Yuppification..

So, according to my CV, I am now a young professional with experience in sales and marketing seeking employment opportunities in the same.

Wow.

Not sure when I stopped thinking of myself as a student and as a young professional  but I think it happened last Friday afternoon, about 8pm in the pub round the corner from Pareto in Hammersmith, two pints in with the other successful recruits that day and our new prospective employers.

Standing in the beer garden, London-priced pint firmly in hand, suited-and-booted and surrounded by other graduates looking every bit the million bucks we each want to earn, I came to the uncertain conclusion that I was no longer really part of the student world… wristbands had been cut off (mostly), hair was neat and tidy (although too long), and the suit was dapper (although top button not done up – naughty schoolboy); I was a yuppie.

Yuppies it seems, long thought to be consigned to the depths of the Nineties, are flourishing in this post-recession market. You’ll have read in the papers about the lack of graduate jobs, the instability of the current market, and the dire prospect of improvement in the next twelve months. I had approached the idea of leaving RUSU with a bit of trepidation at this – unsure whether I would be in employment or on Jobseeker’s in a month’s time – and anxiously began sending out application after application before sitting back to wait.

So I waited.

I had fun in the meantime; houseparties, days out, trips away, and excessively lazy workday mornings (9am Monday, I have since found, is a concept that I have grown unaccustomed to). But all the while I was constantly refreshing my inbox on my iPhone, registering with more and more recruitment agencies, uploading my CV to endless jobsites, and firing off letters to all and sundry who might feel like employing me.

But now I stand (well, sit, I haven’t actually started work yet and it is still the working day.. Diagnosis Murder is on) before you: suit freshly pressed, FT under my arm, and a determination to succeed in whatever B2B sales position I take on. The progression paths sound amazing, the salary (even before OTE) is fantastic, and the clients seem truly interested in us as Pareto graduates; individuals, not numbers. (That’s not even saying anything about Pareto themselves – bloody brilliant! Their way of finding top graduates (80/20) is constructive, reflective, and fun – I had a smile on my face all through the assessment day on Friday as well as making some new friends also starting their careers.

So if this is my “yuppification” then so be it! I’m looking forward to the new challenges, new direction, and new opportunities that a new position is going to offer..

..plus it’s about time to trade in Vera

Tommy

“Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised.”

http://www.pareto.co.uk/