YOU know who I feel sorry for in this recession?

The students who are graduating round about now. After three years of going to a handful of lectures a week, surviving on a diet made up exclusively of pre-packaged pasta and wearing what, essentially, could be classed as fancy dress, they're arriving, blinking, into the world of work, only to find that there are no jobs out there for them.

And it's your first few jobs after uni — normally of the temping variety — that really get you ready for life in the workplace.

They're certainly character-building, that’s for sure.

My own temping jobs taught me lots of things — and not all of them about best ways to look busy when the boss is lurking (best-ever tip?

Walk around with a piece of paper in your hand and everyone will assume you're busy).

Fresh out of uni, I spent the summer in London and was duly dispatched by the local temping agency to South West Bathrooms, which was basically a smaller, posher version of B&Q.

Bizarrely, the boss was a former member of a famous-ish punk band from the ’70s and my manager was a thick-necked bull terrier of a man called Bob.

I'm not sure why they employed me because, aside from answering the phone: “Good morning/ good afternoon, South West Bathrooms?” there was NOTHING for me to do, so I filled my days making lists of ideas for outfits and ticking-off every 15 minutes that went by.

But still, it taught me a lot.

“Sinks are what you find in the kitchen Caroline, this is a basin," the boss would correct me constantly.

And when I asked where the toilet was I was given a dressing-down and a curt reminder that it was much more appropriate to use the term “lavatory” in future.

Mostly I learned that there was a proper way to conduct yourself when dealing with posh people, which basically was to do whatever they told you to.

Next there was the job at a high-end central London advertising agency.

The boss, Linda, was a less likable version of Jennifer Saunders' character in Absolutely Fabulous and would flounce around ordering her underlings to do her bidding.

My favourite temping job of all, though, was working as a receptionist at a huge Japanese bank.

They knew how to treat their employees — everything from £1,000 ergonomic chairs to free drinks and chocolate. It was more like a spa break than a job. There was even a room to lie down in if you felt ill.

My job was to answer the phone and to try to decipher who the person was asking to speak to, which is actually quite difficult when there are 10 Mr Yakimotos to choose from.

But after two weeks I was bored out of my skull. Everyone was just so nice all the time.

And at the end of this temping adventure I decided upon a career in journalism.

What does that tell you? I don't know, but I do know that my working life would have been a whole lot less colourful without these jobs.