So it was pointed out to me a few days ago that it was this week four years ago that I graduated from University.
I was actually gobsmacked because it feels like I graduated five or six years ago.
I wanted to do a post on the difference between what you learn from school/university from what you learn in work (werking life).
Printing Press
I started my werking life when I was 15 - I sat in a printing press with about four other people and we put a farmers journal together, I mean physically we stapled it together, put it in an envelope and sent it off.
While my 'education' started at around 4 years old, I feel like I only started learning what has shaped me and my career when I started working.
Shop Life
After working in the printing press I worked in a local shop - I unpacked things, I filled out shelves, I mopped the floors, I worked on the deli and I worked on the till, I was still 15.
I didn't like my manager, he was quite mean to me so my first lesson I ever learned about work (and I've never forgot) is a negative attitude creates a negative work place which means a negative place for customers.
I.E be mean to your staff and they'll feel like crap, their performance will be crap and then your product/service will be crap also.
I can remember more about about my jobs than I can remember school or subjects or assignments I did... and genuinely keeping your staff motivated and being nice to people is number 1.
Bar Work
When I was 16 I started doing lots of bar work (totally illegal) but I was a bar manager at one stage as well as normal bar staff.
That went on for a year or two and involved travelling to different counties as well. The tips were handy and I thrived on the busy atmosphere and just the absolute craic we all used to have behind the bar.
It was working behind the bar that made me realise I was a people person - I was able to put on the charm (I got lots of tips).
I also loved managing things - being in charge of the bar, in charge of tables, setting up corporate boxes, dealing with high end clients, it all came natural to me.
To be a good bar person you need to have good chat, and my bubbly personality paid off (literally).
Leaving Cert
I did take a slight break from working then - and that was for my Leaving Cert.
I changed to a grind school (Limerick Tutorial College) to focus only on studying, and that included 9am starts and 10pm finishes Monday - Friday.
I did some bar work through the holidays but that was it.
I have to say I loved my time at LTC and it was probably the only time I was ever happy in school - and it was there I realised my love for English as well as Business.
The second I finished my Leaving Cert I was looking for work - and it was slim pickings.
I remember I even worked in a chipper for a few days, I was up for any challenge.
Early Learning Centre
But soon I had another job - this time it was working for the Early Learning Centre.
Having 'the chat' was handy here as well because I had targets for selling products - yes children's toys but adults are the ones buying so the charm is important.
I loved being at the front of the shop talking to customers as well as setting up little displays, and every week we had a Product of The Week and there were incentives for who sold the most (of course I won that a few times).
The most hellish part of that job was that every Friday at 6am I had to take in a delivery with another member of staff - it took about an hour to lift heavy wooden toys up two flights of stairs and then I had to pack them away in a very specific order in the stock room.
Soon I was cashing up at night, opening up in the morning and locking up - again I was drawn in to roles with responsibility and I loved it - I was 17 at this stage.
That delivery every Friday became even more hellish when I started college because Thursday nights was the official going out getting pissed student night - so 9 times out of 10 I was extremely hungover or maybe still a bit drunk.
I found that a lot of people in college didn't even have jobs, so while people spent their evenings and weekends doing projects or just relaxing I was always, always working.
Starting in UL
So let's talk about college then....
I always knew I wanted to be a writer, since I was about 5 or 6. I wrote my first book of short stories around that age (which I still have) and I was constantly writing poems and songs and stories.
But when I was studying in LTC I got the notion that I really wanted to study Law. Once I had a year where I wasn't working and I was only focusing on my education - that's where my head was at.
And I got the points for Law in my mocks and I was on the way.
Unfortunately I got very sick around the actual Leaving Cert which led to me getting lower points and I remember feeling devastated.
I walked down the steps of LTC and genuinely dropped to my knees and started crying because I knew I was under the points for Law.
Awkwardly I had agreed to work in the Early Learning Centre that day, so I spent my time standing at the till balling crying as customers tried to buy toys around me (sorry about that).
So I was offered English and New Media in the University of Limerick.
I remember getting the pack sent to my house and AGAIN bawling my eyes out. I was set on law and I didn't want to write or be a journalist anymore.
My mum suggested I take a year out and work and then go to college - but I knew once I started working full time I would never go back to education.
So I took a chance and I joined the course - even though I already hated the idea of it.
Joining O2
The first few months I still didn't know if I like it. I enjoyed my English Literature modules and Media was cool but I had no real passion yet, then my job in O2 came along.
To this day O2 was one of my favourite if not my favourite company ever to work for.
I plagued them with my CV, mainly because their call centre was right beside UL but also because I was sick of my Friday morning deliveries in the Early Learning Centre.
Eventually I got an interview (one interview I thought) which actually turned out to be five different interviews with different managers, different levels of managers and different departments.
I had just turned 18 and I remember being one of the youngest people there on the day, but I absolutely loved it.
As well as one on one interviews we did group assignments together - and honestly that's where I always stand out.
I did a part time Youth Leadership course in secondary school as well and I always naturally fall into the role of leader.
Delegation, responsibility, coming up with ideas - I jump at all of those three things.
So I got the job, which initially was meant to be answering phone calls from Pay As You Go customers and helping them with Top Up queries or networking issues.
We did a six week training course and at the end a few people were picked to work for the business team instead - working on Corporate Accounts and Bill Pay (I was picked).
Easier job, more responsibility, less screaming...
I'm pretty sure I did over 20 hours a week there - while still in UL and these were the days of overtime so I used to sometimes do full time hours in there.
There was also some incentives in there and I always went for them, I was making serious money for a college student.
Even during exam times I would have my English Literature novels stacked up in front of me in the call centre and I would be highlighting passages and writing essays while on the phone to customers.
Working in O2 has heavily influenced me and has led to alot of the attributes I have as a CEO today.
O2 was the Google of my time - they had career paths, graduate programmes, a stellar HR team, so many opportunities to grow and just a great attitude. If you killed it in work they rewarded you.
San Diego
At this stage I was so focused on O2, I had all my friends and most of my relatives switched to the network, I loved everything about it.
But I had to start thinking about where I wanted my career to go.
My seniors had talked to me about staying on in O2 and working in their advertising graduate programme, and doing a master in advertising and became a Creative Director.
It was coming to the end of my first year in college and I my friends and I decided to go on a J1 - but I was terrified of letting go of O2.
So I told them I would be moving to San Diego for four months and they dealt with it really well and promised me they would take me back (and they did).
Over in San Diego I actually worked too, I was a waitress in a place called The Treehouse which was in the San Diego Zoo.
Out of a group of about 15 of us me and one other girl were the only two to get jobs.
I did have money saved from O2 though but my brain was always on working.
A few weeks into California though I was sick of everyone else having no jobs and I felt I was missing out, so I quit the waitress gig.
I did love it but this summer needed to be about having fun. And I did. I went to Vegas, Mexico and had lots of ups and downs but it was one of the best summers of my life.
Work life and University are both to thank for that.
University because you have to be a student to do the J1 and work because that's what gave me the money to go there.
So I returned to Ireland then and back to college, I was in 02 straight away and the first semester was fine.
The Limerick Post
Then after Christmas I needed to complete a placement.
During my course we had to do a minimum of six months working somewhere, and while most people went off to Spain to teach English, I wanted to keep working in O2.
By pure chance my dad ended up doing a job for the editor of the Limerick Post and being the natural networker he is (that's where I get it from) my dad took his card and said he had a daughter interested in writing.
So a week later I was in the Limerick Post being told there was no position for me and they didn't have the time to teach someone.
In the meantime I had been putting the Co-Op office off saying I had a position (even though I was meant to start in two days).
I told the editor to let me work for just one week - and let me sink or swim.
I got my foot in the door got into deep water and I didn't sink...and thankfully I made the Co-Op start date just on time.
At the same time as all this I kept on my job at O2. So Monday to Friday I would work in the Limerick Post - writing stories, interviewing politicians, business owners, writing features (even motoring), going to events and much more.
That was 9 - 5.30 every day and then three evenings a week I would work 6.30- 10.30pm in O2 as well as working there every weekend.
Can I just say again I was making a hell of a lot of money then when I was a student....
It was working in the Limerick Post that 100% kickstarted my passion for journalism and I ended up staying there for eight months, and I loved every minute.
As the placement came to an end, college was starting back in two weeks and I was devastated. I had learned more there in my eight months then I felt I would ever learn in University.
Even my editor then told me there was no point in returning to college because you're either born a journalist or not - and the only way to learn and grow is by working.
I was so sad to be leaving and I knew there and then that I had a passion for journalism, but my business and sales side was still buzzing.
Promotion to Sales
I returned to college and in the meantime I heard of a sales position opening up in O2.
It was a part time position but mainly week days and some weekends - as a student that seemed difficult but my manager encouraged me to go for the job.
At this stage I was a 19-year-old college student in third year, and abut 20 people in there went for the job.
There was two positions going and once again about five interviews.
Somehow I flew through the interviews and I was doing a trial week alongside 9 other people who were also up for the position - again only two of us would get the job.
Everyone on the sales time were well into their 20s,30s and 40s and they all had years of sales experience.
The job entailed getting O2 customers to renew their contract and also there was a huge push on getting customers to set up a broadband account (it was brand new then).
Everything had commission on top - so getting someone to renew was one amount, buy a phone another and broadband was the most.
We were given targets during our test week and I beat them all.
And it wasn't an easy job. This was 2008/2009 the recession was starting to hit hard and no one had any money - plus it was all cold calling.
The phone would ring and I wouldn't even know who the customer was until they answered the phone - because everything was set up digitally.
But I called them telling them 1. They had a problem (wrong package, old phone, bad internet). 2. I had the solution (new package, new phone, new broadband) and 3. We value you as a customer (I've called you to sort this out all over the phone).
To me it came naturally - and a week later I got the job.
So at this stage I was going to a lecture in the morning and then going into work for the day, and when I say I made a lot of money before in college here at this sales job I made as much as a full time position if not more.
The commission was ridiculous and then I started winning Sales Person of The Month awards - that was nice.
One day I was given cake and a glass of champagne and then told I could take a half day.
So again, working in O2 hugely shaped me.
At one point because I was selling so well, a manager asked me would I write up a sheet of instructions and phrases, to show other people working there what they should say to customers and how they should handle situations.
They ended up using that call sheet for a long time - even long after I left.
Living in Italy
Because I was still in University though I had another thing I had to complete - my Erasmus.
This is the first and only time I didn't work. I ended up living in a tiny town outside of Bologna for six months where literally no one spoke English and I didn't have a word of Italian - so there was nowhere I could work.
I got a small Erasmus grant and lived off that - eventually I learned Italian but not fluent enough to hold down a job.
So for those six months I got to focus on my education again - although that didn't really happen. I didn't go to most of my classes - and my French class was taught through Italian so I didn't understand a word.
Instead I found my love for travelling again. I loved every second of San Diego and I loved Italy just as much.
I went to Rome twice, Verona, Florence, Venice, Milan, Rimini - everything was just a train ride away.
Obviously University again was to thank for that because without the Erasmus I never would have lived in that small town and had the experiences I had.
When I returned to Ireland again the recession had got so much worse - and O2 couldn't take me back because there was no money for jobs - I was devastated.
Vodafone & SPIN Southwest
But I got out there with my CV and went looking for work. Really quickly I got a job in Vodafone - another customer care call centre.
This was dealing with Vodafone internet at home only so slightly different. It was a company that was being outsourced by Vodafone and they were a struggling start up - they honestly didn't know what they were doing.
I ended up helping to train most of the staff and again I actually wrote all the call sheets, as well as so many other things (I was only 20).
That company was a mess and I was working over 40 hours a week sometimes (yes I was still in college).
That was probably my least favourite place to work because the staff were so un-motivated and I was doing so much for little return.
While I was there I also got a job in Spin Southwest as a News Reader and Broadcast Assistant.
So again I was going to lectures then going to either of those jobs.
But Spin Southwest is where I found my love for journalism again. We had to research all our own news segments and they had a showbiz roundup as well - I had always been obsessed with celebrity culture so this was my favourite part.
I worked there for a year and I loved being in the entertainment industry, I thought about going into programming and presenting a show - I wanted to do it all.
Miss Red Blog
Because I loved writing the showbiz stories I decided to start up a showbiz blog - originally called Maggie Red then Miss Red.
And the name was because I didn't want anyone to know I was the one writing it. Perez Hilton had started around that time and I wanted to do an Irish version.
I got some really cool interviews on the site for such a new thing (blogs really didn't exist back in 2010) but I managed to get Laura Whitmore, Vogue Williams etc.
So I was working in Vodafone, working in Spin Southwest, updating my blog nearly every hour with stories and going to college.
I used to put everything on the blog - I had a 7am post that went through the weather around the country plus the top entertainment stories and then I covered breaking stories all through the day.
It was creating this job that got me my first job in a national newspaper - The Herald.
But all this time I was still going to lectures and it was coming up to my final exams.
And don't get me wrong I did love college, certain subjects in particular have helped me in my career as well.
E.G we did a Technical Writing course which included created your own flash ads as well as creating a website - things that were vital to me setting up Goss.ie.
Studying English Literature as well opened me up to a world of new words and understanding and stream of consciousness and critical thinking.
And through one module in particular Sociology of The Media I became a huge critical thinker and if anything it made me critical of the media industry - but that was an amazing outlook to have.
My Final Year Project was titled 'Journalistic Pressures In The Newsroom' and I compared my time in SPIN with my time in the Limerick Post and spoke in depth about newsworthiness, something I am still always trumping on about today - again I was only 20 then.
Most people in my course had never even had part time jobs or any experience in media and my project was one of a kind - to the point where I was asked to do a research masters.
But as usual my mind was on work - and before my final exams had even begun I got my job in the Herald.
Obviously I've talked a lot on this blog about the last four years and working in different publications - but it's interesting to look back on my college years and see what really influenced me.
I get a lot of emails from aspiring journalists about which course to do, what to put on the CEO etc, and while I always suggest UL because I did love New Media and English - it's also because I had an Erasmus and Placement during my time there, so I got to learn in different ways.
However I will always say that the number 1 thing is to start working in the media now. Whether you're 17 or 27 do some research work for a radio station, if you're in college work on the magazine or radio, or create a media campaign for someone being nominated for the Student's Union.
But I have taken people on and will continue to hire people who don't have a third level degree but maybe they've done some bit of a media course or they just have a blog.
A well written blog is good enough for me to at least meet someone for an interview.
And when I look at CVs I look at their time in college and whether they worked or not - it's so important to me. Because you can't teach work ethic, and you won't know how far you are willing to go to get work done until you've been pushed to your limit.
It's only in the last year that I've realised how important all those part time roles were, the times I worked two jobs, the promotions I got and all the little jobs in between.
Being a CEO and running a business does require some natural leadership skills but understanding how a business is run and how important it is to focus on motivation and staffing, getting sales, and working on the overall vision - most of that came from my working experience not from college.
I loved University for so many reasons, and at some point I would love to go back and do a masters so of course I see value in education and specifically learning how to do research and understanding critical theory.
Basically...
I'll leave it on this note - since leaving college no one has ever asked me my QCA (results) nor have they asked me what I got in my leaving cert.
When it comes to this industry you are as good as your last piece of work, your last business, your last idea.
So if you want to write - write, if you want to set up your own business - do it. Don't get bogged down about your CAO, your modules, what courses you want, your lack of experience...if you work hard enough you'll get where you want to be.
I spent four years in college, but I've definitely learned more in the last four years working in this industry then any lecturer or assigned book could ever have taught me...
Ali
x
Dreaming, Believing, and SERIOUSLY Werking...
