5 Things I Have Learnt From My First Job

As I have stated in my previous entry, I am going back to school again to escape the frightening work life lol. Most of us (I think?) would have taken up vacation jobs for some extra pocket money, but working as a temp employee is very different from a full time staff because back then, those full-timers would treat us as xiao di dis, xiao mei meis - people who would not pose much threats to their career progressions. But as we step out into the working life...

Anyway, the point is not to talk about the woes of finding a job or the added responsibilities of being an 'adult'. Instead, I just want to say that I have left my first proper job and learnt five key things from it.


The First Is Definitely Not The Last
as inspired by my colleague lol. Back when I was a child student, I always thought that I would be able to find one company to work for. A company so good that I will want to stay and retire in. I remembered reading about how Japanese firms (in Japan of course) made workers exercise in the morning, sing company songs and how much they respected their senior workers' experiences and opinions.  This 'family-like' workplace is something I would like very much to experience as well.

I forgot that I was living in a highly competitive country, where people not only look at grades but also how expensive it is to hire you. 

Of course, I have not reached the retrenchment age yet, so let's not start anything political hor.

Back to myself, I realised that while companies do their best to see if a candidate 'fits their culture', us as employees must also evaluate if we agree with what the company stands for. You know, people talked about us Gen Y-ers as being spoilt-brats, who give up easily and want more money etc etc. I must stress that people do not always quit because of low pay, I would know because I am going to have zero income now lol. So for Gen Y-ers who are having a hard time because people are criticising how lazy or uncooperative you are, hold on to your (good) values, don't lose them, and find a company that appreciates those (good) values.

So that's learning point 1. Don't be afraid to jump if you must.

Is Okay Even If You Are Not Doing What You Are Taught In School
Growing up, I was stuck in the very classic education system in Singapore (primary to university), right down to the subjects. I took biological sciences in university because I studied them in secondary school and JC and score rather decently if, I may say so myself. This is despite others laughing at life science graduates, ' ah haha! you can either be insurance agent, sales rep or teacher'. I went through uni (in part due to friends' influences) thinking that I will be the next Noble Prize winner PhD in training.

That didn't came true.

In fact I questioned if I can even be a PhD student because I didn't know how to think 'critically'. At the end of the day, I realised that I liked Science because it gives us answers to questions, not because I can or want to be the one answering those questions. Simply put, I didn't think I was equipped with that skill back then.

So I ventured into a company where parts of my biological knowledge were applicable to my work. I enjoyed it thoroughly because I was still in a somewhat 'familiar' place, but at the same time different because I had to learn financial-, economic- related stuff. If not for my past years there, I wouldn't know how to invest parts of my savings. Instead I think I would be someone who says 'I want to invest my money to beat inflation, but I don't know how and I am too lazy to learn.'

If you are currently considering to jump away from your degree major, do it. It is nice to stay in a comfortable place, but sometimes we have to challenge ourselves in difficult situations so that we grow as a person.

Because It Is Me Against The World
In Singapore, we spent approximately 16 years of our lives in schools and in that 16 years, just three opportunities to meet completely new people in new surroundings. I am of course, talking about the transit from Primary to Secondary, then JC and then Uni. It was until I got this job that I realise, indeed, we (most of us anyway) are born alone, and we die alone lol.

I had to be the one to go up to my colleagues to say hi, because hey, this isn't orientation camps anymore. I was the newbie who was the odd one out and needed to find ways to 'fit in'. Ok fine, I actually learnt this when I was in Australia. I learnt that,

If you do not make the first move, no one in a clique will welcome you, simply because they do not need to. 

At the workplace, this replayed itself multiple times!!!
Meeting new clients, going for conferences - this (conferences) I went alone. All. The. Time. I was so out of place because I was too young. Sheesh. Yes, sometimes I felt out of place, I whined to my boyfriend about it and on that day I told myself 'hell, no one is going to remember me anyway, so I do what I want'.

P(Of Finding A Good Boss) = P(Of Winning The Lottery)
Hahaha, I wrote about bad bosses here before, so let's not get angry again ok?
Finding a good boss is really rare, and if you have one, congratulations. I had one great boss who was understanding, positive, helpful etc so that really kept me sane in the workplace.

If you have not found that boss, this cycle works

disappointment -> frustration -> mediation -> resolution (yay! one happy employee till the cycle starts again) OR
disappointment -> frustration -> mediation -> no resolution, boss became even worst -> resigned (as in resigned to fate OR literally resign and move on to the next assumed heaven where employee may or may not meet another boss from hell.

If the cycle doesn't help. I hope this does :S

Networking A Necessary Evil?
This is kind of in relation to my conference trips.
As a person who does not really enjoy meeting a flood of new people, conferences are the bane of my life. I literally told my boss how much I hated such networking blah and contemplated getting sick lol.

In the end, I came to realise that the conference topic mattered a lot, at least to me. There was this particular one that I went, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I even asked an intelligent *ahem* question in front of everyone (so brave!!) What's more important was that this conference made me realised finally what is it that I wanted to do with the rest of my work life. Yay!

I still do not network the way others may feel comfortable to. If you are shy like me, maybe you can catch some equally shy people who are lurking at the corners and say hi. Remember, unless you are mega chio or handsome, no one is going to remember your face anyway, unless you put your face on your name card lah.

Never Stop Learning
Back to the conference, my boss told me (not in exact words), 'look, you are not a sales person, it is not your job to find the clients. I don't care if you didn't bring back a single name card or talk to anyone, I just want you to learn outside the office'.

Awww. 

I did quite a lot of learning in my time spent in that office. Like I mentioned, if not for my knowledgable colleagues, I would not have known how to invest in stocks and ETFs, let alone setting up trading accounts and actually do some investing myself. This may sound like common sense to some, but I came from a risk-averse family background. Anything that brings more than a 5% gain is considered a scam lol. 

And now, I am going to continue my learning journey, quite literally. 

I don't suggest that you go quit your job and go back to school just yet. There are a lot of things to learn from a workplace too. However, if you need to upgrade yourself without being distracted, then go back to school. Whatever it is, don't stop learning :)