a pinky promise to travel to Lincoln early the following day. Thinking back on it now, this probably was the best of ideas, considering the previous nights antics.

Anyway so the next day, the friend in question was up early waking us up to go, stocked up with Co-Op plastic bags full on bribing snacks and treats for the journey. So regretting our pact but in desperate need of the bag of treats we kept our pajamas and tumbled into the car. Finally 3 and a half hours later, we arrived to dreary Lincoln, where it was wet, cold and we were miserable with not only hangovers but also with the stress on that following week’s assignments.

On arrival, we come to a decision time. Do we just knock on the door of his room and potentially risk seeing him with another girl (me stirring ideas) or do we call him first. Enjoying a bit of drama, I preferred decision number 1. However, we then came to a dead-end as we needed a pass to get on site, so decision 2 would have to do. Our friend finally got him, much to her ‘ex’ boyfriend’s shock and they caught up on some much needed discussion. So for a solid 3 or 4 hours, my other friend and I sat in the car eating Wilkinson’s pic n’ mix and moaning about life. To cut off my painfully long and pointless story, my friend and her boyfriend got back together, however it was clearly not meant to be as 6 months or so later she actually broke up with him.

So anyway, Lincoln! We arrived on Saturday to a very sunny picturesque Lincoln and after dumping our bags in the hotel room, set out to explore the city and take as many pictures of my brother in his ‘new home’ as possible. Lincoln is filled with many independent little restaurants and tea shops and a variety of vintage type clothes shops. That evening we ate pastas at a delightful little Italian before heading off to Electric Bar overlooking the river for a nightcap cocktail.

The following day was time to say goodbye. We unloaded the car and I tried as much as possible to fit in as a student, and I did wonder whether people thought I would be the one joining them in their halls. We helped him unpack and sort out his room and through all this; I could feel a nagging sensation at the pit of my stomach. I recognised it immediately. Jealously. Now don’t judge me, I wasn’t necessarily jealous that I wasn’t at university, I was jealous of all the fun he was going to have for the next few years, all the new people he would meet, all of the new experiences he would experience. All my fantastic memories of university came flooding back and I wondered whether on the day my family dropped me off in my halls, whether I thought I would be where I am right now and graduating with a first.

For those of you that read this and haven’t yet gone to university, DO. It will be the best experience you’ve had. Out of all the people I ask, no one regrets that decision. So as we finally left him, I couldn’t help but feel sad, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because my brother would not be at home (as I will have a cleaner bathroom) but because my experience of university was over.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Having recently returned, not long ago from my Asian Adventure, money was quite obviously tight. Thank goodness for my lovely parents allowing me to live rent-free until a managed to get myself a full time job.

I’d count myself as a lucky graduate, as within a week of returning to glorious England, I managed to bag myself a pub job a short 5 minute walk away from my house. Obviously this wasn’t an ideal situation, as I wanted to use my ‘year out’ as a chance to travel the world but first and foremost, gather up as much experience as possible in my degree sector in order to get myself the best graduate scheme. However, being picky meant I had to also be patient, so my pub job helped to give me a little pocket money whilst applying for over many jobs.

My pub job is great in terms of tips, if you’re a waitress like myself, you keep all your own tips. Others may complain about this like the bar people or the kitchen staff, but at the end of the day, the waitresses are dealing with angry and impatient customers when the chefs don’t deliver the food in good time and the waitresses get the blame. Plus, I work hard at providing a good customer service, so I think it’s only fair, but then again everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

So on this one particular evening, I did rather well in tips and managed to bag a couple of notes, meaning that for once I left the pub on a high. Anyway so, the journey between the pub and my house is down a unlit, dark road, with fields either side, so being a young women like myself, I’m hardly likely to walk alone, so this is where my lovely parents come in again. They are ever-so-kind as to meet me and it’s not always that late. So as we walked home and I explained with glee my high earnings of tips that evening and as we got home and emptied my pockets to work out how much I had made. And one of my £5 notes had disappeared and as I was convinced that I definitely had been tipped that, my parents suggested we get out a couple of torches and head back towards the pub. Again thank you to my amazing parents. So we popped our shoes and coats back on and headed out, and low and behold, half way towards the pub we hit a jackpot and there was my soggy £5 note. I’m not sure this post describes how happy I was, but it sure does describe my desperateness. I mean, come on a ‘fiver’, in reality what sort of things will this buy you these days, you can’t even get a large glass of wine, so was it really worth it?

Welcome - Bienvenue - Bienvenido

Welcome to Peachy Keen Jelly Bean. I am a 22 year old graduate, seeking to master an understanding of this crazy world we live in. 

In the past 6 months, I have finished university, travelled around South-East Asia, worked three different jobs, applied for graduate schemes, graduated, partied a lot in Bristol and have enjoyed numerous spinning classes. My aim for the next 6 months is to travel some more, get onto a graduate job, keep working my three jobs, do some more spinning classes and continue to enjoy life.

You may have guessed but I want to travel the world (all of it) eventually, having only visited a small number of places. I am currently on my ‘gap yah’, saving as much money as possible to go on my next adventure as well as trying to organise a graduate scheme to come back to. All in a day’s work!

I would describe myself as an enthusiastic, ambitious, unrealistic fitness fanatic, with a good sense of humour and a penchant for weirdness. I graduated less than a week ago, with a first class honours degree in Marketing, Advertising and Communications. It is awful to say, but it is the end of an era for me and definitely my favourite era yet. However as they say, one door closes another one opens. I can’t wait for the next door.

As you read my next few posts that go up, you may feel a little confused. I wrote a few posts a few months ago, but I have been dithering about my new blog name so haven’t managed to publish them.

The name of my blog is ‘Peachy Keen Jelly Bean’, the reason behind this is due to my love of the movie Greese, my all time favourite. I can’t quite remember at which point in the movie it was said but Rizzo said it and it’s an awesome saying.

Until next time...