I am no job hopper even though my resume gives that impression. However I am not one who stays in the same job, drawing the same salary, with the same rank for ten years, unlike a particular someone I know.
The longest I have ever stayed in a job is three years three months, the shortest two days (but that was because the company made a mess of my job offer and no headcount was approved so I had to leave as they were not complying with regulations by hiring me).
I do go for better ventures when I have a better offer. The company I was working with prior to this, I stayed for two years, nine months and three days. I almost made three years there before this current job opportunity came knocking. Now I am in my current post for almost one year and one month.
There is no perfect company or environment. If I am to compare job responsibilities, the previous job gave me the most exposure and best learning curve. I handled things which I never knew I could, and did them successfully. I built up good friendships and that helped me to achieve quite a few things at work.
But some of the people there made the working environment unpleasant. Ironically those who played politics are those who had been in the company for twenty to thirty years and still in the same rank. I somehow got the feeling they resented the fact I could handle more things outside my job scope so tried to find fault with everything. To me, if they were any that capable in the first place, why were they stuck in the same job for so long with hardly any progression?
Then when I came here, things got better. Even though there are still loudmouthed and nothing-better-to-do-but-gossip people around, at least no one really got on my nerves. And I do have a group of people whom I lunch with at times. So in terms of politics, so far this place is better.
But the work is not as enjoyable. When I was hired, I was supposed to do Corporate Finance, like Initial Public Offerings, cross-border transactions, incorporation, merger and acquisition and restructuring. Now the entities have merged, gotten acquired, consolidated, amalgamated, and mostly restructured. With the financial downturn last year, the listing was put on hold until further notice. Hence I will not be able to get the listing experience for now.
So now what I end up doing are day-to-day stuff like board minutes, Annual General Meetings, photocopying, scanning, checking financial statements, things which anyone who is more junior than me can handle. I feel more like a Finance Assistant than a Legal and Corporate Officer.
In my previous job, I handled major and minor contracts, Intellectual Property, insurance, private equity, medium term notes, property, sales and marketing, international and cross-border transactions, due diligence, leasing, attending property launches, charity trust and accident claims.
Thus in my current job scope which any teenager can handle, I am feeling bored and mundane. I was doing twice as much work for lesser pay! I am not complaining about having lesser workload for more pay but right now, it is not challenging enough. I had problems in my previous job but I was satisfied with my work in the end because it was enriching.
In the past from the moment I reached office I was working, with a bit of a break in between, then all the way until after six. Now all my work can be done by eleven in the morning, then I just have to wait for lunch, then lax in the afternoon until around six. So I end up with quite a bit of free time to just surf the net until end of the day. In fact I am busier with non-work stuff than actually work!
Hence even though I am only in this company for slightly more than a year, I was contemplating if I should just move to something more challenging. Two Fridays ago, I made a decision. The next day (Saturday), I saw two job openings in the Recruit paper. Talk about a coincidence!
One is a petroleum company, looking for in-house legal staff to do contracts, insurance and corporate. Another is the top law firm here looking for staff in its Intellectual Property and Technology department. I have sent in my resume to both and just keeping my fingers crossed.
Yesterday, news officially came out that we are not getting an increment or a bonus. In other words, we are having a pay freeze. This news came just when the job market is now picking up and the company managed to make profits the first half of the year!
Perhaps it is a sign then that it is better to move? In any case, I am looking out for better opportunities and see which one(s) I can apply to. If not then I will just continue with my monotonous and mundane work until the time comes for me to move on again or afford to take a break and not work for a while.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The longest I have ever stayed in a job is three years three months, the shortest two days (but that was because the company made a mess of my job offer and no headcount was approved so I had to leave as they were not complying with regulations by hiring me).
I do go for better ventures when I have a better offer. The company I was working with prior to this, I stayed for two years, nine months and three days. I almost made three years there before this current job opportunity came knocking. Now I am in my current post for almost one year and one month.
There is no perfect company or environment. If I am to compare job responsibilities, the previous job gave me the most exposure and best learning curve. I handled things which I never knew I could, and did them successfully. I built up good friendships and that helped me to achieve quite a few things at work.
But some of the people there made the working environment unpleasant. Ironically those who played politics are those who had been in the company for twenty to thirty years and still in the same rank. I somehow got the feeling they resented the fact I could handle more things outside my job scope so tried to find fault with everything. To me, if they were any that capable in the first place, why were they stuck in the same job for so long with hardly any progression?
Then when I came here, things got better. Even though there are still loudmouthed and nothing-better-to-do-but-gossip people around, at least no one really got on my nerves. And I do have a group of people whom I lunch with at times. So in terms of politics, so far this place is better.
But the work is not as enjoyable. When I was hired, I was supposed to do Corporate Finance, like Initial Public Offerings, cross-border transactions, incorporation, merger and acquisition and restructuring. Now the entities have merged, gotten acquired, consolidated, amalgamated, and mostly restructured. With the financial downturn last year, the listing was put on hold until further notice. Hence I will not be able to get the listing experience for now.
So now what I end up doing are day-to-day stuff like board minutes, Annual General Meetings, photocopying, scanning, checking financial statements, things which anyone who is more junior than me can handle. I feel more like a Finance Assistant than a Legal and Corporate Officer.
In my previous job, I handled major and minor contracts, Intellectual Property, insurance, private equity, medium term notes, property, sales and marketing, international and cross-border transactions, due diligence, leasing, attending property launches, charity trust and accident claims.
Thus in my current job scope which any teenager can handle, I am feeling bored and mundane. I was doing twice as much work for lesser pay! I am not complaining about having lesser workload for more pay but right now, it is not challenging enough. I had problems in my previous job but I was satisfied with my work in the end because it was enriching.
In the past from the moment I reached office I was working, with a bit of a break in between, then all the way until after six. Now all my work can be done by eleven in the morning, then I just have to wait for lunch, then lax in the afternoon until around six. So I end up with quite a bit of free time to just surf the net until end of the day. In fact I am busier with non-work stuff than actually work!
Hence even though I am only in this company for slightly more than a year, I was contemplating if I should just move to something more challenging. Two Fridays ago, I made a decision. The next day (Saturday), I saw two job openings in the Recruit paper. Talk about a coincidence!
One is a petroleum company, looking for in-house legal staff to do contracts, insurance and corporate. Another is the top law firm here looking for staff in its Intellectual Property and Technology department. I have sent in my resume to both and just keeping my fingers crossed.
Yesterday, news officially came out that we are not getting an increment or a bonus. In other words, we are having a pay freeze. This news came just when the job market is now picking up and the company managed to make profits the first half of the year!
Perhaps it is a sign then that it is better to move? In any case, I am looking out for better opportunities and see which one(s) I can apply to. If not then I will just continue with my monotonous and mundane work until the time comes for me to move on again or afford to take a break and not work for a while.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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