Living in the London commuter area in the 1970s and 1980s, finding a job was easy. For me, anyway. A friend called me 'jammy' - and here's why.
I left school at 16, having failed biology but with passes in the other nine subjects, including English and maths, which were considered important by most employers. I landed a clerical role with a local branch of a national general insurance company. When the company was taken over and the branch relocated, I had enough experience to walk into a similar role at a branch of another insurance company. When this one was taken over and relocated, I secured a position in a newly opened UK HQ of an international life insurance group. All this in three years!
A week later, I walked back into the same building! Same door, different floor. A multi-national technology company needed temporary assistance for a few months. Unfortunately, I completed the project in under six weeks so I had to look for another job... until I didn't. My temporary boss called me in for a discussion, told me they'd like to keep me on and asked what I would like to do. We settled on a mix of computer programming and data analysis. An exciting job, more money, plus opportunities to travel to associated offices in Brussels, Paris and Stuttgart. Being an American-owned company, I didn't even have to be fluent in other languages. Did someone mention 'jammy'?
I can't remember the reason I transferred to another part of the group - I think it may have been the offer of a company car! It was quite a commute to the new office - an hour each way - but the company supplied the car so fair enough. It was also two pay grades above my previous job and promised to be really interesting. Remember that I travelled to Stuttgart a couple of paragraphs ago? Well, that site had begun manufacturing small computer networks - this was before IBM took the world a step backwards by launching the PC. My new job, as part of a small UK team, was to: source or specify software to run on these multi-user small business machines; help produce marketing/sales materials and, when a system was sold, train and support the first client. All this with a view to then training a team of support people throughout the UK, as the client-base grew. This came to an abrupt end with the introduction of the PC from the mighty IBM. The job was soon to change and - guess what - the department was to be absorbed and relocated another hour's drive away. No thanks.
This next bit is the pinnacle of Jammy with a capital J. The interview was with the boss at the company's HQ in Palos Verdes, Los Angeles. They sent me a business class air ticket and booked me into a hotel at LAX for the first night. On arrival, there was a change of plan. The boss, Dave, decided that I should meet the whole team, who were currently in Las Vegas at a trade show, so had provided a ticket for the onward journey the next morning, where I was met by his assistant and taken to the venue. I think, at this stage, the job was mine to lose - why else would so much money be spend on an interviewee?
I was in heaven for four years until the other co-founder became terminally ill and - you've guessed it - the company was sold and marketing/support was absorbed into the new company's London office. I lasted three months before resigning. During that time, however, a software competitor wanted to open a UK office and, following an interview at their HQ in Germany, I was invited to set it up and run it. It seems that every cloud has a silver lining. I did this for two years but the recession was biting at the end of the 1980s and I knew that we could not endure losses for another year so I was honest with my German bosses, who I knew were under pressure to close some satellite offices. We agreed that, financially, the UK operation was currently non-viable and should be closed. This decision was not taken lightly as it meant redundancy for half a dozen people (including me) at a time of recession.
A clerical beginning.
Over time, I had developed a well-rounded knowledge of all kinds of insurance and assurance administration and had also taken a part-time course of business studies at the local college so, when my employers asked me to work with the computer department (or IT these days) to ensure that their mundane procedures were being automated correctly for sharing data with the international HQ and to provide analyses for actuarial databases, of course I agreed. Having done this, I decided to switch careers. There was currently no role for me within the computer department within the company so, after four enjoyable years, I left.
A switch to technical.
Of course, my record of having the rug pulled from under continued and, after two years, I was 'absorbed' into another part of the group. Not so bad a transition, though. Same location, different boss, similar job but with a different focus. Then, when the inevitable office relocation came, it was even better. During this time, computer input moved from teletype to screen-based, which gave me a wider role - learning how to use the new stuff and training other staff. For example, the typing pool moved from electric typewriters to Wang word-processing.
Having kept in touch with my old boss from a year previously, I had mentioned this to him and, next thing I knew, he had spoken to another ex-employee of his who mentioned me to his current boss and I was asked if I would like to come for an interview. The office was less than half an hour's drive from where I lived, the job was a new role and I thought it might be interesting, so I agreed to the interview.
Yes, I got the job and it was the best job anyone ever had. This was a small but highly regarded technical company that provided software to IBM and other top flight computer systems manufacturers. They had a tech team in the UK and had decided to increase their European presence by providing European clients with software support from the UK rather than the USA, and also to add marketing and sales. Reporting to Dave (co-founder of the company), I was responsible for all marketing and customer support throughout Europe. This included occasional trips to France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, etc. to host or be a guest speaker at seminars and attend trade shows, basically answering questions about the products and the company. Of course, there were also trips to HQ in LA and the Las Vegas trade show.
Marketing and Design.
Jammy days over, I was unable to find another job therefore I set up my own company, offering design and marketing services... but that's another chapter.
