1Hi Chantal. What did you think of the talk, then?
2Hi Hugo.
3I thought it was good once I'd moved seats.
4Oh, were the people beside you chatting or something?
5It wasn't that.
6I went early so that I'd get a seat and not have to stand,
7but then this guy sat right in front of me and he was so tall!
8It's hard to see through people's heads, isn't it?
9Impossible!
10Anyway, to answer your question,
11I thought it was really interesting,
12especially what the speaker said about the job market.
13Me too.
14I mean we know we're going into a really competitive field so it's obvious that we may struggle to get work.
15That's right,
16and we know we can't all have that 'dream job'.
17Yeah, but it looks like there's a whole range of... areas of work that we hadn't even thought of,
18like fashion journalism, for instance.
19Yeah, I wasn't expecting so many career options.
20Overall, she had quite a strong message, didn't she?
21She did.
22She kept saying things like 'I know you all think this, but...'
23and then she'd tell us how it really is.
24Perhaps she thinks students are a bit narrow-minded about the industry.
25It was a bit harsh, though!
26We know it's a tough industry.
27Yeah, and we're only first-years, after all.
28We've got a lot to learn.
29Exactly.
30Do you think our secondary school education should have been more career-focused?
31Well, we had numerous talks on careers, which was good,
32but none of them were very inspiring.
33They could've asked more people like today's speaker to talk to us.
34I agree.
35We were told about lots of different careers, just when we needed to be,
36but not by the experts who really know stuff.
37So did today's talk influence your thoughts on what career you'd like to take up in the future?
38Well. I promised myself that I'd go through this course and keep an open mind till the end.
39But I think it's better to pick an area of the industry now and then aim to get better and better at it.
40Well, I think we'll just have to differ on that issue!
41One thing's for certain, though.
42From what she said, we'll be unpaid assistants in the industry for quite a long time.
43I'm prepared for that, aren't you?
44Actually, I'm not going to accept that view.
45Really?
46But she knows it's the case,
47and everyone else says the same.
48That doesn't mean it has to be true for me.
49OK.
50Well, I hope you're right!
51I thought the speaker's account of her first job was fascinating.
52Yeah, she admitted she was lucky to get work being a personal dresser for a musician.
53She didn't even apply for the job
54and there she was getting paid to choose all his clothes.
55It must have felt amazing,
56though she said all she was looking for back then was experience, not financial reward.
57And then he was so mean, telling her she was more interested in her own appearance than his!
58But she did realise he was right about that,
59which really made me think.
60I'm always considering my own clothes
61but now I can see you should be focusing on your client!
62She obviously regretted losing the job.
63Well, as she said, she should have hidden her negative feelings about him, but she didn't.
64It was really brave the way she picked herself up and took that job in retail.
65Fancy working in a shop after that!
66Yeah, well, she recommended we all do it at some point.
67I guess as a designer you'd get to find out some useful information,
68like how big or small the average shopper is.
69I think that's an issue for manufacturers, not designers.
70However, it would be useful to know if there's a gap in the market, you know,
71an item that no one's stocking but that consumers are looking for.
72Yeah, people don't give up searching.
73They also take things back to the store if they aren't right.
74Yeah.
75Imagine you worked in an expensive shop
76and you found out the garments sold there were being returned because they... fell apart in the wash!
77Yeah, it would be good to know that kind of thing.