Hey Sweeties,

You need to bear with me today, I am doing something a bit ‘out there’ but you know me, I don’t hide anything on here, some could say that I am even too honest and open but hiding doesn’t really achieve anything and it’s not what I want this blog to be about. I tell you like it is and I hope you like that about me. I also hope some of you can relate to me and by sharing in my frustrations, my values and ideas, I in some way actually help you. Please let me know if I do or if there is something else you would find useful to read about.

Anyway.

Last week, I attended as part of my work, a brilliant conference and through that, met two truly brilliant women –Stephanie Hamilton and Vanessa Vallely. Stephanie works for my organisation and is taking her division by the horns and driving her passions into it to get the results she needs by energising her people; she is incredibly motivating. Vanessa is from outside and was invited to speak at the conference and she is quite literally the East-end gal done good!

So who is Vanessa Vallely? Get on Google now and Amazon while you’re at it! She’s pretty amazing but the information key to this post is that she is the founder and MD of WeAreTheCity which addresses the lack of women in senior positions and provides a platform to try and change that. Vanessa is also a motivational speaker; her talk ‘The power of profile –The importance of being able to articulate what you’re about’ is truly uplifting and inspirational while making complete sense.

Meeting Vanessa

I didn’t have a lot to say (or I did, but didn’t know what to say first or at all really) and to be honest, this probably drummed in Vanessa’s point about confidence and articulating yourself. I said hello because I needed to, what I wanted to do was go up, hug her, cry on her shoulder and have her tell me that everything is going to be ok over a cocktail or two. Her words truly made an impact on me. Vanessa was incredibly friendly and despite my lack of articulation, was very reassuring.

What I have failed to mention is that throughout Vanessa’s talk as well as during others that spoke during the conference but mostly Vanessa’s, I found myself feeling a bit life coached and consequently emotional. The conference was about growth, growing the business but more importantly growing you.

You guys know how much I champion female success and wanting to surround myself with great female role models who have actually worked their own asses off to be the women I look up to and Vanessa has added herself to my list. But in equal measure you know how open minded I can be about 21st century feminism and what it means to be a modern woman today. Yes I disapprove of the likes of Miley Cyrus but she’s doing her own thing and power to her. Yes I disapprove of women taking their clothes off but at the same time I love Playboy because I think it does it more tastefully and hey, the Playmates aren’t being forced to strip and are earning a decent buck while doing so!

So here’s where I am at:

For the full lowdown until this point (in my career), please read My Graduate Experience that I published in 2013 (on my old blog but has been moved over here). I now pick up on my time since writing that post.

My break in communications/marketing didn’t unfortunately, quite turn out to be the break I was expecting. It was a great little company that I could have done something truly fantastic with but it was unfortunate I wasn’t developed so I had to make the difficult decision to leave for somewhere that would, essentially to gain the experience I should have got in that first role.

Let it be known that I have had a fantastic year with my current employer. I have surpassed expectation and made myself indispensable and I love my team but -and I hate to say it- I am overqualified for the role which is why I am sat here, tremendously frustrated and back applying for the roles I believe will finally be the making of me. I can do so much more and have a huge amount of potential yet to be unleashed so it is a little heart-breaking to still be in a situation where I feel I am nowhere near the level I should be working at, the salary I could be earning and the success I could be feeling. But as I made clear in my original post, you have to keep going!

So here is why I think you should employ me…

I am creative, I have ideas and I will give you 110% and more.

I am helpful, friendly and very approachable. I have a great can-do attitude which is something I have always been credited with; I will give anything a go. I am honest, hard-working and incredibly loyal (I am a Leo after all). Speak to me because with the best will in the world, this blog post and a paper-based application (CV & cover letter); will not quite do me –or anyone- justice. Do not be blinded by someone’s lack of experience, or the University they went to or the decisions they have made to date. We young people have applied to your company because we want to work for you. Just because someone went to a top Uni doesn’t mean they are what you are looking for.

What I need from you is:

• To see my potential & utilise it
• A role with progression, I want to grow with a company so allow me to stay.
• I need to be pushed and I need to be challenged. I don’t want to go home crying every night feeling out of my depth but I want to achieve that feeling of complete satisfaction that I did a great job that day/week.
• I love writing! I will flourish in an editorial team or in a different communications environment to expose me to more things but where I get to do a lot of content based tasks. I am incredibly open-minded so utilise this.

At the moment I feel I am letting myself down by not being in a position I feel is really meeting my potential, but equally I feel I am letting down my current workplace as I know I am sat there at my desk, in a meeting etc. and the light has gone out. That’s not fair and it’s not good enough.

I just feel I have a lot to achieve, particularly before life takes a different direction with children and family commitments (still a good five years away, don’t panic!). I simply just want to feel that I am the best possible version of myself I can be at various times of life. Right now, yes I am only a couple of years out of University and thus probably completely on track for greatness, but I know I don’t feel it. I know I can do more and be more, so I am looking for that next opportunity to take me the next step in my journey. I want to be like Vanessa in my later life, I want to be able to look back at my own life, my own growth and be able to turn it into a truly powerful story to motivate others just like she has done with me.

Believe in yourself and learn how to articulate what you’re about, someone will listen!

Until next time x