<p><em>Posted on behalf of Mandy Turner, member of OU Students Association staff.</em></p>
<p>It was February 1986, I had only turned 16 the month before and I was getting really nervous about an interview at the Open University in the Audio-Visual Department. I was due to be leaving school in the summer and just starting to look for jobs.</p>
<p>It was my very first interview and when I walked into the waiting room I had four interviewees looking back at me&#8230; I was scared stiff! I finally managed to get through the interview and headed to my mum’s office (she also worked at the OU) and burst into tears.</p>
<p>A few days later I got the job offer and what&#8217;s more, they agreed to hold the position for me until I finished school in June! How lucky was I my very first interview and I got the job?! So 2<sup>nd</sup> June 1986 I started the job and even had to come to work on a few occasions in my school uniform so I could go back to school and do my final exams.</p>
<p>I had three happy years in Audio Visual and grew up a lot. I worked with such a friendly and happy team. The job I had was very basic stuff and after a while, I decided that I needed to move on and get some more skills under my belt, so I decided to apply for another role in the OU. At this time there was a team of staff who would work in different departments and cover jobs for staff who were on maternity leave or on sick leave and we would be there for as long as they needed us. Back then it was called Central Secretarial Services. I ended up working in a lot of faculties and so many different departments. One of the jobs I had was working in Council for about 6 months so worked in the big house at the end of the main drive on the <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/locations/milton-keynes-campus">Milton Keynes Campus</a>. I was there the day Margaret Thatcher resigned and didn’t really take in why everyone was celebrating as I was too young to really understand.</p>
<p>After Christmas 1990, I was booked to go to the OU Students Association to cover a job there. On the 2<sup>nd</sup> January 1991, I started in the Association, this was a department I never even knew existed! Back then there was a staff of about 15 and we worked in a terrapin building that had fleas from the cats living under the building. When it rained the water would run down our office walls and when the river overflowed the water came right up to the door of the building but I still loved working for the Association.</p>
<p>Our Permanent Secretary at that time was John Needham and he was a fantastic boss. By the April of 1991, John asked me if I would stay, I then became a permanent member of the Association.</p>
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