The flexibility of the work suited my lifestyle perfectly, and when I no longer had college to occupy my time too, I decided to explore other casual work opportunities that I could do alongside. Living in a rural area, I was surprised by how much was available, providing I was willing to travel to bigger towns & cities nearby - my experience as an auditor with Serve Legal meant I was comfortable doing this and I knew it was something I actually quite enjoyed. Through various agencies, I would take part in and even manage product promotion events in supermarkets and shopping centres, attend conferences as a brand ambassador, do leafletting... it varied widely, much like auditing, which I was still doing alongside this too!
This type of work had plenty of other similarities to Serve Legal: there was a high level of responsibility relative to my age and work experience, I could take on work as & when I wanted, and communication with my manager was all done remotely (mostly over the phone). Auditing had helped me developed the necessary skills & confidence to do these things - time management, professional communication, planning/organisation - and as I could prove I'd applied these in a work setting already, I was consistently able to get jobs. There were some real highlights that I will never forget: a trip up to Aberdeen, an event as brand ambassador for Coca Cola, and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Chanel offices in London for a launch event!
At 21, I went to Newcastle for university, where I began to fully appreciate the convenience of flexible work once again. I really wanted to make the most of those long summer breaks to travel, but also make some money, so I worked for the NCS on their summer programmes round the UK one year, worked at a summer camp in California, and taught English out in Taiwan. Taking on roles with significant responsibilities in unfamiliar environments was what I'd been doing since I was 18 - but little did I know this would lead me to adventures in the USA and East Asia!
On finishing university and starting my job search, I happened to see an email from Serve Legal advertising a full-time Area Manager role. I hadn't done much of the non-age-restricted work recently, but I had fond memories of the business and the Area Managers I had worked with, and I liked the idea of applying what I'd learned from flexible work to help new auditors make the most of the opportunity. I now get to work from home and travel to London once a month to meet with the rest of the team (pre-Covid at least!), so even in a full-time job, I still get some of that flexibility and adventure!