The Road to Career

When I found my current job 2 months back, I was totally delighted. I was very fortunate to be able to find a job in the apparently bleak job market – at least a contract one was already good enough – and in such a short time too. I quicky settled for this offer without hesitating much as I couldn’t imagine myself going through the tedious job hunting process in search for a possibly better one. Through these 2 months, some of my friends have also managed to land pretty good jobs and permanent ones too and I’m happy for them. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but question myself occasionally whether I had been too rash in accepting my current job offer then. Could I have gotten an even better offer had I been more patient and waited for other potential jobs to come my way? Looking at the people around, it seemed plausible. Then again, maybe no? Well, frankly I don’t know. It depends a lot on luck I must admit, and it is really hard to say.

This doesn’t mean I’m not good here. In fact, thinking back on my experience working here so far, I think I truly am a blessed worker. I haven’t had to stay back for OT so far; I always leave office on the dot and I can have weeknights all to myself. My work is never thrown at me in huge piles that seem neverending; my workload is absolutely manageable. My job scope is clear and I am only responsible for fulfilling those duties within my scope; I never had to “bao ka liao”, in other words cover whatever miscellaneous work that is outside of my area simply because I’m the only non-permanent staff in my team. Something interesting I’ve noticed too: superiors here do not sit in their own private corners or offices that show their authority. Instead, they sit at normal desks just like the rest of us and they are hardly intimidating.. how cool is that? Besides, lunchtime is really quality break-time here; we get to enjoy our meals leisurely and even have time to jalan jalan abit before we head back for work, there’s no rush at all..it’s always a good time to relax.

Most importantly, I get to befriend a group of amazing girls – Shio Cheng, Priscilla, Angel, Yoko, Evan and Siok Choo. They are really nice people – easy to get along with, and needless to say, a great team of colleagues to work with. There’re no politics or enmity in our team, only friendship. My “teacher”, Pris, is always patient to help me whenever I have questions, and my mistakes are tolerated. My office is a great place to work in – I never had any hard feelings about coming to work..not on Sundays, and no Monday blues as well. The people here are one important reason..because I know it is not just a place for serious work, but one where I can find friends.

The only less-than-ideal part about this job is perhaps the money. Strictly speaking my pay is fairly decent, as in it is sufficient to finance my day-in day-out expenses..”sufficient” is the word I stress here. So it is OK, I would say. But the bottomline is, “I wouldn’t mind if it is higher”.. it complements my financial status and my budget can be looser..haha ya, you get my point, talking about “ideal” as always. Moreover, I believe my market value is potentially worth more than what I’m being paid now, so if I can be paid higher, of course I’ll be happier too. Nevertheless, this isn’t a major problem for me at this stage since I just started out working. Besides, much of this deficiency has been compensated for by other satisfying monetary and non-monetary aspects of my job. So by far I am very contented with my job overall.

Well, maybe one last thing that is lacking is that it is contract-based. Obviously a permanent position is best so that I wouldn’t have to worry about whether I get to stay or have to leave the company..job security is at stake here, which is important to me. What happens next after my contract expires? I might have a choice to stay on, I might not. If I’m lucky to have a chance to – which I’d love to – then what would I want to get out of it? Perhaps it’s good time now to ponder about what I want in my career life.

I used to think back then that I would just work at any job that is pretty decent, just for the income for survival, because I knew right from the beginning that there’s going to be more to life that I want to do besides just spending my whole time on work alone..I want to spend time on things I love and enjoy doing..singing is one for sure. Up till now, this hasn’t changed at all. But it really isn’t as simple as I thought it to be. Yes, work is not going to be the most important, but who can deny that it IS essentially an important part of life? After all, we’re going to spend a large part of our time working on our career, of course I would want it to be a pleasant and fulfilling memory of my life. So naïve of me when I used to think that I wouldn’t need to worry about “career advancement” and this sorta stuff cuz I forsee I only need a basic salary to survive. Well I’m wrong I guess. I sure need to sit down now and start planning what I want in my career, meaning what is truly important to me and what level of achievement will be satisfying enough for myself to have regrets. It’s not too late to start thinking now.

I have in mind how much is considered a good enough salary for my needs, but money is not the most important part. The people and environment is of much more significance to me – it has to be a place where I have a lot of positive feelings about. I’ve learnt that there is no such thing as the best job that can be measured against any individual. Everyone has different needs and we simply cannot compare you with me, it just doesn’t work. The best job for me might not be the best one for you. And similarly, the job that doesn’t satisfy you doesn’t mean it doesn’t suit me. Eventually, it all boils down to understanding our own individual needs and to work towards fulfilling them – that is the simplest and most sensible principle to follow.