It had been a busy few days for me, with job interviews with various agencies, companies and friends, and opera practice for the Christmas Concert back in full gear. Ironically I seem to be busier and more tired not working than when I am working.
The interview yesterday went pretty well. The Legal Counsel is a very nice and easy-going guy who is running the whole department by himself, thus need someone to help him. The job itself is more of a higher-level Legal Assistant type of job. The person gets to implement and manage the entire contract and documentation filing system, liaise with trade marks and copyright issues with vendors, drafting confidentiality and non-disclosure documents and liaise with overseas vendors, so there will be travelling involved. And since it is in-house, the job is more specialised, not as general as in a law firm. I believe the exposure will be more. Besides, the starting pay is already significantly more than that of a law firm.
The job agent called me yesterday and said that the company seems rather interested in hiring me, and I sure am interested in the job. However, they can only give the final confirmation next week. I hope I can get the job! I always wanted to go in-house ever since I almost went in-house with MTV Asia. Working for a big organisation is just so much more different than a normal firm.
I went for another interview today with a small accounting firm. The job scope is that of a Corporate Executive, same as my previous job. The agent called and said the company is offering me the job. That is fast, but I want to hold on and see if ST hires me. The agent sounded angry when I told her I like to consider the offer before committing. Firstly, I prefer to go in-house. Secondly, although Corporate Executive is a very specialised area and I am lucky to be able to be exposed to the job, but I am not one who can work with accounts and annual returns for a long period of time. Thirdly, somehow I did not have a good impression of the company I went for interview today as everything looked cluttered and messy.
No doubt the company is not able to hold the offer for long, but the job agent has no reason to put me down. She did not have to say that I have been working in law firms but could not last long, so why do I still want to look for a job in a law firm? And I am very lucky that the company is willing to hire me even though I only have about a year's experience in this area at the most, and they are still willing to pay me the same salary as my previous firms.
In the first place, I am looking to go to the in-house Legal department of a bigger company, not the same as going to a law firm. When I said I prefer to go in-house as I can be more exposed to other areas of work, she said that she thought going out of the legal industry would give me more exposure. Yes, provided I do other areas of work, but the Corporate Executive or Assistant type of job is very specialised that it is the same type of job whichever firm or industry I go to. She even said if I continue in the legal field, I will forever be stuck as a secretary! Since when was I ever a secretary? All along I have never done a secretary's job! And besides, I only said I will consider, not downright rejecting the offer, why should she make such a big deal out of it? Even if I do reject the offer, she did not need to put me down like this. Honestly, is there anything wrong with wanting to hold on for a job that can give me a better offer and opportunity to learn with better prospects?
I guess I cannot blame her as she is probably anxious to get a "sale" for the service rendered. If I turn down the job offer, she will not be able to make the "sale". But although prospective employers have the right to choose who to hire, do prospective employees not have the choice which company's offer they like to accept? After all, being in a job one prefers is better than doing a job one dislikes.
You may say I am choosy. Compared to perhaps my parents' time, I admit I am more choosy. My mum just accepted the first job offer that came her way, and now she is stuck to the company for life. No doubt it is a big statutory board she is working in and holding a very high rank, but she often comes home complaining about her job. I do not wish to end up like her, being unhappy and bringing work problems home. I suffered like this for almost four years when I was teaching, and now that I am out of teaching, things are more bearable.
Besides, comparing me to some of my friends, I am already not that choosy. I have friends who are unemployed for months just because they keep on turning down job offers (some from big reputable companies) just so they can hold on to the dream job that may or may not come their ways. As a result, they may be jobless for months and years even.
Take my best friend for instance. She finally resigned in July after three attempts. Now she is helping out her mother by freelancing as a property agent and giving tuition at the same time, but other than that, she is unemployed. She has a business degree in marketing, but she does not want to do sales, or MARCOM, or advertising, or promotion. She is looking for a marketing job that does not comprise the above, yet can give her a challenge at the same time. Which marketing job will not comprise at least one of the above? What else can she look for? She does not want to work for the government, and she wants a job that only has a five-day work week. She is going to take a very long time to be able to find a job.
Even my second ex, he finished law, then did not wish to slave away in a law firm or legal department. So he was jobless for about a year before he landed the airline job. Even then it was not his first choice but he took it as he gets to travel and it pays well. He did not even know what type of job he liked!
For me, I just want a job where I can be exposed and learn as much as I can. Occasional travel overseas is an advantage too! Essentially, I work best if the job is challenging and I need to think deeply on what to do. What is the use of doing something easy and mundane which just about anyone can do it? I will not be able to upgrade myself if the job is too run-of-the-mill. I like to think through on what to do. In this way, I get to learn and be satisfied and happy with myself if I do the job well.
The interview yesterday went pretty well. The Legal Counsel is a very nice and easy-going guy who is running the whole department by himself, thus need someone to help him. The job itself is more of a higher-level Legal Assistant type of job. The person gets to implement and manage the entire contract and documentation filing system, liaise with trade marks and copyright issues with vendors, drafting confidentiality and non-disclosure documents and liaise with overseas vendors, so there will be travelling involved. And since it is in-house, the job is more specialised, not as general as in a law firm. I believe the exposure will be more. Besides, the starting pay is already significantly more than that of a law firm.
The job agent called me yesterday and said that the company seems rather interested in hiring me, and I sure am interested in the job. However, they can only give the final confirmation next week. I hope I can get the job! I always wanted to go in-house ever since I almost went in-house with MTV Asia. Working for a big organisation is just so much more different than a normal firm.
I went for another interview today with a small accounting firm. The job scope is that of a Corporate Executive, same as my previous job. The agent called and said the company is offering me the job. That is fast, but I want to hold on and see if ST hires me. The agent sounded angry when I told her I like to consider the offer before committing. Firstly, I prefer to go in-house. Secondly, although Corporate Executive is a very specialised area and I am lucky to be able to be exposed to the job, but I am not one who can work with accounts and annual returns for a long period of time. Thirdly, somehow I did not have a good impression of the company I went for interview today as everything looked cluttered and messy.
No doubt the company is not able to hold the offer for long, but the job agent has no reason to put me down. She did not have to say that I have been working in law firms but could not last long, so why do I still want to look for a job in a law firm? And I am very lucky that the company is willing to hire me even though I only have about a year's experience in this area at the most, and they are still willing to pay me the same salary as my previous firms.
In the first place, I am looking to go to the in-house Legal department of a bigger company, not the same as going to a law firm. When I said I prefer to go in-house as I can be more exposed to other areas of work, she said that she thought going out of the legal industry would give me more exposure. Yes, provided I do other areas of work, but the Corporate Executive or Assistant type of job is very specialised that it is the same type of job whichever firm or industry I go to. She even said if I continue in the legal field, I will forever be stuck as a secretary! Since when was I ever a secretary? All along I have never done a secretary's job! And besides, I only said I will consider, not downright rejecting the offer, why should she make such a big deal out of it? Even if I do reject the offer, she did not need to put me down like this. Honestly, is there anything wrong with wanting to hold on for a job that can give me a better offer and opportunity to learn with better prospects?
I guess I cannot blame her as she is probably anxious to get a "sale" for the service rendered. If I turn down the job offer, she will not be able to make the "sale". But although prospective employers have the right to choose who to hire, do prospective employees not have the choice which company's offer they like to accept? After all, being in a job one prefers is better than doing a job one dislikes.
You may say I am choosy. Compared to perhaps my parents' time, I admit I am more choosy. My mum just accepted the first job offer that came her way, and now she is stuck to the company for life. No doubt it is a big statutory board she is working in and holding a very high rank, but she often comes home complaining about her job. I do not wish to end up like her, being unhappy and bringing work problems home. I suffered like this for almost four years when I was teaching, and now that I am out of teaching, things are more bearable.
Besides, comparing me to some of my friends, I am already not that choosy. I have friends who are unemployed for months just because they keep on turning down job offers (some from big reputable companies) just so they can hold on to the dream job that may or may not come their ways. As a result, they may be jobless for months and years even.
Take my best friend for instance. She finally resigned in July after three attempts. Now she is helping out her mother by freelancing as a property agent and giving tuition at the same time, but other than that, she is unemployed. She has a business degree in marketing, but she does not want to do sales, or MARCOM, or advertising, or promotion. She is looking for a marketing job that does not comprise the above, yet can give her a challenge at the same time. Which marketing job will not comprise at least one of the above? What else can she look for? She does not want to work for the government, and she wants a job that only has a five-day work week. She is going to take a very long time to be able to find a job.
Even my second ex, he finished law, then did not wish to slave away in a law firm or legal department. So he was jobless for about a year before he landed the airline job. Even then it was not his first choice but he took it as he gets to travel and it pays well. He did not even know what type of job he liked!
For me, I just want a job where I can be exposed and learn as much as I can. Occasional travel overseas is an advantage too! Essentially, I work best if the job is challenging and I need to think deeply on what to do. What is the use of doing something easy and mundane which just about anyone can do it? I will not be able to upgrade myself if the job is too run-of-the-mill. I like to think through on what to do. In this way, I get to learn and be satisfied and happy with myself if I do the job well.
5 comments:
i don't think there's anything wrong of holding an offer, as long as we are giving them a considerable timeframe. The agent is just rude to you.
My agents were very helpful when I was looking for my job. In fact, I wanted to go down and give them something, but I have not managed to take any time off... ><
Sen and Wolvie : Most job agents I came across are very helpful and polite. It's only this one I mentioned that seems rather pushy.
Hey everyone! Cool site! The customer support seems good and the technology jobs are endless. Maybe I will have a better directmatch searching for human resources
since my keyword "customer care jobs" did not fit as intended.
Glad I found you! Keep on keepin on!
Thank you for your wonderful site. Although I did not find admin jobs as a directmatch to your site, I did however enjoy the career advice from other posts.
Thanks again for being here!
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