Social Progress was a big change for me in my career as I’d previously had minimal experience in an office, but I was happy to be given the chance. For the past ten years I had been working in kitchens which was a totally different experience going from a warm, fast paced and stressful kitchen with no access to the outside world to a calm, supporting and cake loving office like Social Progress.
The first problem for me, which sounds silly, was getting used to working with a team that wasn’t shouting and swearing at each other and criticising pretty much all of the work you did, as normally, that is what you would get from day-to-day in a kitchen. I won’t lie, this is still difficult for me as I still occasionally swear in the office to this day (for which I get told off) and thinking that all my work was still getting critiqued, which it wasn’t but it’s just habit for me from the past 10 years. It’s been a huge learning curve, but definitely a better environment.
Originally, I felt that the team here in the office weren’t too sure on me at the beginning as, like I said, I had pretty much no experience in an office. But they welcomed me anyway and I’m happy they have given me a chance to prove myself. I could now say I’d never ask for a better team to work with now as they are all have amazing skills to bring to the table, which is what Social Progress is all about. From Esther with her branding knowledge, to Becky with her amazing marketing techniques, to Luis with his awesome skills with a camera – we all have something to help one another. We are never one in the office but a strongly put together team with our boss/CEO/MD (or whatever she wants to be called nowadays) at the helm! The great, Janet Bebb
Since I’ve been in the office and as part of my role as a Social Media Manager, I’ve come to love that I get to spend more time with my partner as it’s more sociable hours, I get to meet a wide range of amazing business people, and I’m able to better the skills that I had before I started my kitchen career, such as:
- The Adobe Suite
- Photography
- Video Editing
- Graphic Design
In general, I prefer working in an office as it’s less stressful and I get to do my work to my own pace (as long as the work gets done!).
I also love it when I get to go to events such as the Target Components Open Day as I get to meet a wide verity of different people and see new places that I wouldn’t normally see. It gives me further chance to gain back some social skills that I may have lost working in a kitchen. When we’re out and about it’s not all work, work, work, as you can see from the picture of Esther and I. We also like to have fun while on the job as it makes us more friendly and approachable to people… We do love a good chat!
In conclusion, Social Progress is slowly making me a better person by giving me more time for myself and my partner, improving my social skills as I get to meet more people, and it’s helped me better my Adobe technical skills such as Photoshop, Premier Pro & Lightroom.
Thank you Social Progress for giving me the chance to escape!
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