Stay Jobless Until You Land on Your Desired Job?

While surfing the net I always come across people who say they have difficulty getting a job in Singapore, I am very doubtful of that, if you look at our jobs bank, or any other job sites, you will see plenty of openings, across all industries, surely there must be one suitable job out there waiting for you, how can it be possible to remain unemployed. Other than job sites, you can also apply directly to the company, or you can just go down to their office personally and make an enquiry. Let me share my story.

Lesson 1: Don't waste any time idling

When I ORD in 2004, I was only armed with a PSLE, yes, I dropped out at Secondary 2, I was very naughty when I was a student, totally no interest in studies because I have no idea why I was studying, my peers knew they were going to be a doctor, pilot, engineer and whatever, me, I don't know. And that time O-levels was worthless, not to mention a PSLE but I knew I must not waste any time getting a job so I walked into my neighbourhood 7/11 store and asked if they have a vacancy and I got hired immediately.

Lesson 2: Lookout for opportunities be it job or education

I worked at 7/11 for about 3 months, and while I was there, I also took up a part-time ITE electronic course, then my classmate introduced me to work at a warehouse, the pay was much better, I can gross up to about $1400+ after OT, not bad compared to the $300 to $400 at 7/11.

While I was working at the warehouse, I dropped the ITE course after one module and took a diploma course at Informatics because I realized that the ITE path was going to take me a long time, my objective was to get a degree ASAP, Informatics offered such an opportunity, though at a much higher cost.

Lesson 3: Always find a job first before resigning

I stayed at the warehouse for about 1.5 years and I left because I found a job relevant to my studies, an IT job, my first IT job, it was recommended by my classmate but I only stayed there for about 5 months, and I left because I couldn't take the stress, too much to learn, nobody to ask, all by myself, really tough, that left a very bad impression of SME for me, but the good thing about it was I learned a lot, both technical and PR skills. The pay was not great but good enough for a total newbie in IT, I was paid $1200, lesser than if I work at the warehouse, but then the exposure was invaluable.

Lesson 4: Never lose your cool in front of your boss

After I left my first IT job, I kept looking for another IT job but I couldn't find one, most jobs required 2-3 years of experience or certain technical knowledge or skill which I don't have, and I only have a private diploma at that time, but I told myself I must not waste any time, so I searched the newspaper and found a handphone shop company looking for salesperson, and I took the job to sell Starhub mobile lines and handphones, salary was quite pathetic, I forgot how much but I didn't stay there for long, I got fired less than a month working there because I talked back to my store manager and that's it, they told me no need to go back anymore, shit job anyway but I knew my attitude was not good, I also forgot why I talked back to my store manager. But good lesson here, never lose your cool when talking to your boss, just nod even if you think you are not wrong because once you talk back you lose.

Lesson 5: Don't stay in your comfort zone

So after my first IT job, it took me another 5 months before I found my second IT job, pay was better than my first one, I got $1350 but the work was really tough, one-man show, one person manage a whole building of IT stuff and users but damn I learned so much in that 5 months that I was there but this time I found a job before I left. My boss asked me to stay and offered me $1500, my new job also offered me $1500 and it's more software related, I knew I must get out of the hardware and desktop support role, it's good for learning but no good to stay long and till today I'm glad I took the new job.

Lesson 6: Make others happy equals to make yourself happy

I stayed in my third IT job for 2.5 years, I felt like I leveled up a lot, I learned so many new things, mainly software stuff but I realized that the most important skill is still PR skill, no matter how good you are technically, if you cannot handle the people i.e. the users, then you will be in trouble. I also got my advanced diploma during this time. My salary also increased to $1930. I left because I dislike my supervisor, maybe my ego got the better of me, technically he was ignorant, he also cannot manage the users and I kept asking myself why the company got him to be my supervisor, in the end I left without finding a job as I couldn't stand seeing his face anymore.

Lesson 7: Doing business is not only about capital and ideas, it's also about the people you work with

And I was jobless again, I tried to start a business with a friend but we never got past the thinking stage, this idiot wasted so much of my time, he is the talk only but no action type, so I gave up and went back to looking for a job. It took me a while to find my next IT job and in the meantime I worked at NTUC FairPrice as a store assistant packing goods, shit pay but better than nothing.

After that I found my fourth IT job after 3 months working at NTUC, a stupidly easy job with good pay, $2000 to sit around doing nothing because whatever my supervisor asked me to do I completed very quickly, then my supervisor's boss marked me and asked why I was always so free, so ended up I had to do things slowly and act busy, so silly and tiring, they are just a small office so they don't really have much to do.

Luckily my big boss from my third IT job called me and asked me to go back, that ignorant supervisor left, I knew they would not renew his contract, who would want to retain such a smoker, so of course I accepted the offer.

Lesson 8: If you know this company is good, you can stop jumping

And so I stayed until now, got my degree, and today I am happy with my job, it pays me well, good benefits, gives me the exposure that I desired, boss, supervisors and colleagues are nice, what else can I ask for. Over the years I learned a lot, all these you can't find in books. And to whoever jobless out there, just grab any job you can find, stay on it until you find a better one, getting a shit pay is better than getting no pay.