Five important things my first job taught me

Like many young people growing up, I had a part-time job at the weekend. At fifteen years old this was my first ever job. I worked as a shop assistant and my role was split between working on the tills, stacking shelves and being responsible for the in-store baked goods. Every Saturday morning when I clocked in at 10.00am I had to make sure there were freshly baked baguettes ready for the lunchtime rush.

Fast forward fifteen years later I am now client director in a boutique PR agency. Whilst the two roles seem wildly different, there are actually some key skills that I picked up as a young spritely shop assistant which have served me well to this day. These lessons I learned early on have made me a better manager and showed me the importance of client satisfaction. 

Five things I learned from my Saturday job about client satisfaction:

1)    Transparency – being young I did not know the answers to every customer query who came into the shop: “Where are the vol-au-vents?”. It is ok to admit you do not know something, we are all human. There was no point in getting flustered and pretending to know. Instead, I held my hands up and admitted I did not know but I would find the answer. This is as much true today as it was fifteen years ago. If I do not have the answer, I let the client know and will make it my mission to find out. Honesty and transparency are key to serving clients well. Most will accept you do not know everything but will be more than happy that you are willing to go above and beyond to seek out the answer.

2)    Empathy – working in a small village shop meant there were regular customers who I got to know well. Sometimes they popped in just for a chat and divulged personal problems they were going through. Having the ability to listen and show empathy was as much a part of customer service as packing their bags at the tills. Today, when a client comes to me with a business problem I try to show empathy and understand their point of view. Showing empathy means that you care and understand what makes them tick. 

3)    Taking responsibility – as a teenager responsibility was not something on my radar. However, getting my first job swiftly taught me this. I had to be on time and I had to show up. Learning to take responsibility at a young age meant I had a sense of ownership of my role within the wider company. I was proud of my job and I did not like the thought of letting my team down. This is as true today as it was back then. I am responsible for several client accounts and managing a team of publicists. I am proud of the work we do. Clients sense this – they want a team of people who are proud and enjoy working for their brand. 

4)    Knowledge is power – I was shocked at the amount of training I had to do in my Saturday job. From health and safety protocols, food hygiene best practices and new product training. It seemed like every week there was a new training module we had to complete. Although fifteen-year-old me hated sitting at the computer watching really dated training videos in the dingy office, they were undoubtedly useful. It also gave me confidence knowing that I had the knowledge to deal with the various scenarios that might occur. It is the same today. PR is an industry that has evolved at lightning speeds. When I started, influencers were not even a thing. Only a handful of brands were on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter did not even exist, let alone Tik Tok. However, there are a multitude of free training resources available at our fingertips, like Google Digital Garage for example. Clients want an account team who are fully up to speed with what is going on in, not just the PR industry, but also their own industries too. No matter what sector my clients work in I am meticulous about learning about their industry and trying to get to grips with their pulse points.

5)    Thick skin – anyone who works in retail will know you’ve got to have a thick skin. In a customer facing-role you are the front line of the business. When a customer is not happy you usually face the brunt of it. Being so young in an environment where you were often faced with insults, anger and frustration meant I grew a thick skin pretty quickly. I learned from an early age not to take it personally. In PR, most clients will tell you exactly what they think and I love that. Even outside of work, my friends and family will tell you that I like to know where I stand - being direct is not a bad thing in my eyes. The same goes for clients. Sometimes they may challenge your ideas or have opposing opinions. The ability to have an open and honest dialogue without taking it personally makes for a more positive and more fruitful client relationship.

At the time, I saw my Saturday job in the local village as a means to earn money. It paid for my train ticket to London to go to gigs or shopping with my friends. At the time I did not realise just how much I was learning and how it will impact my approach to work today. I am grateful for those early learnings. Who knew my six hour shifts every weekend baking baguettes, filling the shelves and scanning shopping would serve me so well fifteen years later in my PR career!