As I start to look at what I want to do in my career next there’s a few themes emerging…

I live to learn. Learning as much as I can about a lot of things in a short space of time. I absorb information at an alarming rate. For someone who talks a lot you’d be amazed how much I listen. My first job in a mobile phone shop as Christmas support staff ended up with me being one of their best sales staff in less than a month. My product knowledge and customer service grew at a rate of knots and I could sell. I didn’t use any deception either. I listen to customers to find out what they needed and wanted, made links with my database of product knowledge, and sold them what fit. I was happy. They were happy. Thanks to other jobs I know more about cold meats, junk mail and now, reading lists, than most people need to know in a lifetime. Absorb. Connect. Solve. Save. My brain seems hot wired to stick things in my head and make links between them. I have the memory of an elephant.

I love representing and helping people. Stick me in a meeting and I’ll fight for the silent party or play devils advocate. if everyone agrees too easily I always have this dreaded feeling someone is being shafted so I will create debate, even if I am in complete agreement with the discussion so far. Decisions without challenge can be dangerous. I try and spot the people that aren’t being heard, or say the things that aren’t being said. Some of my proudest achievements are from my time as Vice President in SUBU. When I facilitated for a bunch of students who were getting screwed over by their course leader, I got a buzz from helping to put them in a position where they could win for themselves. Speaking my mind at NUS conferences was always fun. NUS conferences were dominated by people who wanted to be the next Jack Straw. I said the things that the quieter delegates were whispering about but didn’t have the confidence to say out loud. I want to make sure things are fair and no amount of pressure or bribary will make me agree to screw over someone else to keep the ‘right’ people happy. I like to be liked, but in the past I’ve ended up being strongly disliked because sticking to my principles. Making sure everyone gets their say, is more important than anything.

I enjoy finding win/win solutions. Rather than coming naturally this has developed over the years. You can’t please everyone all of the time (even superheros piss people off!) Getting to know what a makes a group of people tick is fascinating. What are their priorities and motivations? What are their differences? Why do they think what they do? People are more able to find a win/win solution if you really understand what’s happening underneath what’s being said. I used to enjoy working with the most difficult CWU reps to help them understand what the staff they represented wanted as a whole. Sometimes reflecting back to people the views of the crowd helps them understand why on this occassion they don’t get it totally their own way but can still win. Goodness knows I need it reflecting back to me sometimes.

I miss daily discussion and debate. Working in a university library you find a majority of people don’t tend to have strong or emotionally driven opinions of your department (unless there’s a deadline or assessment looming). In most cases those who do have a negative opinion are told the reason for something, or a solution they didn’t realise existed, a lightbulb goes on and they go away happier. Or they ignore you and keep saying the same thing. The other strong emotions tend to be positive ones like “I LOVE the Library”. Who is going to argue with that? In other areas of my life I may have strong opinions, but they are rarely unmovable. Debating introduces new information to me, and helps my opinions evolve into ones that represent the world I’d like to live in. I am assertive and I need assertive people around me to challenge me and so I don’t automatically get my own way. I’m not always right and discussion helps me understand where I’ve missed something or made an incorrect assumption. And more than anything, debating is fun!

Variety is the spice of my life. I am much happier now I work in different offices on different days of the week. I’m more effective and productive. Being in the same environment 9-5 every single day is a huge struggle for me. I admire people who like routine and consistency in their day to day lives. I’m not one of them. Whatever I do next I need to make sure I have the opportunity to work in different places. I’d like to spend lots of time out of the office in different environments meeting with different people. I thrive on change and find it stressful when I have to stay in the same situation for too long. However I do want to build a career so I need enough variety within a job to keep my focus and drive.

Negotiating and influencing are fun. I’ve been negotiating and influencing from the moment I could talk. I enjoy networking and figuring out who I need to build a relationship with to get a certain result. I’m in my element when I have a purpose to communicate and work with others to reach a goal. It’s not about making people want what I want. It’s often about helping people to see that their solution and my solution may be different, but there has to be a way to common ground and a positive outcome.

Seeing the big picture. Life is like a big jigsaw puzzle. Bits fits together and others don’t. But most of the time something that is done will have an impact on many other things in the short or long term. Sometimes the consequences are unseen and can cause huge problems down the line. Even something that looks like a great solution in the immediate future could stop long term goals being met. On the flip side amazing things can happen when you bring people and projects together where there is no obvious connection. I tend to be a big picture person. There is method in my madness, it’s just that it’s not immediately obvious to everyone.

As I’ve started to compile this list something has been bubbling under the surface. It does not include an application for the next series of ‘The Apprentice‘.

Politics. One of my first assertions when I started looking at careers properly in my early teens was “I want to be a politician so I can help people”. As I started to understand more about politics and politicians I decided I must have been living in fairy-tale-land. Politics seemed to be about power and votes, not honesty and advocacy. I decided that I wasn’t cut out for that world.

Later I got involved in student politics and had considered taking it further and running for an NUS position, but again the power hungry selfish people put me off. For me I’ve always believed that politics should be about people. For most, winning and seen to saying the ‘right thing’ seems more important than transparency and trust. I felt like people weren’t having the difficult discussions and it was all spin. I didn’t want to be the odd one out.

Perhaps it’s Obama that’s sparked this change. I know he’s certainly helped me to believe that people get into politics for the right reasons. It has inspired some faith that I could get into politics, perhaps even be a politician one day, and really represent and help people. I’ve spent most of my time being the odd one out. Whether it’s being ‘the assertive one’, or ‘the happy one’, ‘the liberal one’ or in the case of student elections ‘the little green one’. I’ve never been the shy, retiring, unnoticed one. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to dip my toe in the waters of local politics, get involved and see what’s going on.

I’ve also started following the blog Deeplyflawedbuttrying (penned by @slummymummy1) who is fantastic at highlighting political issues and creating debate. I may not always agree (though mostly I find I do) it has made me realise how much I do care about issues that affect all areas of society, not just the ones that directly affect me.

I’m not sure where you start on getting involved with local politics, I guess choosing a party comes first. I find this tough. I don’t like labeling myself and putting myself into boxes. I’ve never been about party politics. NUS factions were enough to put anyone with a balanced view of life off party politics. In the past I’ve only picked a side for voting purposes. My viewpoint has always been “What’s in the best interests of the country?” not “Which party is saying it it?” I’m interested in representing local people and being an advocate for them, not just towing the party line. But there are distinct advantages to affiliating to get support, build a network and work with others on bigger changes. When I say “a side” those of you who have read my blog are probably aware this means Lib Dem or Labour. I hope no one was under the impression I was a Tory. I’ve listened to the Conservative policies and once I start scratching beneath the surface of ‘New Tory’ and I’m finding some nasty frights that are much worse than anything Blair or Brown have ever done.

So there are two options. Either I go with the party I think is most likely to be elected so I get more experience of being involved with how it all works. Or I go with the party who has the local representative who I really believe would be best. I’m thinking the latter. Getting involved at this stage means I could campaign for the person who I believe would do the best for the local area and help them become our MP.

I grew up in a Lib Dem constituency, went to university in a Conservative constituency (but decided to be registered at my parents) and have since lived in three Labour constituencies. My leanings are towards the Liberal Democrats. In the past being open to all parties they have still secured a majority of my votes. For a while now I have been saying that I think it’s about time they had the opportunity to do what they can for the UK. Labour needs some time out. The Tory’s need to stay out. The Lib Dems need a chance to demonstrate what they can do as leaders. I can’t see them getting us into a worse mess.

It does seem that perhaps I have been thinking this through quite seriously. I guess I might as well give it a go. The worst that can happen is I find that I’m totally mistaken and politics isn’t my thing. On the other hand I could meet some interesting people and help make the best of the community I live in. Even if I end up leaving Durham in the next year I still live here at the moment and it’s about time I got involved.

And if you’ve made it this far and can think of other career options that might suit me perfectly then leave a message below…

My friends that are getting married today met because they had me in common. This was back when we were still just about teenagers. The bride is my oldest friend (i.e. the first little person I met after I was born) and I first met the groom when we were about ten.

Then in September I’ll be off down to Oxford for the wedding of my friend Anita. We bonded with in my previous job over a love of shoes, but soon became very good friends too.

Navigating the wedding guest etiquette is an interesting thing…

Invitations: When it’s your oldest friend getting married and you’ve chatted about the wedding on multiple occasions it’s a given that you will be attending. Yet in future I will make the effort to actually send the R.S.V.P. rather than just ringing up/texting and accepting not only my own invitation, but passing on the message for my sisters and their families. As the bride replied “Bloody Thornbers!”

Accomodation: Step two is finding accommodation. Easy enough for the first wedding, the parents are putting us all up (or rather putting up with all of us). The second though I needed to find a hotel near the village of the wedding. After a bit of research I phoned up to see if the hotel I’d found could facilitate early check in and was told that I “wouldn’t find a hotel in the world that guaranteed early check in”. I told him he was wrong and found another cheaper hotel less than a mile away that did. I’m sure in the years to come I will learn more about hotels as a wedding guest than I ever did travelling with business!

Outfit: Of course then there is the whole ‘what do I wear?’ dilemma. Cleverly avoided by my forward thinking. I found my dress when I was shopping in New York last year. Unfortunately having the dress in hand meant I became a bit complacent, and earlier this week realised I’d completely forgotten about accessories! Thank god for eBay and the Accessorize sale! Whilst I’m at it, what is with the cost of fascinators? Not impressed!

Present: The fun bit. Getting to have a nosey at what the couple would like. I refuse to buy anything boring so I was pleased to be able to get Rapidough Deluxe for the happy couple today. And for the next wedding, their wine list is with a local wine cellar, now that is something I definitely approve of!

Anyway I better be off… the wedding is in just under 4 hours and I need to make myself look beautiful!

The first is sunshine. Every year without fail it has been sunny for whatever birthday celebration or event is planned. When I was little it stayed dry for obsticle courses and treasure hunts. On my 16th I sat in the backgarden revising for a GCSEs. On my 18th we took a break from revision to have a BBQ. The day of my 21st I spent on Bournemouth beach. Not once in the past 26 years has it rained. And this year was no exception.

Secondly you can always guarentee that everyone will know it’s my birthday. Some people hate birthdays and hate the attention they bring. I don’t. I enjoy it. I like getting cards, presents and cake. This year I even requested that my family sing “Cumpleaños Feliz” (Happy Birthday in Spanish) as my niece and I are now learning it together every Thursday. My dad’s response was “Get lost!” but even he surrendered and joined in!

The third thing you can guarantee on and around my birthday is an abundance of parties and celebrations. I like to celebrate with my family, my close friends, my wider group of friends and if none of these events fall on my actual birthday a pint in the pub with friends is likely to feature too. For example last year I managed a party with my friends in London, a night out with my friends in Southport and a chinese meal with my family.

The party with friends has often been a joint party with others who have the good luck to have been born in May, but this year we decided to give it a miss. In fact I also gave the celebration with close friends, and the pub a miss too. In the grand scheme of things this year has been my quietest ever (I must have had two celebrations on my 1st birthday!) I ditched the big night out and the copious drinking for a lovely day with my family and one of my best friends. We ate a lovely Sunday roast prepared by my sister and then made the most of the sunshine by going for a wander in the woods. I would say it was civilised but we are talking about Thornber’s and their descendants so there was still a fair amount of noise and chaos!

Next year I might consider returning to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of previous birthdays – on the other hand I am very tempted to spend the weekend at the Hay-on-Wye book fair… I’ll save the partying for when I turn 30!!!

I am still recovering from my almost lost voice, it has been embarrassing having to explain reason I sound so ill to all the people who have given me sympathy this week. There is also a slight concern that my bank balance may never be the same again, but the financial pain and physical suffering was worth it for an unforgettable, fun and crazy weekend.

What happens on a hen weekend stays on a hen weekend, so I really can’t say too much. However being the only single woman, in a majority of married and engaged ladies, meant that there was at least one aspect of good behaviour amongst the rest of the women over the weekend.

Saying that Lucy (the bride) had promised to find me a fella, after all she did meet her fiancée through me. And this weekend did introduce me to a new man (a Canadian with an appreciation for Percy Piglets). How intentional the introduction actually was is questionable. Whilst I was off buying water and getting lost, he must have stumbled into the rest of the group and found no way to escape. Being a modern ‘technical’ woman I gave him my web address… though I’m not sure giving a guy full access to my blog and thoughts prior to taking me out is really the way forward in securing a date!

Now I am almost fully recovered… and will be much better prepared for the next Hen Do (and man) that comes my way!!!

I just about survived my leaving parties, though my liver is thanking me for minimal alcohol drinking ever since. The hangovers weren’t pretty, but they were worth it. It was so lovely that people made the effort, and so I better make the effort to keep in touch with them now I’ve gone!

Then it was ‘The Move: Part One’ from London to Southport. Packing my stuff up took so much longer than expected and packing the van was an experience in itself, we packed every last inch of space and used every last minute of the rental!!!

Less than 24 hours later I was off to NYC and surprised myself by being able to keep my eyes open until 10pm on the first day (3am GMT) despite being up at 5.30am – over 21 hours!!!

Friday Liz and I shopped until we dropped, literally. After 10 hours and more dollars than I care to add up, we sat down in the nearest restaurant we could find. We weren’t just there to shop (though you might find that hard to believe!) we also did some sightseeing, and found sometime to catch up with the gorgeous and wonderful Hannah! By far the most giddy moment of the week was when I sat there as The Little Mermaid musical started!

Since I returned to the UK on Friday I have been recovering by sleeping lots. I’ve also started to put together a to-do list. I’m sure that time will fly by, and before I know it I will be in Durham to start my new job! I’m off to the North East next week to house hunt – wish me luck!!!