Receptionist and Administrator in a Totally New Field

In my previous job I was a receptionist/administrator.  I had been there for 5 years and was feeling bored, stifled and unappreciated.  I was determined not to end my working career in a job I had come to loath.

I updated my CV and took what I had learnt from my time working with a recruitment company not to be shy about what my strengths were.

Then I saw Karen’ Career Articles in a magazine which advised those of us who have been working for a long time to remove the earlier parts of their working life from the CV which were no longer relevant and which would give the recruiter the opportunity to discard the CV on the grounds of age – whether consciously or not.

For me, the challenges were mainly believing in myself and not getting discouraged.  I also faced the challenge of having only an ipad to work from, which didn’t have Outlook or Word.  Attaching a CV to an email via dropbox proved very tricky, but I felt a sense of achievement when I was able to work around this.

I am now working as a Receptionist/Administrator in a totally new field!

The boost that Karen’s articles gave to my self confidence was tremendous!

I realised the company really wanted me and were even prepared to offer me more than the advertised salary to entice me.  I have been given the opportunity to learn several new systems which have been introduced and now I teach others in the office how to work with them  – we are called ‘Office Heros’.  I am fortunate to have a wonderful boss who tells me how much he appreciates me and this gives me the confidence to tackle the everyday issues that arise.

My Top Tips would  be to not allow yourself to get into a rut – it is too easy to work in the same place, at the same pace without any challenges and then to find that you are too scared to push yourself into something new.

Believe in yourself – we all have our strengths and weaknesses but people are generally happy to help you if there is something that you find difficult to grasp.