A Golden Opportunity

Last Thursday, my Head of the department spoke to me. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding or miscommunication, but he said that he does not see me really interacting with the rest of my colleagues. Well, I do actually, and I do have lunch buddies whom I lunch with almost everyday. Maybe because I do not really talk much while at work, and hardly really talk to my immediate colleagues around me, but I do get along with others if needed.

Anyway, he said that he has no problems with my competency and intelligence, so he is thinking of hiring another person. However, that depends on what type of job I want. Do I want something more challenging like property transations and coordination and due diligence, then he will hire someone to take over the general administration and document record and billing job, or do I want to continue with what I am doing then he will hire someone to do the higher-level job?

He told me to take a day to consider and tell him by the end of Friday. I was in a dilemma. On one hand, I welcome more challenging tasks, but on the other hand, I was rather afraid I could not handle and mess up the whole thing. That day happened to be the day the guy would be coming back after accompanying his parents to Hong Kong, so I received him at the airport that night and told him what my boss said.

He encouraged me to do more. Hmmmm.... other guys would tell me to think through, if I could not handle it would be worse, why would I need more responsibilities when I am perfectly comfortable where I am? Not him. He told me to be confident in myself.

The next morning, I told my mum what my boss said, and what the guy said, and she, too, told me to take on more responsibilities, as it is a good opportunity to shine. And honestly, this company is a very good learning ground.

So at the end of Friday, I told my boss that I would like more responsibilities, if he would give me the opportunity. He was happy with my answer. Since yesterday, we have been having discussions and meetings on what my new job scope would be.

When the new Legal Counsel comes on board next week, I will continue with the Intellectual Property cases (registering and litigation) together with her. At the same time, I will be following the entire transactions of the properties overseas, funding and due diligence, as well as general litigation. The new person we are hiring will be doing strictly administration, claims, billings, document register and filing of agreements.

When I first joined this company, my role is to just assist the entire department in legal and administration work. Now, almost a year later, I am slowly rising up to be the overall contract executive and coordinator. Not a bad feat. This is the opportunity which I should not miss, and from now on, I just have to give my best shot to achieve!