Jenny reveals her secret behind enjoying her work, from leaving school without any O levels and soon discovering that her best way to learn the ropes was by becoming a temp. After all, how many times have we all heard the same thing: we require someone with experience, but how on earth are you to gain experience if you're a school leaver? Jenny gives us examples of how she has got on in her working career, how her temping skills were in learning how to deal with anything new and took that as a great way of learning new skills. Jenny discusses the role of a temp and how it can be often overlooked by an organisation who see that role of not worth engaging, but Jenny sees the role as a way of finding your way into a company, as on many occasions a half day role on reception has turned into a two year assignment which led her to working in all the departments that the company had before then deciding to move on. One particularly memorable role, was a booking for one day. The job was working in a portakabin with a Yorkshire Post Editor who was having to deal with a difficult court case, and required a fast typist to keep up with his free flowing words and dictation. With a fast typing speed of 75 wpm, Jenny was able to keep up with his energy and enthusiasm in finding the right words, however it soon became apparent that he was only just getting started with his notes, and the time was almost 5.30pm! A proposal from this editor to work late until 9pm that night with the offer of doubling her pay then turned into a triple pay rate when he asked if she could carry on until midnight. The next day a friend commented to Jenny that the situation sounded just like a scene from the film "Indecent Proposal" where a mysterious billionaire Robert Redford offers $1 million to spend the night with Demi Moore !!! Jenny offers a refreshing look at the role of temping and how she sees it as a quick way to gain experience in different roles, where you pick up different systems, and this enriches your CV and makes you far more employable. She goes on to explain that if you manage to work in contracts with well respected companies, that you are then able to gain lots of fantastic experience, which in turn, will also make your CV more impressive and therefore improves your career prospects and opportunities.
Views: 335 | Enquiries: 0Winner of "Best in World Cookbook" by the Gourmand World Cookbook Society for 2017, Jenny is a regular speaker to a broad variety of groups looking for an interesting and unique talk on her British Raj family. She has given over 500 talks across the world, on cruise ships as well as prestigious locations such as the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata built to commemorate Queen Victoria as Empress of India to hundreds of WI, U3a and Family History groups.
Jenny’s career has been the culmination of several instinctive paths in her life which have led her to enjoying being an author and now a public speaker. With almost thirty trips to India over the past thirty years, she has explored and uncovered the history of her ancestors and their interesting path.
The re-uniting for Jenny of a family heirloom of a book which her great x 4 grandmother started in 1844, Madras which she remembers seeing in her mother’s pantry, is a time capsule in itself. This cherished book holds not only the handwritten manuscripts of recipes which were passed down from mother to daughter for the next five generations, but also hints at the technological changes ushered in by the industrial revolution which had a positive effect of intertwining the economies of India and Great Britain.
With her passions for cooking, India, research and writing, Jenny’s award-winning cookbook “A Grandmother’s Legacy” has been a labour of love – a memoir that mingles the history of her family when they lived in India, with her grandmothers’ recipes that were prudently passed down through the generations.
Recently interviewed by Jenni Murray on BBC’s Woman’s Hour, Jenny has also been featured in “The Lady” magazine, “Who do you think you are?” magazine as well as “Waitrose Magazine” and “Sainsbury’s Magazine”. Jenny has been able to impart knowledge of her family’s cuisine through her teaching at notable cookery schools, including the renowned WI headquarters, Denman College in Oxford.
Jenny’s past career has also influenced her with her continuing interest in both research and travel from her early days in television production at the BBC where she picked up skills in how to present but also carved out a career there in researching. The following decade of the 1980s found her working in high tech as a Corporate Travel Buyer for twenty years and with her engaging personality and knowledge was able to easily connect with her market and secure global airline contracts to the benefit of her company.
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