Blogs: Charles talks about new beginnings

Charles Oben graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in French with International Studies. He is now pursuing a career in advertising.

So what's new? Well, a new city, new house and new job…

I'm still the same person, though, I think. It's funny how things change; a month ago I was struggling to find a job, but now that I've got one (whoop whoop!) suddenly it seems like everyone's really keen on hiring me or sending me job specifications. My LinkedIn inbox has never been so happy. It's like that odd dating conundrum - when you're single, you might as well be the ugliest man on the planet, but get in a relationship and suddenly women think you're Brad Pitt.
 
Wondering what I pulled out of a hat to get this to happen? Well I did complete Econsultancy's Graduate Digital Bootcamp, which was a great experience. I particularly enjoyed working on a set brief and pitching it to senior staff from Econsultancy and Inspiring Interns. I also worked a lot more on my online branding, also known as digital footprint, revamped my CV and did lots and lots of industry-related reading.

But I don't think any of that helped. Being perfectly honest, I got a lucky break. During the Jubilee celebrations I went to London to visit my brother. While I was there I ran into one of his friends, who happened to have a sister working at a company looking for new staff.

Fast forward two weeks and I was sitting opposite her, working for the same company. Networking is pretty serious business. The company is called Adconion Media Group, a global audience network and I'm currently working as a sales intern for the London and global sales teams. At the moment, life is good.
 
One thing I like in particular is the company's culture - working in advertising is fun. There is a table tennis table in the lounge (which gets used daily), music playing throughout the office, and a modest amount of 'social noise' at all hours. Definitely my kind of place. It's a stark contrast to the stories I've heard about what it’s like to work in investment banking, for example, and these stories would seem to match my limited experience inside such places of work. Not once have I seen a table tennis table.
 
But it hasn't all been smooth sailing. In fact, trying to find accommodation was an absolute nightmare. I got the call telling me I had the job on a Wednesday and my first day would be the coming Monday. At that time I was still based in Coventry, so I only had a few days to move to London, find a place to live and sort out all my bits and bobs. The weekend before I started working was horrendous - 12 house viewings in two days. And none of them even worked out.

In the end, I managed to bunk up with one of my friends for a bit and after that things just happened to fall into place. It’s fun to wonder what will be different from now in a month’s time. I'll keep you posted.