Life Doesn’t Always Go To Plan – Featuring Amber’s Diary

Has something happened to you that you thought was awful at the time, but actually ended up being much better for you in the long run? This week I am featuring a guest post from the lovely Amber’s Diary. Here is her tale of how life doesn’t always go to plan, but often turns out out for the best.

‘Life doesn’t always go to plan (but turns out for the best)’

I’m not a huge life planner, partly because I’m too lazy to make big plans and stick to them, and partly because I just know things never turn out how I expect- so there’s no point in doing it anyway. My lack of interest in planning my future is only an issue when I’m asked what my five year plans are, like in job interviews, and I just reply with “errrrrrrrrr…”

Pretty much since I was 18, I’ve worked in bars and pubs. I’ve had many weird times with drunken lunatics (some good times too) but I’ve mainly held on to bar jobs for so long because I’m good at it… And it pays the bills.

When I finished uni a year ago, I decided it was time to grow up and get a ‘real job’. I applied for every office job under the sun; rejected left, right and centre… Until FINALLY I acquired an interview for a digital marketing job: the DREAM job. I prepared for any and every interview question: from ‘what’s your worst quality?’ (I’m late to everything) to ‘if you could be any animal, what would you be?’ (an elephant).

The Day Of The Interview

The day of the interview arrived and I was feeling anxious as I walked along the busy road where the office was situated. I was somehow 10 minutes early: perfectly keen, and so I rang the buzzer. No answer… I waited a few minutes and rang again. Still no answer. I looked at the door: no clues. This is where the nervy sweats set in (nervy sweats are my true worst quality).

I reread the email: yep, correct time and place… After more faffing about, I rang the buzzer again– by this point I had been standing outside the office block for nearly 15 minutes ringing this bloody buzzer. I texted my friends: no useful suggestions. What was I supposed to do? Leave?! This was the perfect job!

At around 7 minutes past (after 17 minutes of incessant buzzer ringing) I decided to give it one final buzz and inspected the intercom as I did so, listening out for a tell-tale buzz. “Hello *company name*?!”

Oh.

So they hadn’t been ignoring me at all, and the buzzer was working perfectly fine… The buzzer I had been pressing over and over again. Turns out I had just been too stupid to put my head close to this box, and so their polite little greetings had been drowned out by the clunky music of Brighton buses and angry taxi drivers. “Oh… errr… hi… I’m here for an interview.” They instantly buzzed me in and told me to come up to the fourth floor.

At this point, I was very damp from the nervy sweats (not a pretty picture) and for some reason I thought ‘HEY, what would be fun? Going up four flights of stairs instead of taking the lift!!!!’

At the Office

I was directed to an interview room. By this point I was out of breath, my feet were blistering (from running up four flights in heels) and I was visibly moist from sweat (I told you: worst quality). My pre-interview anxiety was through the roof. Even the dog in the office made me nervous: he could smell my fear.

And so it’s no shocker that the interview itself was not a success. I babbled something about being good at problem solving and managing time whilst the interviewers’ stares screamed but you’re unable to work an intercom… or be on time for an interview. My cheeks burned pink as I stammered my way through the worst half an hour of my life, umming and erring over the easiest questions: yes well I err did my errr what’s it called? The ummm thing-  my degree, yes that- I err yes finishing my degree was a errr errrrrr errrrrrrrrrrr good achievement.

Yeah it was an awful experience. So it’s no surprise that my confidence was knocked: I was just so embarrassed. I decided to stop applying for ‘grown up jobs’ and get a job in a grubby bar. It felt like I’d failed.

But

Even though I didn’t love the bar job at first, it ended up helping me in many ways. I started changing where I put all my effort in: from job applications into my writing. I remembered how much I loved writing and gained confidence in it through my blogging.

In the end I started to enjoy aspects of the so-called crap bar job, making a close group of friends and even gaining a boyfriend.

In terms of the job itself, I learnt about sales and later even ran the site’s social media. I learnt about analytics and all that digital marketing stuff I had been so eager to learn before, giving me the experience (and confidence) to start applying for dream digital marketing jobs once again. This disappointing, confusing, messy time and failure of a job interview had ended up changing my life.

Life Doesn’t Always Go To Plan

If you enjoyed this post, or want to find out more about Amber and what she calls her ‘confusing messy year of post-education’, please check out her blog at: https://ambersdiary.com/

Amber is a recent graduate looking for opportunities to write as much as possible (whilst also working full-time and doing about 9 million other things!) She does this through her blog of lifestyle pieces with a wide range of topics, most recent of which is about becoming a minimalist for a month. She has also written posts about fast fashion, being a graduate, veganism; lots of different subjects.

You can also follow her on Twitter on @amberdiary, or on Instagram at @ambermiddletonlol

I’m sure you can empathise with Amber. I know I’ve had some dreadful interviews. But even if the interview doesn’t go well, remember it is just one interview. It may not be the job for you, and there will be others out there.

Do you have a story about how life doesn’t always go to plan? Check out my post here on how your story could be featured. I would love to hear it!