Braving the World Finally

As I do notice, there are quite a number of my blog readers are actually students who haven't graduate or work a full time job yet. Thus, I'd like to share something relevant to my blog readers about the transition from a student or unemployed one, to a full time employee of a company/organization.

Transition periods are both exciting and scary at times if you ask me. I mean, come on. Weren't you scared when you first enter public school? Entered secondary school after your UPSR? Stepped into a college or university after SPM? The very same feeling will come next, which is getting your first full time job. Of course the next ones are getting married and being parents but me being gay, somehow these 2 milestones in life are kinda barred from me, at least in this country. Lol.

I gotta admit, my experience in this particular transition period was rather fun and interesting. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting to get a job because I was having a 3 months break since my intake ended our course 3 months earlier and initially I planned to continue my studies in Advanced Diploma and furthering it in UK. But since the intake for Advanced Diploma will only commence in the mid of May, I thought of doing something for awhile. At first, I thought of getting some part time jobs, maybe selling some products at supermarket, sell Streamyx by the roadside or selling my ass something else.

But one fateful encounter brought me to meet Tim. It was a press screening and somehow I was invited back then to attend the screening. As Tim seldom attend these screenings, it was somehow fate that we met each other that day. It was the second time he saw me as we've met before the previous year during my birthday celebration in Penang with a few bloggers. We were chatting with each other for quite a bit and I suddenly thought, why don't I ask for an internship with Nuffnang since I've spare time before I continue my studies? I asked, and Tim was kind enough to offer me the job.

I was glad. It was the first time I'm doing something significant in my life. I mean, seriously, do you feel yourself productive when you were studying? I personally do not feel so. I felt counter productive whenever I study. Reason? Our parents practically burn cash for us to be in college/uni just for us to memorize texts and formulas which we'll forget every end of semester. Don't get me wrong. Studying is very important. It's just that I have felt so unproductive for the longest time (since born till the semester I finished my Diploma), I was very glad that I was finally useful as a person and as an employee for an organization.

My plans to further my studies didn't work out due to financial limitations and Tim offered me a permanent job after a few months. I was ever grateful as I was working a job unlike no other and it was and is so fun to work in Nuffnang. Fast forward today, I'm still loving every single day of my job. The lunches that we have together is always fun, work is a challenge, but without challenges, people will go mundane so no complains there.

Actually, I think there wasn't much of a transition period for me. Reason? I didn't exactly delay my time to get something to do nor procastinate to find a job. In fact, I looked for a job when it wasn't even required for me to do so, which in the end turned out to be a very wise move indeed. ;)

Today, I'm going to share a story about a young guy called S. I believe you'll be able to see that his transition period to move on in life is a long one. S was a student for one of the longest time. He went to college right after SPM and graduated with a Diploma in Accounting. He then went on to pursue Advanced Diploma in Accounting but midway there, he felt that he has lost interest in the subject and changed to another major altogether. He enrolled in a Diploma in Tourism.

Tourism proved to be a more exciting course to study for him than Accounting as it was less technical. One thing great about the course was, it was required of him to undergo a 3 months internship period with a Travel Agency. S has never work anywhere before prior to this. It was his first time doing something productive, but required by his studies. He disliked his role as an intern. Main reason? His colleagues never bothered teaching him much about the job till the end of the first month. Then, he was pushed to sell travel packages to customers but S was not a person who has high confidence in his interpersonal communication skills and he felt very pressured by this role.

At the end of internship, he was offered a permanent job by the Travel Agency that he interned for, but he declined it as he hated the fact that he has to do sales. That was supposed to be the last semester of his studies. He was supposed to graduate after that, but he didn't fare too well for one of his papers. It was Japanese. He had to resit the paper at the end of the following semester. He had 3 months buffer till the resit and he chose to relax at home with the excuse, he was tired from the previous 3 months internship. His daily routine involved a lot of online gaming, anime watching, cooking and cleaning the household.

He resat the Japanese paper but Lady Luck wasn't smiling at him. He flunked again. This time, the resit buffer for him was 5 months ahead of him due to the weird semesters and resit subjects offered by the college. His friend asked him to get a job to learn something but he procastinated by delaying it to later, later and later. At the end of it, he spent 5 months doing the exact things he did before he flunked his resit.

Thankfully, he passed his Japanese paper on his second resit and he graduated with a Diploma in Tourism. Adding the extra qualification into his bag along with Diploma in Accounting, he was then pressured to find a job and get out of the house by his friends and family. Previously, he was funded by his family monthly but his family has took note of his unwillingness to look for a job and has resorted to aid sanction to get him out of the house to look for a job.

He wasn't the most resourceful nor has the highest initiative to look for a job. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to do at the first place. He relied on Job Portals solely and never even tried contacting any companies directly on his own. It was a long wait before he was actually called for interviews. Thankfully, there was a job opening and the organization was eager to hire him due to his above average command of languages. It was an opening for Concierge position.

It is now his second week working as a concierge. He still finds it difficult to adjust to a working lifestyle. He longs to stay at home and just play with Zuzu. Yes, S is Zach. Everyone go to Zach's blog and encourage him please. He's not very motivated at the moment, but I'm sure if you could put in some good words for him, he'll feel much different. I've tried doing my part, but I think he needs help from you guys.

P.S. No judging nor personal attacks will be tolerated in the comments. If you have an opinion, please voice it constructively and not poise it as an attack on anyone's character or behavior. Any comments that I don't fancy will be deleted.

Cheers
Robb