| Hi Chantal. What did you think of the talk, then? |
| Hi Hugo. |
| I thought it was good once I'd moved seats. |
| Oh, were the people beside you chatting or something? |
| It wasn't that. |
| I went early so that I'd get a seat and not have to stand, |
| but then this guy sat right in front of me and he was so tall! |
| It's hard to see through people's heads, isn't it? |
| Impossible! |
| Anyway, to answer your question, |
| I thought it was really interesting, |
| especially what the speaker said about the job market. |
| Me too. |
| I mean we know we're going into a really competitive field so it's obvious that we may struggle to get work. |
| That's right, |
| and we know we can't all have that 'dream job'. |
| Yeah, but it looks like there's a whole range of... areas of work that we hadn't even thought of, |
| like fashion journalism, for instance. |
| Yeah, I wasn't expecting so many career options. |
| Overall, she had quite a strong message, didn't she? |
| She did. |
| She kept saying things like 'I know you all think this, but...' |
| and then she'd tell us how it really is. |
| Perhaps she thinks students are a bit narrow-minded about the industry. |
| It was a bit harsh, though! |
| We know it's a tough industry. |
| Yeah, and we're only first-years, after all. |
| We've got a lot to learn. |
| Exactly. |
| Do you think our secondary school education should have been more career-focused? |
| Well, we had numerous talks on careers, which was good, |
| but none of them were very inspiring. |
| They could've asked more people like today's speaker to talk to us. |
| I agree. |
| We were told about lots of different careers, just when we needed to be, |
| but not by the experts who really know stuff. |
| So did today's talk influence your thoughts on what career you'd like to take up in the future? |
| Well. I promised myself that I'd go through this course and keep an open mind till the end. |
| But I think it's better to pick an area of the industry now and then aim to get better and better at it. |
| Well, I think we'll just have to differ on that issue! |
| One thing's for certain, though. |
| From what she said, we'll be unpaid assistants in the industry for quite a long time. |
| I'm prepared for that, aren't you? |
| Actually, I'm not going to accept that view. |
| Really? |
| But she knows it's the case, |
| and everyone else says the same. |
| That doesn't mean it has to be true for me. |
| OK. |
| Well, I hope you're right! |
| I thought the speaker's account of her first job was fascinating. |
| Yeah, she admitted she was lucky to get work being a personal dresser for a musician. |
| She didn't even apply for the job |
| and there she was getting paid to choose all his clothes. |
| It must have felt amazing, |
| though she said all she was looking for back then was experience, not financial reward. |
| And then he was so mean, telling her she was more interested in her own appearance than his! |
| But she did realise he was right about that, |
| which really made me think. |
| I'm always considering my own clothes |
| but now I can see you should be focusing on your client! |
| She obviously regretted losing the job. |
| Well, as she said, she should have hidden her negative feelings about him, but she didn't. |
| It was really brave the way she picked herself up and took that job in retail. |
| Fancy working in a shop after that! |
| Yeah, well, she recommended we all do it at some point. |
| I guess as a designer you'd get to find out some useful information, |
| like how big or small the average shopper is. |
| I think that's an issue for manufacturers, not designers. |
| However, it would be useful to know if there's a gap in the market, you know, |
| an item that no one's stocking but that consumers are looking for. |
| Yeah, people don't give up searching. |
| They also take things back to the store if they aren't right. |
| Yeah. |
| Imagine you worked in an expensive shop |
| and you found out the garments sold there were being returned because they... fell apart in the wash! |
| Yeah, it would be good to know that kind of thing. |