| Friday, February 22, 2008 |
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Maybe I should re consider HR. Although I got my major in it for the sole reason of prolonging my education and staying in Hawaii longer, I've realized that I quite like it.
I have had HR experiences before. Not full fledged experiences but partial incidents. Please look up FMLA laws, please fire so and so, please do interviews for this position, please tell so and so he can take leave, please re-write our job descriptions, please re-evaluate our salary range.. And recently, please hire a new Sales and Marketing Executive and Manager.
So this is my new adventure. On top of planning a launch event ( you like how I bring my interests into a boring industry aka. Engineering? ) , arranging Marketing materials like photo shoots, catalog designs and even advertising mediums, I've been given the task of finding a much needed Sales and Marketing Manager and Executive.
When I placed the ad on Straits Times, I didn't think that we would have gotten the response that we did. There's such a range from non-qualified applicants with no experience to 15 year veterans who aspire to become managers??? but oh well, so I was tasked to do this. okay. this should be fun!
So along the way, I've redone the company's HR procedures. I've made new job descriptions. Created new Candidate assessment evaluations forms as well as reference checks templates. Its been quite fun and I'm surprised that despite not being interested in this in school and having the mentality that Singapore HR is completely different from US HR, i've managed to easily shit out these forms with much ease. I dunno if they use it here in Singapore but I know its popular in the States, so whatever happens, since i'm doing the interviews, I'm doing it my way..! Yay hay hay!
Its day 2 of my interviews and its been interesting. I've realized that people expected me to be much older. Despite my really nice brown suit, they all had this face when they realized that they were being interviewed by a young punk! What I don't understand is the common impression that the people with the lowest position are the most unimportant. Please note that if you do want to succeed in life. Be nice to the smallest people. Be nice to the receptionist because she will help you get to the boss before the next client. Be nice to the waitress or barista because he will make sure that your food is edible and you won't be spending the next 30 minutes shitting in the public toilet in Orchard road and please please be nice to the young punk who is interviewing you because you never know how much influence she has on deciding whether you get your next job opportunity. Sure, this isn't the only company you applied for and this may mean nothing to you because you have all this experience and wealth of knowledge. BUT if you spent the time to apply and respond, then why not make the effort to be nice?
In Hawaii, people are generally nice to each other. Even to strangers. When you meet the FedEx man in the elevator, you'll be nice enough to say hi. Why? Because even if you're not naturally nicer and you think its a waste of time, do it for the selfish reason that if you do treat him better, you can guarantee that when he deliver yours earlier. it may not be first but you know that because he knows who you are, it'll be sooner than expected. Thats how people work. Especially in Hawaii. Be nice and people are more inclined to make your life better. So even if you don't believe in Karma and all that yin and yang forces (which I do by the way), know that you're just doing yourself some good by making things work for you. If that fails, than try being nicer because it makes you feel good.
Speaking of Karma. My dear friend, Mr. Karma, is a real bitch. As you all know, I haven't been having the best luck with jobs. Thomas has only been here for a week and a half and he landed himself an excellent job. Something he really wants and an ideal location 5 minutes away from our place. But, I do know that I've been picky. I don't want to get paid so lowly, I don't want to do this job and that job and I don't want to travel so far. SO, with all that being said, I know that I deserve to get stuck in this shit hole called my father's office. Which has become better as the days go by because people are slowly realizing that I'm not that much of an idiot and I'm actually quite good at fixing their mistakes and taking things in stride. So yes, I am still at Lisus Technology. Do I hate it? yes I do. Do I want to leave for something awesomely fantastic? Of Course! But do I have the chance to come to work slightly late by 10 minutes when my dad isn't around, have open tabs of myspace, forever21 and facebook all at the same time? Yes of course! See i am working on my multi tasking skills!! haha.. But nonetheless, its a job. I'm getting paid. I am saving for little mini trips to the spa and for short nearby trips. BUT, I am looking.
Anyway anyway, back to what I was going to comment about. I am such a digresser. haha, if there's such a word. BUT anyway, When i first came back home, one of my first interviews was with the Headhunter firm called XXX. Lets leave the name out so that he can't google his name and find it here and I end up spending all my spa money on lawyer fees hiring Mei Shuang to defend my indian ass.But ANYWAY, he was an ass to me. he was rude, he was condescending and he was just unhelpful. He decided that any overseas experience was redundant in the Singapore context for the simple fact that Singapore has a hierarchy. You need to work for a long time, gain experience and then get the better pay. Education has no longer become a deciding factor. Be it the truth or not, it was a horrible experience and I don’t think that anyone should be subjected to that kind of behavior. So after we placed an ad on the Straits Times on Saturday, he contacted me via my company e-mail without knowing that he has met me before. He introduced his services and basically mentioned how they are a professional scouting company that has excellent customer service and a whole lot of bullcrap. So politely, I replied him implying that I will never recommend anyone to him from my horrible experience and that they were very unprofessional and condescending. And at the bottom, I lied and placed that I was a HR manager, just to spike him since he didn’t believe that I could someday become somebody. His reply was that he was glad that I could find a respectable managerial position in the IT Industry (wrong, we’re in the engineering business) and that he will take into consideration and look into what I said ( which is weird since I was commenting about him). His next reply was, since you have SOME managerial experience now, I have a fantastic spa manager position now and he would like to recommend me something which coincides to my expertise and shortlist me. Why now? Because logically speaking, my imaginary 4 month stint as a manager isn’t long enough to imply that I’ve gathered anything valuable. In the end, I told him that I was very happy with the opportunity that was presented to me and I love my job. No replies after that. So I say boys and girls, Karma is a bitch and since I was last one to be a bitch, my horrible applicants who are giving me a hard time might be life’s way of saying let the evil people do what they have to do and just remain quiet because you’re worth more than that.
And as a general comment, I’m surprised that the older and more experienced male applicants are so repelled that a young punk, like me, is interviewing them. They can’t seem to shake off this cockiness about them that I am so beneath them. And when I ask them questions that they can’t answer, they give this sly laughter, as if that is supposed to be the answer of the question. The females have been more professional and have provided comparatively more substantial and thoughtful answers. So please, lets all be nicer to the smaller people because they can actually assist or break you.
Ps: I broke my phone again and this time, I’ve managed to crack the whole screen. I’ve been reduced to a black crack screen. So if you texted me and didn’t get a reply, its because I can’t see it and not because I don’t like you. So call me instead. If that doesn’t work, then call Thomas at 81892724. You’ll definitely be able to get in touch with me then! =)
Nat |
| posted by 3 @ 11:52 AM |
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