Love from, Florence Grace

When I started my new job as a Communications Officer , I got a lot of questions about what my new role actually was and the kinds of things it entailed. Justine from Girl Gone Dreamer asked if I would do a blog post on the subject- and so here it is, better late than never! So, what does a Communications Officer actually do? Handle Social Media Anyone who knows me will know how much I adore social media, so I was thrilled when I found out that a huge portion of my job role was to handle the company’s social media . I help to run the Twitter and Facebook account and soon might even be looking into doing some YouTube work too. I take a lot of joy in doing this and always get so excited whenever somebody tweets us, because then I get to tweet back!  Internal Communications I have been told by my colleagues that internal comms are my strength , which I was thrilled to hear, given that I’ve never done them before! I would say internal comms is definitely the main bulk...

When I was 12, I got a radio for my birthday. It was really cool, cube shaped with a cube shaped speaker. It looked really modern and also had the ability to stand your iPod in it or use an aux cable to play your own music too. I absolutely loved it. It was at 12 that I started listening to the Radio 1 chart show, and it was at 12 that I discovered who Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton were. I fell in love, listening to the show religiously, texting in every week. At the time, my name was Flo Jo and when I signed a text off that way, Reggie Yates read it out, saying how cool my name was. The shows were so much fun to listen to and I decided that was what I wanted to do; I wanted to be a radio presenter like Reggie Yates and Fearne.  While Fearne Cotton does inspire me with all of the things that she does (I'd love to have my fingers in as many pies as her!), its Reggie Yates who is my real inspiration. He started out in kids TV alongside Fearne, ended up landing the ultim...

When it comes to life, it's so important to put yourself out there, no matter how much you might not want to. Putting yourself out there can be terrifying . It leaves you open and vulnerable to rejection, negativity, even (and I hate this word) 'haters'. It leaves you open to failure . And no one wants to face any of those things, let alone deal with them. But putting yourself out there doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Have you considered all of the things you could achieve by having a small amount of confidence in yourself and just going for it? (Whatever 'it' might be!) If you are at school and want to volunteer for a role as Head Girl or Class Rep or similar (you get my gist), no one will know you want to have that role, or that you are even capable of that role unless you put yourself out there, express your interest and show your teachers what you can do.  If you want to progress at work or try to get yourself a promotion, you...

With the non-stop world we seem to live in today, it's never too early to get a head start on your career, even while you're still studying. No matter what your desired career is, there are several things you can do to help progress in the industry and bulk up your CV a little bit while still in education. Work experience Work experience is the most obvious of the things you can do, however it isn't easy to obtain in all professions. Most secondary schools do a compulsory two week work experience slot- if this is the case for you, really take advantage of this. Try to get experience with something that really will be beneficial to you. At the time, I wanted to be a photographer and I managed to get a two week slot with the photography department at RAF Halton which was an absolutely amazing experience.  You can also do work experience in school holidays and at weekends, volunteering your services to help even with the most menial tasks if it helps you to ...

I don't know what I want to do with my life. There. I said it. Okay, that's not entirely true. Since I was 12 I have known that I want to be a Radio 1 presenter. That is all I want to do. However, it's really not a very realistic career, and whilst I have worked in radio previously and have plans to in the future, I really do doubt that Radio 1 is ever going to happen for me! Then I wanted to be a photographer. My dad bought me a huge, fancy photography kit, I applied to study photography at university, I studied it at college. But it always just felt like a hobby. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing it. Since then I've wanted to be a journalist, work in social media, an interior designer, a fashion designer, a magazine editor, run my own business, a blogger, a YouTuber, a TV presenter...it's an ever changing list. I'm quite lucky because I have done most of those things, albeit in part time or 'unprofessional' format...

Most of us will work in retail for a short portion of our life- some for a lot longer! Whilst I love working in retail there are a few annoyances and lessons that I have learnt over time- and I'm sure my fellow retail employees will agree! Have a read of the list and see if any of your wind ups match mine! The sale rail mess. Just because things are reduced doesn't mean you can treat them like total rubbish, chucking them over the rail, dropping them on the floor, stealing hangers but not the clothes (????) , and just generally making the rail a pig sty. The general shop mess. Is it really  so hard to put items back in the same place that you found them, on the same hanger, in the same department? The sparkly dress quite clearly doesn't belong on a jacket hanger in the knitwear section. It's not difficult and doesn't require much effort. Pull something out to look at it, if you like it, great, take it. If you don't, JUST PUT IT BACK! And when you do put it...