Blogs: Cat considers her transition into the world of work

Cat graduated from her fashion design degree at the University of Leeds and has now secured her first job in the industry, working as a buyers admin assistant (BAA)

This time last year I was designing insect-inspired dresses. Now I am filling in spreadsheets.

The transition from university life to full-time work has been challenging. I miss the creative side of my course (as well as mid-week partying and daytime telly).

However I do find my job more fulfilling than my degree. If I didn't work hard enough at uni, I would get a low mark. If I don't work hard enough now, the company could lose profits.

I would recommend going to university before starting a career as it gave me time to work out which path I wanted to head down, as well as getting to live the student lifestyle before having to grow up!

Going to university helped prepare me for the working world. A fashion-related degree isn't absolutely necessary - people in my office have degrees in science and geography. But having an understanding of fashion design, such as how fabrics act and how to make clothes, has come in handy when making buying decisions.

Last week I had half an hour's notice before presenting the best and worst sellers in an important trade meeting. I managed not to stumble over my words or go bright red, which made me grateful of all the cringeworthy presentations we had to do at uni.

My degree also taught me how to visually present work in a professional way. After visiting a store and our competitors with the junior buyer, I put together a PowerPoint presentation analysing what we had seen. 

My boss was impressed with the presentation and circulated it to other buyers and merchandisers, which made me feel like I'm doing something right!

Working in retail for a few years built my confidence up to talk to customers and find out about their spending habits. If you want a career in fashion, retail is a great place to start.

Getting experience in designer stores or head offices, even if it's just for a couple of weeks, can demonstrate that you have high aspirations which stand out on a CV. 

The best preparation for my job was my year in industry. I spent the first half at a small childrenswear company and the second half at a womenswear high street retailer.

I was distributing and wholesaling clothes to buyers, which made me realise that buying looked a lot more fun! I also had a go at PR and visual merchandising, which I could go into if buying doesn't work out. 

At the end of my placements I decided I wanted to work in womenswear rather than childrenswear. But somehow I have ended up in the older girls department, which is technically Childrenswear.

I do enjoy working on the older girls department because we react to trends quickly. However, ensuring that designs are available in store within four weeks creates a lot of pressure. As our target customers are unpredictable in their fashion choices, every buying decision is risky.

I have been staying late and skipping lunch breaks to keep up with the fast pace but I don't know how long I can sustain this. I have been wondering what it would be like to work in a different department in the company, but feel if I can handle the pace of older girls I'll be ready for anything.