3 minutes
In her own words, Georgi Vardigans, tells her story
The experience I want to talk about today started a few years ago as I was coming to the end of my time at university.
I went to university and studied classical civilisation, which is ancient history like Roman and Greek culture. And as I was studying, I looked into further education and decided I wanted to become a secondary school teacher.
Then the pandemic hit, along with an identity crisis, and it made me rethink what I wanted to do. I now wasn’t sure I wanted to go into teaching. When I graduated university, I had a rough idea of the type of jobs I could get with my degree, however, there weren’t many resources and following the pandemic the job market was in decline. I took some time to think about the areas of my degree I particularly enjoyed, and I had really loved business studies, marketing and advertising during my A-levels.
I started looking for marketing and communications internships because I had absolutely no experience whatsoever. When I left university, I found it extremely hard. The job market was terrible. I got a job at John Lewis in Kingston just to tide me over and to teach me a few more skills.
After countless applications I was lucky enough to get a marketing internship at a start-up in London. I worked there for around 6 months when I realised, I wanted work that was more structured and secure. I also wanted to work for a company with a mission statement that I felt aligned with my personality and beliefs.
I live local to Teddington, so I always had an idea of what NPL did. I saw a job going for a Marketing and Communications Assistant and applied thinking I wouldn’t get it – but I did! Everyday is different for me, but as an example, each day I will assess the campaigns I’m working on and what stage they’re at. Checking whether I need to draft social, publish a webpage, organise filming and making sure all activity is on track. Sometimes I get last minute requests from stakeholders that I need to action or a campaign I’m working on needs evaluating.
I’ve always had a passion for marketing and advertising and an eye for a great social campaign. My generation is so involved in social media and the online world, and I love that I can use that to my strength – I never however saw myself working at a science organisation. It was a weak area for me at school, but I find it brilliant that I’m in a role that means I can use my existing skills and expertise to showcase the amazing science happening at NPL.
One of my biggest barriers was experience – it was so hard to find. I would email charities and organisations saying I will work for free as long as I can get some experience, but the job market was awful just as I started looking. Leaving the security of a teaching job where there are government grants and where teachers are more demand was a tough decision. Especially leaving and coming into the communications world where I sent out my CV endless times with no responses.
Then when I took the internship, I knew early on that it wasn’t a company that would support career progression. Which is completely opposite to here, I now feel considered and appreciated at work. In my old job, I knew that I was just getting the experience but nothing further.
Since working at NPL I have seen a massive increase in my confidence in my abilities. I’ve got skills that people want and can be utilised. Slowly I feel like I’m getting rid of the imposter syndrome – something which so many of us face. Having colleagues and a workplace that makes sure you know how appreciated and valuable you are makes a massive difference. I’ve also realised I have so many transferable skills from my degree I’ve been able to use in my job today.
In my experience there were so few resources at university about what to expect when you leave. I remember my parents banging on at me about the cost of university and why I wasn’t using their resources, but there were so few and the ones they did have weren’t particularly useful. So many of my friends panicked and chose to do a masters and I almost did one too, but I took a step back and thought that I’d rather have that extra year working and less debt.
For every 10 applications you write, no matter how much time it takes you, or no matter how good they are, you’ll likely only get a response from one. You really have to build up your resilience and be prepared for this. Find hobbies and interests outside of work and the job search to make sure you don’t get demotivated, and you really just have to trust that the right job is out there.
When you’re in the middle of applying for different jobs, always apply for something even if you think it’s outside of your previous experiences or skills. The number of men I know that have just applied for a job they want and think to themselves ‘yeah I could probably do that’, compared to women who look at the job spec and assess themselves against it, often turning down the potential. There is no harm in just going for an opportunity.
For me there are a few areas I’d focus on if I could go back in time or would recommend to others: female empowerment and imposter syndrome. It’s easier said than done but at some point, you have to take a step back and just take a risk. Remember to look after yourself. Mental health is so important, and it can really get impacted during the job-hunting stage.
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