Anyone want to share memories of their first job.

I left school in July 1959, aged 16, and after a few weeks at their training school in Manchester, I started work as a GPO telephonist at Rochdale Exchange. I loved the job, but after taking maternity leave for the birth of my first daughter, I went back to work, but it was difficult getting the baby to the childminder, my MIL, as she lived 2 buses away, so after a few weeks I left there. I started work at £4.4s a week, rising to just over £6 by the time I left, at age 20. I lived with my grandma before getting married, and I handed all my wages over, and received 10s "spence" back.

f77ms I did psychiatry as well, they were just unlocking the doors when I started, still had padded cells.
There is so little provision now for people with mental health problems.

My first job was in the offices of an engineering company which shipped its goods all over the world. I was terrified when I answered the phone (big, black Bakelite job) and on the other end was our Head Office in Richmond, Virginia USA.

With my first week's wages (£4) I bought an LP, The Buddy Holly Story. It cost 28/6d. I gave my Mum £2 for my keep. Very grown up!

harrigran I was a cadet nurse too in Psychiatry . We had 3 months in each department including Pharmacy, Occy health , EEG, Knitting shop!!, The woodwork shop, etc . I absolutely loved every minute . 1968 - £5 a week , free lunch and supper cooked by proper chefs and free board if you lived in . Use of the swimming baths if you were brave enough as it was freezing and not very clean . A sad day when Thatcher shut the place down and distributed 1000 patients to fend for themselves .

My 1st part-time job was when I was 16 working in a Pub Kitchen on Saturday night (only night Dining Room was open), Chef was the Landlord & there was another girl around my age & a lady my Mum's age - we had great fun, radio was always on "Letter from America" - Alistair Cooke. Also worked during the week occassionally doing Bar Snacks & serving behind the Bar (only 16)

1st full-time job was as a Waitress living in - left after my trial month (Manager had wandering hands - little Portuguese man), moved on to another Waitressing job, again living in - can't remember the pay but we ate well & had great fun

Lots of other different jobs but that's for another time

I also left school at age 15 and 6 months ...only went back for the six months due to inability to find an office job ...being told at numerous interviews in offices that 'we only accept Grammar School girls' ! ( could sue now, for discrimination !!) ...this was in the days before the CV so they knew nothing about me before I arrived !.ory and started working on 'outisde pockets' fo r which I was paid 3.10 shilling a week ...gave my mum 1.10s ....I then, along with a friend, went to the local clothing fact...eventually was sent for by the Youth Employment Office (this was 1962) and asked if I was happy at work. I said yes, but I would prefer to work in an office, so off I was sent to a local Solicitors, where I became the junior clerk ...they said they could only pay 3.00 a week, but I loved the job ! I really do have to say in all the years since, that job taught me far far more than any University or college ...I learnt how to get a mortgage, buy a house, conveyancing, probate, court requirements (as in ' tie these briefs up with pink ribbon !) ...because I had to proof read all the documents, without realising, I was picking up so much information that proved really useful throughout my life. I remember working with people in later years who had no idea how to go about buying a house, writing a will, getting divorced, etc etc .....

I eventually left that job to go and 'earn a fortune' in a large firm of solicitors in Lincoln#s Inn, doing conveyancing (the most boring bit of a legal office I think !) and progressed to other things ! Yesm I can honestly say that was the most marvellous job ! (and I just spoke to someone from Ipswich, who actually uses that firm of solicitors to this day (most partners, if not all, and staff have of course changed in 50 years !)

My first job was as a shorthand typist in 1940 for 27shillings and 6 pence a week. Out of that I had to pay train fare and give most of the rest to my mother.

I started working as a Cadet Nurse at 17, waiting to start my training at 18, it was a great experience, showed different departments how they worked etc. I was in PTS (Preliminary Training School) for three months, and before going to the classroom, each morning we went on a ward to make beds etc, it was really exciting, I loved it, and we actually got a little salary, a princely sum of £12 a month, I felt very rich!

Fascinating stories that would make a good book for millenials to learn from.
My first job was between school & Uni. It was meant to be a local one but took 3 buses to the wages dept. of the big Gas works in N Greenwich where the Dome stands. I was so scared & unworldly I hardly dare lift my head or go to the loo. I stank of fumes by the time I got home & only lasted a few days. Instead I worked off Fleet St in the Guardian Assurance on adding up machines it was so mind- numbing I lived for the lunch breaks & learnt to be a gadabout round the Inns of Court & City, watching the new buildings like the Barbican & Space House rise from the bomb sites. I've revived that loveof gadding about with the GC in recent years watching the 60s buildings come & the new ones rise even higher.

my first job was a Saturday job at BHS. I don't think I was very good at it, as they sacked me - and a load of others - after the Christmas rush. I still remember the pain of standing up all day. There were seats behind the counters but we weren't allowed to use them. I wore a pair of flats, with thick insoles! They moved me to several different counters - the worst was the fruit and veg - no fancy tills in those days and it was pre-decimal, so lots halfpennies etc. to add up. The most embarrassing was on men's underwear - I was very naive in those days. I earned 10 shillings for the day. 50p!!!!

My DF ran a lounge and social club, i was given jobs from the age 4, i had to polish the tables ( approx 60, all with a lower shelf, so 120 lots to polish) when i was 6 i had to brush and mop the floors also. By the grand old age of 10 i had to wash glasses, do some cellar work which included the splits (small mixer bottles)which had to be sorted from one main box into individual boxes for different companies, it was an awful job as some of the bottles would be broken so there were lots of cuts and the mix of pineapple juice, orange juice and tonic stuck to my hands alll this was done in a cellar with 1 light. At the age of 14 i decided that it was slave labour and i went and got Saturday job in a bakery.

I started work for a large shipping company in the department that bought the bits and pieces for repairing the ships, the work was pretty boring much the same everyday but the location was good and the other girls were very friendly, I stayed until just before I got married. Wage about £7 a week, £1 to mum and the rest was all mine!

I started teaching in 1969 on a salary of £750 gross. After 2 years it had gone up to £1000, and then I gave up teaching and tried to find a job somewhere else. I went to an agency who wanted all sorts of skills I hadn't got (shorthand, typing, filing etc) they asked me how much I wanted to earn and when I said £1000 pa they said "But that's £20 per week!" Anyway I joined the Civil Service and loved it until I went back to teaching after my children were born. It seems like ancient history now.

My father offered me 2 weeks holiday in London (we were living in Istanbul at the time) when I passed my American College tests - I 'forgot' to go back and instead worked at Barratts shoes In Kensington High St. Selling shoes and self proved incompatible after 3 weeks, so since I was by then 17, left to work as a copywriter with McCann Ericsson. Thus began 30 years I'm advertising?

My first job was at a library staffed by eccentric cat-loving elderly ladies (probably younger than I am now). Very few were qualified librarians. This was back in the 60s and one of my (young) colleagues commented on the number of D H Lawrence books we were acquiring. The cataloguer responded, in all seriousness, "That is because of the popularity of the film Lawrence of Arabia". She clearly didn't know her DH from her TE. It is amazing I went on to pursue a career in librarianship based on my experiences there but I did but I changed careers mid-point that probably saved me from becoming as eccentric in my latter years - I think!!!

My first job was as a Ground Hostess for South African Airways straight from school - a fancy job title for someone who worked in reservations at the airport. My family were over the moon that I had landed such a comparatively well paid job, having been interviewed in those years for a job like that by a panel (unheard of) including being tested on general knowledge.

I was over the moon at being issued with 3 smart uniforms in two different versions (summer and winter), navy blue court shoes, a dozen white shirts, gloves and a coat.

I also flew in an aeroplane for the first time from Durban to Johannesburg for training, first time staying in a hotel, lots of firsts because a gaggle of girls in uniform made an entrance wherever we went after hours!

I enjoyed that job and learnt a lot of discipline, our boss took no prisoners. Flight reservations were handwritten entries on stiff lined cardboard, and amendments were written in duplicate on "flimsies" and pinned to the cards, sometimes on busy days our fingers would bleed from removing and repinning the changes on the cards.

I later was promoted to "Tours" and dealt with wealthy clients who would travel the world.

Gave my mother half my monthly wage from the outset, no questions asked

I started as a Saturday girl in a large family owned department store. I did not want it but my mum said I should earn some pocket money.....12/6p per day! I was put into a large stockroom with another girl who worked full time....and what a great time we had. We had to sort and price school uniforms and record the sales in a large ledger. This was 1961 so no data input! We were left to our own devices! I would bring in to 'work' chocolate and alll types of sweets. Because we were both under 18 we had a free lunch, high spot of the day, apart from morning coffee break and afternoon tea break. We also tried on lots of the uniforms and had a hilarious time. I was sorry when I left school and had to go to full time work, but then that's another story......

I left school at 15 in 1960 my first job was an officer junior and I earned £3.00 I gave my mum 30 shillings.

My first job was for Joseph Lucas and I earned £3.10 shillings. Had great friends there and whilst on a night out met
my husband. We have been married 43 years, but what happened to the friends i wish I had kept in contact.

Another Woolies sweetie counter here. Salary might have been 16 shillings for the day?

It was so mind numbingly boring, i busied myself filling up the area, and also arranged the back area where the goods were stocked.

With my tidiness I was not liked by the rest of the Saturday staff, even less by the regulars, but I enjoyed the money, tho it went into a PO a/c, still have the payin book.

Both our kids have had saturday jobs.

Like harigran I started as a cadet nurse then a student nurse. Part of our wage in 1964 was a portion of butter and one of sugar as I was living in the Nurses Home. At first the the Nurses Home was a mixed sex one but then the men were moved to another building. Can't imagine why.

My first job was in 1960 as an office junior - filing, running errands etc, I was paid 2pounds 12shillings and 6pence a week of which I gave my mam 2 pounds. She would then pay my bus fares and dinners for the week, and the 12s6p would last me all week for 'extras'.

After the usual Saturday job in Woollies my first real job was in an Insurance Company in Finsbury Square, £7.50 a week in 1964. My weekly season ticket from Hoe Street Walthamstow was £1. I loved my job and rose in the ranks till I left to have a baby (we didn't get our jobs back then) in 1972. We had our own theatre in the basement, a sports field and club in North London and a thriving drama club. Departmental trips out, annual rounders contest between the different departments, best place I ever worked. When I see their adverts on the tv now I wonder if it's still the same.

I left school in 1960 aged 15.
My first job was an office junior and I got paid the princely sum of £2 per week.
My stepmother used to take all my wages and just give me back my bus fares.

I will always remember the supervisor, Mrs Clegg. She chainsmoked at her desk all day, and her clothes stank of stale food. To this day I can't stand the smell of stale food on clothing. I went on to do shorthand typing at the then National Coal Board.

My first job was as a typist in Debenhams offices in Taunton in 1967, I earned £5 2s 9d. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I left after 9 months to move to Malaysia.(Army brat)