We all know that getting your dream job can be hard work. Especially when they will ask for you to have some experience in that field. Getting that experience can be a hard thing to achieve when you have nowhere to start and most companies look for people with experience for their work experience/intern positions. It's a common problem, it happened to me before I got to where I am now.
I got my Sports qualifications when I was in my early twenties (shhh it wasn't that long ago) and then I got a part time job in a record store. The part time job turned into full time, and then I went from sales assistant to Manager within a few years in one of the biggest stores in the UK. I loved working there, don't get me wrong and it was some of the best years of my life but I always wanted to get back into the sports world. I then started looking for work and the word "experience" kept appearing. Damn. I then quit my job and set about getting myself some experience but then ended up temping. A girl has to have a job to fund her spending habits!
Temping then turned into me becoming a Manager at a property repairs company. Notice how I was getting experience in every other job but the one I wanted? Typical. Then I spotted an intern job over the Summer at a local football club. I sat and wrote out my application, then re-wrote it and finally once I was sick of re-writing I sent it in. Then I did that thing where you have told yourself you won't get it but at least you tried. Then I got an interview.
After the interview came the letter that stated I had got the internship and would be starting in 6 weeks. I handed in my notice with the repairs company and prepared for finally getting into the job I wanted. I learnt so much and ended up getting a job with them. I was in. I had pushed myself in. I've seen my application form I submitted and I was bloody cheeky, telling them how they were missing out on the best thing etc. OMG! Such a wannabe. But it got me in.
I've always been thankful of that internship (stop trying to work out how old I am by the way) and decided this year I would repay the favour. So I advertised for an intern for the summer this year, and I had a lot of applications. One application stood out and it went straight to the top of my pile, I interviewed about 30 people. Apparently I shouldn't have interviewed as many; but I did. That one application still stood out, she was gutsy and had a genuine interest in wanting to learn. I saw a lot of me in her, and there was no doubt that she was the one. So I sent her the letter stating when she would start etc and then several weeks later I got a call from her saying she didn't think she could take the internship this year and could she do it next year.
I found out she had been on a skiing trip and had hurt her leg and she was on crutches, she would be on crutches for the first two weeks of her internship. I went to visit her and it became very clear how much she still wanted the job.
So she starts on Monday, I delayed the start so that she'll be off her crutches and to me the delay is no problem but it shows me how much she wants it. That's what I want.
