First Job-Worked at Slazengers during the summer after my 1st year at Uni.( I studied Chemistry) First proper job- Worked in the Dept of Steroid Endocrinology at Leeds Uni. Current Job- Product Safety Advisor for a well known paint manufacturer.
First jobs were Wath Rubber and Plastics, shutdown fortnight work at Thrybergh Bar Mill. First job finishing uni was with Constant Security, but then decided to train as a teacher…so first long lasting job was as a teacher in Suffolk. I am now a Headmaster in my second headship at an international school in Cairo.
On leaving school I was in with the careers officer who asked what I would like to do. I said I wanted to be an artist. “That’s not realistic you need a proper job son” was the reply. I ended up at Belmont Stocksbridge or foxes where most of my family had worked (1971) ended up on electrial path. Last position before I retired in 2009 was Shift Engineer. The thing I miss is the folk that worked there, a lot of them identified as Owls with pronouns Dee/Dar.
Royal Navy at 15 for 12 years, then South Yorkshire Police for another 10 before medical discharge. Carer for 12 years and eventually retirement.
Mechanical engineering apprentice on dungeness nuclear power station. Worked for EDF for 10 years left due to personal circumstances now mechanical engineering manager at a firm in chesterfield
After school, I joined the steelworks at Stocksbridge as a trainee. Now I'm a couch potato and I'm certain I could be a professional at it, if that were possible.
First job - petrol station attendant. One week I got held up at knife point, witnessed an arson attack and also crashed my mums car. Current - NHS. Boring but I love my team.
It was a bit of an odd week! I tried to use it as an excuse for not having done some A level history homework but my teacher was having none of it!
Fellow solicitor here, hi! I wonder how many on the bbs are in the legal profession, might have to put a networking event on..
First 3 jobs were all YTS schemes in 1980/81 earning £23.50 per week. For those of you too young to remember those times, Thatcher was destroying the Country and there was little work. First in the basement at Barnsley Town Hall (what I don’t know about envelopes and stationary is not worth knowing). Second at Polar Trucks at Wombwell - sacked after 3 weeks - for overturning a Fork lift truck - twice - on the same day. Third one at Grimey working for the IEA, developing clean coal technology. The Fluidised Bed Combustion Project! Currently CEO at a Professional Football Club. Sorry, I meant CEO at a Public Sector Environmental body.
I have just joined a Supermarket too. I simply got bored out of my skull being retired. We moved into a flat 2 years ago so I lost my man cave and garden. The money is a nice top up on the pensions but I was earning double the hourly rate I'm on now 11 years ago.
Forgot to add. Re my first few years at college. And after I qualified in electrical engineering. I carried on with day release. On my final year of the electrical technician course 5th yr. 1st 3yrs covered craft apprentice certs. (Next stage would have been AMEME honours.) I sat the exam along with many others. We all failed. We had been sitting the wrong fekkin syllabus all year (Barnsley college) . It was a 4 out of 6 question paper. We were all looking at each other wondering wtf. Some walking out having given up within 10 minutes. Let's just say the tutors the following week were apologetic as to how it could happen. And us fuming. We had to sit the same course the year after. I tossed it off as I'd lost the will to learn. As did some of the others. We had 2 papers over 2 days both required 4 questions from 6 answering. (Engineering and Technical) On the 1st I'd have pi55ed all 6. Many years later I remember school students suffered the same fate at one school in wales I think. How on earth it happened to us, or to any others. I haven't a clue or forgot.
Those times were bleak for a school leaver mate. I’m sure there were some that had a different experience, but it just seemed to be that you had to know someone to get a start at the pit or similar large employer. Not only were there dozens of kids from each area on government schemes, but the supervisors and scheme managers seemed to be a bit needy of the work.