The Perfect Place for Me
7 June 2007
YVONNE LE GOFFE started temping in an office aged 57 after a varied career including five years as a zookeeper.
In the second of a three articles marking National Temp Week she explains why the arrangement suits her.
Now 59, she said throughout her working life she had been accustomed to taking up to five holidays a year and her jobs always accommodated that.
Life as a temp also offered that flexibility.
After registering with The Temp Desk at OSA Recruitment in November 2005 she was swiftly placed as a receptionist at Deutsche Bank to provide holiday and sickness cover. She initially did a couple of weeks in December followed by another couple in March. Since last May she has had an ongoing part time placement, working every afternoon.
“I love it here. I was a little bit apprehensive entering the office environment at my age and because it was so different to what I had done before,” she said. “But I found everyone so friendly and welcoming and it is a very happy place to work.” She said anyone that felt too old to consider temping should think again. “It suits me down to the ground and there are so many options for work.”
Assignments can be found to really suit your individual needs.
Immediately prior to temping she had spent 30 years working at Best Foods. But was made redundant when it closed. After finishing school she spent five years working for Guernsey Telecom in the early 1960s before leaving the island to work in Germany for a year. On her return she decided she wanted to work with animals. The then Guernsey Zoo owners were customers of her dad¹s butchers. She expressed an interest to them and was given the job of head zookeeper, a post she held for six years. In 1975 she left and spent six months as an aupair in Berlin followed by a further six in Hamburg. On her return to the island she took up her job at Best Foods. She worked in administration, including book keeping running ledgers and acting as PA to the managing director. But when the business closed down she was keen to work again but did not know where to look.
“A friend put me in touch with The Temp Desk at OSA and they were extremely understanding and helpful,” said Miss Le Goffe.
“I was very happy to get my job at Deutsche Bank. It is the perfect situation.”
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