What will I do when I grow up?

Not generally the type of question you would ask someone like me on the plus side of 50.  I was having a chat with my niece the other night and our conversation turned to careers and how we had started along our career path.  It got me thinking and to be honest my working life has come about by accident, being in the right place at the right time with the right skills for the jobs I have done.

When I left school I knew uni was not for me so I sat for the Public Service exam following a 'suggestion' from my Dad, I really had no idea what my next step would be so I thought I'd better go along with his plans. In those days there was virtually full employment so there was no fear that a person may not get a job. Said exam completed and low and behold I was successfully employed as a Savings Bank clerk with the Commonwealth Bank.  I found out years later that I had come 2nd in the test but as one of the staff didn't really get on with the person that had top marks I was the next in line. My 'career' in banking and finance had begun. I earned about $27.00 a fortnight and had to pay $15 of that for board. Mind you I thought I was rich. The bank was so up-to-date that we had to hand post the savings bank ledgers and calculate interest manually once a month and it was credited annually. The only technology we had was an adding machine (no calculators back then).

So my working life has rolled along from there, from working in a bank in the 70's a building society in the 80's, a full time mum in the late 80's back to part time work in a bank in the 90's an insurance in the late 90's again part time then full time in super in the noughties where I still am. 

I have learnt a lot and each job has been very beneficial for everyday life as I know a little bit about the banking system, home and car insurance and now super. 

Just imagine what the reaction would be like these days if a teenager doesn't seem to have a plan for what they want to do.  There is a lot of pressure put on people these days to decide on their 'careers' from a very early age. 

Looking back I can remember being asked what I would do when I grew up. I can remember saying I'd like to be a doctor (wasn't academic enough for that). I can also remember thinking I'd like to be a hairdresser at one stage but back in the 70's this meant leaving school in grade 10 and becoming an apprentice and my parents didn't think it was good form to leave school before finishing year 12.

So there you go a working life that just sort of happened. One thing I can say though is I have always worked to live not lived to work, as the most important job I have is that of a Mum and Nana. My family are the most important people in my life.