Exams End – Your Potential Doesn’t
Tomorrow morning, thousands of Scots will receive their exam results – and I know a few who are anxiously trying to distract themselves until that 8am text arrives!
But, for those of you with teenagers who are dreading it, fearing failure or confused about next steps, please tell them to STOP!
There are so many routes to rewarding work, whatever that looks like for them, and a straight path is rarely the best path!
Here’s my story, with wonky life bits included.
I loved English at school and dreamt of being a journalist, but didn’t fancy university. If I’m honest, despite achieving perfectly good (but not amazing) grades, I didn’t want to leave home either.
So I got a job at Perth & Kinross Council while I figured things out. I lived at home, made money, life was good. But, from the very early days, I knew I wasn’t hanging around. It wasn’t the long-term plan, so I used my flexi-days to do unpaid work experience in Radio Tay’s newsroom.
And it paid off. A few months in, or maybe a year, I persuaded them to give me a job as a broadcast journalist, reading live bulletins, reporting from court, chasing stories. I loved it, but realised I didn’t quite have the hard-nosed edge to be a journalist.
So I moved into PR, first in an agency – Beattie Media in Dundee – then seconded to the University of St Andrews when they became a client. Then Prince William arrived, and everything changed.
Suddenly, alongside my colleagues, I was managing press and media interest from around the world. It was intense and scary sometimes, but ultimately led me to set up my own PR consultancy, which turns 18 in a few weeks. I figured that, if I could do this, I could work with my own clients and go it alone.
During this period, I had also become a Mum and wanted to commit real time and energy to that, as well as having my own career, not just when they were in P1, but for the long haul.
So setting up as a freelancer made sense to me, and so Grainger Public Relations was born. I’ve got the most amazing clients, genuinely love my job and, 90% of the time, managed to nail that ‘work/life balance’ thing I was seeking.
Here I am in the very early days of going solo 😊 If only I had some photos of my Radio Tay newsroom days. Maybe someone does?!
But the moral of the story is this – there was no real plan, especially on exam results day.
Just small steps, opportunities and the courage to change tack when things didn’t feel right.
📣 There’s No Wrong Path, just your path