On this last day of 2015, I feel rather old.
I wonder how many of my peers have gone through as many ups and downs (in terms of career especially) as I have. I look at their Facebook updates and LinkedIn profiles, and see that many of them seem to be doing pretty well for themselves.
Me? Well. I've had 3 jobs just this year alone: leaving the civil service in April after working there for 1 year, a brief stint in a place where I quickly realized that the environment was terrible, and my internship at a PR agency that did not work out. I sometimes think of my peers who have a few years of work experiences under their belts already and feel envious.
I don't think I am a loser compared to them though. While some folks might be aghast at my, ahem, job promiscuity, I believe the twists and turns in my career path have made me a strong hustler. Perhaps it is not such a bad thing to fail several times early in my young adult life. I am now used to the sting of rejections. Change does not really faze me. I feel at ease with networking with people in my field and related fields. The vicissitudes I faced in my career and life were not easy to handle but all of them brought me here today: a tougher and sharper hustler.
I expect to continue hustling in 2016, with the main aim of establishing my career in a particular field. I will also make a conscious effort to cultivate other areas in my life e.g. social, health, finances. I know that awesome and wonderful things await me, and that I just have to strive for them.
Here's wishing y'all a Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Job Hustling: Back to Full-On Hustle
Back in July this year, I wrote about clinching an internship with a PR agency a couple of months after leaving my civil service job. I mentioned that if successful, I would be hired as a full-time staff and I was determined to make that happen.
Well. I was not successful.
It was not a question of competence (or lack thereof). I know that I have what it takes to work in PR, and have some concrete achievements from my internship to speak off. These include: mostly holding the fort for one account while my supervisor gave more attention to other more "important" accounts, getting widespread press coverage for said account and exceeding the target PR value, getting a full-page interview for a client in one of the key national newspapers, cranking out about 10 detailed business proposals despite never having met any of the prospects before etc. Sure, given the major career change, I faced some challenges but definitely nothing serious and I always made sure to adapt fast as well as keep up with industry trends. Yet, to cut a long story short, my achievements were downplayed while my shortcomings were exaggerated. The last straw was when my ex-boss made the stupid mistake of arguing with one of the key service providers, severing ties with them and then dumped the difficult task of cleaning up his mess on my shoulders. I realized that I was under-valued and my hard work was taken for granted (for so cheaply too, as my intern pay was measly). There was no choice but to tender my resignation.
While all that happened was unfortunate, I really do not wish to dwell on the unpleasantness and focus on forging my career. Success, after all, is the best revenge ;) Also, for all the crap I endured, I have to acknowledge that I did learn a great deal of very useful transferable skills from my highly experienced ex-colleagues and that I received lots of exposure to many facets of the business. I'll just take the knowledge and learning experiences with me somewhere else. In the end, I actually left the agency on a good note. I focused on the positive aspects of my whole agency experience and thanked my ex-boss and ex-colleagues for teaching me so much. They in turn thanked me and even organized a small farewell lunch. I guess one key lesson to be learnt from all this is the importance of leaving on a good note, or at the very least, a neutral one. I am glad I managed to keep it as graceful as possible and not burn any bridges.
That's all in the past for me. At present, it is nearly the end of 2015, and I find myself unemployed once again. I'm done with the wrenching self-doubt phase of dealing with my situation, although feelings of frustration and fear still crop up every now and then. I want to move on, get a new job that plays to my strengths and forge a career in the PR (or PR-related) field. Interestingly, I am not as worried about my current situation as compared to when I was job-searching after I left the civil service. The main differences are that I am now wiser and more skilled, and more importantly, I never stopped growing and nurturing a network of contacts in the PR field even when I was working in my old agency.
So it's back to full-on hustle and I am raring to go. There will be updates on how the hustle goes and I will definitely be resuming my series on effective hustling. Stay tuned, dear reader, and stay strong :)
Well. I was not successful.
It was not a question of competence (or lack thereof). I know that I have what it takes to work in PR, and have some concrete achievements from my internship to speak off. These include: mostly holding the fort for one account while my supervisor gave more attention to other more "important" accounts, getting widespread press coverage for said account and exceeding the target PR value, getting a full-page interview for a client in one of the key national newspapers, cranking out about 10 detailed business proposals despite never having met any of the prospects before etc. Sure, given the major career change, I faced some challenges but definitely nothing serious and I always made sure to adapt fast as well as keep up with industry trends. Yet, to cut a long story short, my achievements were downplayed while my shortcomings were exaggerated. The last straw was when my ex-boss made the stupid mistake of arguing with one of the key service providers, severing ties with them and then dumped the difficult task of cleaning up his mess on my shoulders. I realized that I was under-valued and my hard work was taken for granted (for so cheaply too, as my intern pay was measly). There was no choice but to tender my resignation.
While all that happened was unfortunate, I really do not wish to dwell on the unpleasantness and focus on forging my career. Success, after all, is the best revenge ;) Also, for all the crap I endured, I have to acknowledge that I did learn a great deal of very useful transferable skills from my highly experienced ex-colleagues and that I received lots of exposure to many facets of the business. I'll just take the knowledge and learning experiences with me somewhere else. In the end, I actually left the agency on a good note. I focused on the positive aspects of my whole agency experience and thanked my ex-boss and ex-colleagues for teaching me so much. They in turn thanked me and even organized a small farewell lunch. I guess one key lesson to be learnt from all this is the importance of leaving on a good note, or at the very least, a neutral one. I am glad I managed to keep it as graceful as possible and not burn any bridges.
That's all in the past for me. At present, it is nearly the end of 2015, and I find myself unemployed once again. I'm done with the wrenching self-doubt phase of dealing with my situation, although feelings of frustration and fear still crop up every now and then. I want to move on, get a new job that plays to my strengths and forge a career in the PR (or PR-related) field. Interestingly, I am not as worried about my current situation as compared to when I was job-searching after I left the civil service. The main differences are that I am now wiser and more skilled, and more importantly, I never stopped growing and nurturing a network of contacts in the PR field even when I was working in my old agency.
So it's back to full-on hustle and I am raring to go. There will be updates on how the hustle goes and I will definitely be resuming my series on effective hustling. Stay tuned, dear reader, and stay strong :)
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