I've worked in a cinema, as a fundraiser, in a film equipment shop, in a cake shop and in a bakery, and I've been volunteering in a charity shop. My experience is a little varied, made worse by the pandemic, but as things are slowly getting back to normal (or at least, a new normal) I have a new job that has the capacity to be good long term.

I now work part-time for JML, leaving me free time for volunteering and writing. My job title is Merchandiser, which means I go from shop to shop to refill, rearrange and maintain the JML displays. So far it's been very enjoyable, with great coworkers and work I can feel confident doing.

I'm pleased to say I have a new job; as of Wednesday just gone, I am the Shipping and Inventory Specialist at CineGearPro, which is a camera equipment shop. I'm working the same hours every day, Monday to Friday, which is fantastic. My role includes shipping orders and updating inventory when shipments arrive, both of which involve paperwork and keeping track of the difference between many very similar items.

It's only part time at the moment, but I am really enjoying it so far and hope to be there long term. As it's part time, five hours each day, I still have plenty of time in the afternoon and evening to get my writing based work done. I'm not adding Sundays to my work timetable, but I will be writing on Saturdays if I'm free, and will be answering email etc on Saturdays.

I was looking forward to starting a great deal, and I can't fault the company or the people I worked with, but I unfortunately had to leave my new job only four days in. This does mean I'm now unemployed until I find a new job, with my time free and my bank account gathering dust once more. It's the perfect time to commission or hire me, hint hint.

Without going into too much detail, it turns out that charity fundraising is the kind of job where you see the worst of people. Even indoors, non-chugging behaviour fundraising causes the general public to react with disgust and anger, and it wore me down. A particularly horrible person stopped to berate me and share his awful views, and I realised that I just could not do the job. My team leader told me that, yes, you get people like that sometimes.

It was an experience, and I will never look at any fundraiser the same way again; I already have an article planned about the way people treat you as a fundraiser, so look out for that for further details. I was feeling very low for a couple of days, but I'm determined to get back on track and be productive.

Last week was my last week at the cinema; I've gone from part time retail and cleaning to full time fundraising! I now work for an agency called Together, who fundraise for a few major charities, including Cancer Research UK, the team I am on to begin with.

I'm very happy with this career move, even if it means I have less time for writing; it's more and more consistent hours than my previous job, it's well paid, and I feel very positive about making a difference. My shifts will either be early starts or late finishes, so I'll still be on my computer for a while during work hours, and I'll be doing writing during my 'spare' time too.

I'm definitely still available for commissions, but not for short term team projects. Hopefully I won't be leaving this job for a good while, and my next career move will be into a journalistic job. If you're looking to hire me long term, please get in touch!

I enjoyed my time at Empire Cinemas, and I worked with some lovely people, but I already think I will enjoy this job a lot more on terms on my day to day role; it is 100% interacting with people and zero cleaning, and while I will still be on my feet all day I'll be in the same place all shift rather than moving around as much as ushering (cleaning the screens between films) requires.

I will add my volunteering shifts to my work calendar, as I am due to start working Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I'll have a clear wake up call two out of five weekdays, which has to be a good thing. This won't take up all my time, and I'm still open for all work offers!