I realise there are a multitude of blogs available on the Internet these days; each one with their own unique spin and take on life. Some are interesting, some are just plain gibberish. I have never been into the idea of blogging so your probably thinking to yourself, why is he doing this? Well that is a very good question and makes for a good introduction to my blog. To answer this, you need to know a little about me first.
I'm Mark, a 23 yr old Somerset guy who has recently moved to the big smoke. I graduated from Plymouth University in 2011 and was very overwhelmed by getting my first job at a major pharmaceutical company. The job sold to me was working on their biggest project which will fundamentally change the way the company works. This sounded like an amazing opportunity for my first job and I was looking forward to making a real impact. The reality, however, was not what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been making the tea and coffee, what I have been doing is much worse; nothing. I cannot honestly tell you what I have been doing on this job in the past year other than learning and training. It has been hard to prove myself or shine as an individual as I haven't been given the opportunity to do so. "I haven't been given the opportunity to do so". As soon as I said this to myself I had a thought; why should I wait for someone to give this opportunity, why don't I make the opportunity for myself and grab it with both hands? It's this thought that has given life to this blog. I wanted a way to share how I am faring with life as a graduate and hopefully help give other graduates advice and insight into life beyond the job advert. It also never hurts to practice my writing ability and bolster my CV whilst I am at it :)
Now I don't want this to be all about me. If anyone has any insights of their own experiences in their first few years as a graduate, how they have coped and fared and any advice that could help fellow graduates then please let me know by emailing me at mwcooksley@googlemail.com and I will gladly post a feature on here to help and grow this community
I hope you are as excited as I am to join me on this journey
Nice sum up, problem with enterprise. After my time at Oracle that summed up my desire to never work in corperations. Large IT systems, too much to know and learn.
ReplyDeleteBeen working for a Digital Agency (40 man crew) for coming up to a year, I've learnt alot but done an Awful lot.
I have a good 6+ apps to my name, I work for the leading Digital Agency in Europe.
Downsides, less pay, no big budgets, less flexibility for time, and maybe not as much opportunity for dedicated training, but learn on the job comes into its own here.
Why do people work in enterprise for 40 years? Probably because they are still learning how the damn company works!
Thanks for sharing Chris! Great to see that small companies give you the two things most graduates strive for; respect & responsibility.
ReplyDeleteIn my honest opinion, on-the-job experience beats formal training hands down. If I was hiring two people who had the same number of years experience but one had done great work for their company, I would hire that person every time.
On the flip side, the organisation's name on your CV can make the difference. The real question is, do you stay in a job where you struggle to get real responsibility just to get the formal training and the name on your CV?
Would be interesting to hear some views on this
It would be interesting to hear from recruiters/management on whether having a large organisation on a CV is that much of an advantage. I assume it provides a certain amount of weight during initial CV sifting but may become less relevant as the detail of the individual is explored further.
ReplyDelete