Well, this past week has been so exhausting, busy, fun and exciting, I don't know where to begin! I realized last Tuesday that I was about to start work for Woolworths, and yet I had never even been in one of their stores! So that night I rode the bus out to the mall and shopped at the Woolies there. (The supermarket.) The place was huge and bustling at 7 pm. I have only been shopping at the Coles supermarkets because there are TWO within a half mile from us in Manly. First thing I learn on my first day, Coles is the arch enemy of Wollies. Whoops.
So on my first day, I arrived early, (even if I had to put my make up on on the ferry.... Good thing I don't wear very much,) and was greeted by one of the women who interviewed me. (Because I know you're wondering mom, I wore the black pants, a nice gray work top, and a black sweater. I realized last week that I didn't bring that many nice work clothes with me, so I went to Big W, another store owned by Wollies, and bought two shirts. One of them was the one I wore on the first day and I panicked mid way to work thinking people would recognize it as a shirt from Big W and think I was either a suckup or really poor. Big W is kind of like Kmart, but they have cool clothes! Luckily, I don't think anyone noticed.) Anyway, Victoria took me to the first floor, half of which is made up of the Woolies team and started introducing me to everyone.
They were all really nice and seemed excited to have me on board. Turns out, the three other people they are hiring aren't starting until next week and the following, so they are severely understaffed at the moment, and need all the help they can get! To be honest, that first day of work was so busy and crazy that I left thinking, "what have I gotten myself into." But each day I have been learning more about how their media plans and buys work, and gotten more and more comfortable, and I'm really liking the fast pace life of working for an enormous company.
I think part of the craziness was because I am being trained by the girl who I am replacing, (she's moving onto another account,) and although she has been with the company for 2 years, she is only 21 and not the best at explaining things in a logical manner. : ) (She has worked 4 days a week for two years while going to school part time, pretty common over here, so she's moving to an account where it will be easier to not work on Tuesdays.) She is really sweet and trying hard to give me all the information I need to do the job, but sometimes I have to say, "Ok Alice, from the beginning, what is the process for booking radio..... No, lets finish going over radio before we jump to newspaper..." : )
It's really interesting how they do things differently over here. Client relationships seem much more relaxed, and they call the clients all the time with little questions, whereas in the US, we try to bother the clients as little as possible. They also don't need an official document signed and dated by the clients to book media like I'm used to. As soon as the client sends an email saying Yes, we're good to go. I think I like this style better, but some procedures, such as invoicing, might drive me crazy. (4 different documents that all have to match perfectly. Why can't it all be in one place?!)
By Friday, I had already met a bunch of our media reps, and I had put together a plan for a new store opening in Merrylands. Yes, that is the name of one of the towns. There is also a neighborhood in Sydney called Woolloomooloo. Can you believe that?! Can you imagine writing that as the return address on every piece of mail?! Haha. It cracks me up.
My office is in the Rocks, the area that juts out into the harbor and has tons of cute cafes and restaurants around. We also have a lot of great perks because the office is so large. Such as, fresh fruit delivered every Monday and Wednesday, a fridge stocked with bread and jams and peanut butter , and one Friday a month, one of the media sales companies throws a little party with drinks and snacks for the whole office on the third floor. Oh, and they also get 20 days of vacation, 10 sick days and 4 personal days a yer! Unreal! So all in all I'm really liking my job so far.
I'll have to write another post abut scuba diving last weekend because it's time for bed. I'm getting up at 5 am tomorrow to go for a row and need to get my 8 hours!
Goodnight!
Xoxo
Ellie
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Teach Me How To Budgie
Finally created a blog! Not exactly sure how to invite people to follow, but I'll figure that out later.
I'm just finishing lunch at a little cafe around the corner from us called Four Olives, and I'm stealing internet from the cafe across the street. I usually go there to use their wifi, but they don't have good lunch food and their teas are more expensive than across the street. Probably because they offer free wifi. Oh well, I've been there enough!
I'm really excited to start work on Wednesday! I'll be working on the Woolworths account, which consists of several big retail stores including a grocery store, hardware store, beer wine and spirits, and a retailer similar to Target. It's a big team that works across all the businesses, and they just hired 4 new people to join the team, so I won't be the only newbie. To get to work, I'll take the ferry into Sydney, and then walk 10 minutes to my office. Can't wait!
Yesterday, Sunday, we went up to Palm Beach again to do the group workout and try to get in a row. The more I learn about this surf boat rowing, the more I realize how intense Aussies are about their sports! The first part of our workout consisted of jogging to out to the point of the beach and running up and down the stairs that snake up the cliff for what seems like forever! Three times and no rest in between! We all felt like our lungs were bleeding after the stairs, but then we jogged back to the other end of the beach and did sprints up a hill. Then we went to the weight shed and lifted weights and jumped rope as part of circuit training for half an hour. Between the stairs and the squats, my legs were shaking like they used to after a 2K erg test. Now, I can understand these kinds of workouts for college athletics and obviously professional athletics. But the fact that these are just ordinary people with full time jobs, pushing themselves this hard for a sport they do in their spare time..... they are intense!
Now for the best part. I had only been out rowing last weekend when the water was really flat, so even though only Sarah from my crew was up at Palmy yesterday, our Sweep wanted me to get some experience rowing through the waves. So, Ed and a guy he'll be rowing with, Macca, went out in the boat with me and Sarah. And let me tell you, this is nothing like rowing in the US. We drag the boat into the water, budgie up our bottoms, jump into the boat and take off, straight into a huge swell! Our sweep was making calls that I didn't really understand, and then our boat was at what felt like a 45 degree angle and the white spray from the wave was crashing over our bodies and then we were slamming down onto the other side. I think my eyes were the size of saucers while this was happening, and our sweep was laughing afterward, assuring me that he knew we'd be fine. The redeeming quality about the waves, is that when you row back in to shore, you catch a wave, and then you all throw your oars over your head and run up to the stern of the boat and huddle together as the boat surges forward. I definitely got my adrenaline rush for the week.
Next weekend I'm getting scuba certified and we're doing 4 dives at Shelly beach, which is supposed to have some of the best diving in Sydney! I actually have some online reading and homework to do before Saturday, so I better get started!
I'm just finishing lunch at a little cafe around the corner from us called Four Olives, and I'm stealing internet from the cafe across the street. I usually go there to use their wifi, but they don't have good lunch food and their teas are more expensive than across the street. Probably because they offer free wifi. Oh well, I've been there enough!
I'm really excited to start work on Wednesday! I'll be working on the Woolworths account, which consists of several big retail stores including a grocery store, hardware store, beer wine and spirits, and a retailer similar to Target. It's a big team that works across all the businesses, and they just hired 4 new people to join the team, so I won't be the only newbie. To get to work, I'll take the ferry into Sydney, and then walk 10 minutes to my office. Can't wait!
Yesterday, Sunday, we went up to Palm Beach again to do the group workout and try to get in a row. The more I learn about this surf boat rowing, the more I realize how intense Aussies are about their sports! The first part of our workout consisted of jogging to out to the point of the beach and running up and down the stairs that snake up the cliff for what seems like forever! Three times and no rest in between! We all felt like our lungs were bleeding after the stairs, but then we jogged back to the other end of the beach and did sprints up a hill. Then we went to the weight shed and lifted weights and jumped rope as part of circuit training for half an hour. Between the stairs and the squats, my legs were shaking like they used to after a 2K erg test. Now, I can understand these kinds of workouts for college athletics and obviously professional athletics. But the fact that these are just ordinary people with full time jobs, pushing themselves this hard for a sport they do in their spare time..... they are intense!
Now for the best part. I had only been out rowing last weekend when the water was really flat, so even though only Sarah from my crew was up at Palmy yesterday, our Sweep wanted me to get some experience rowing through the waves. So, Ed and a guy he'll be rowing with, Macca, went out in the boat with me and Sarah. And let me tell you, this is nothing like rowing in the US. We drag the boat into the water, budgie up our bottoms, jump into the boat and take off, straight into a huge swell! Our sweep was making calls that I didn't really understand, and then our boat was at what felt like a 45 degree angle and the white spray from the wave was crashing over our bodies and then we were slamming down onto the other side. I think my eyes were the size of saucers while this was happening, and our sweep was laughing afterward, assuring me that he knew we'd be fine. The redeeming quality about the waves, is that when you row back in to shore, you catch a wave, and then you all throw your oars over your head and run up to the stern of the boat and huddle together as the boat surges forward. I definitely got my adrenaline rush for the week.
Next weekend I'm getting scuba certified and we're doing 4 dives at Shelly beach, which is supposed to have some of the best diving in Sydney! I actually have some online reading and homework to do before Saturday, so I better get started!
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