Shipwrecked

I never wanted to be a PA, but I didn't want to be unemployed either. Graduating in a recession, I was six months searching for a job before I took the first job that came along, that of Junior PA in the booking office of an upmarket cruise line. Whilst the job was far from ideal, it did have two things going for it. First it was a job (hello!), second it was in London. I was delighted.

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Now let's be honest, aside from being employed and being in Central London the job was hardly my dream job. I was in my twenties and my idea of hell was being stuck on a cruise ship with a bunch of old people. Yet despite this, I soon rose to the dizzying heights of Senior PA.

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The only time the job was actively fun was at travel shows, when it was all hands on deck (pardon the pun) and everyone manned the stand. Then you could use the line which never grew old: "Can I interest sir in a cruise?" or to add a little variety to the day: "Does sir like cruising?"

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Three years into the job, I found myself trapped. Despite having a degree in business, I did not have either enough qualifications or experience to get another job, except within the cruise industry. Something radical had to happen, but when that something appeared it came as quite a shock.

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My boss returned from a business trip to head office in Germany with the totally unexpected news that our London office was being shut down. What was I going to do? Please save me from another job in the cruise industry. But worse still than that - please let me get another job!

I did not know where to turn, job hunting filled me with terror. At that time I had not heard of recruitment agencies, I thought that job adverts were the only way. As luck would have it, my BFF (Best Friend Forever) stepped in, he had seen an advert in that day's Times. The advert was very brief:

Do you have what it takes to be a successful PA? If so write to Patricia Scott, Channel 3 TV, London, enclosing CV.

On the downside the job asked for a PA (again), on the plus side it was in TV. What did I have to lose? So that very evening I sent off my CV and covering letter and crossed my fingers.