Decision

After successfully completed my studies, i.e. completed my last assignment, my exams, my projects and whatever academic obligations which is subjected to NUS, finally I came to the common path for most fresh graduates, which is looking for jobs.



It wasn't that easy when I first started to look for jobs. Firstly, due to the fact that not many people in the industry understand what we have been learning during the past 4 years, it took us some times to explain to them and try to convince them that we are as competent as the other conventional engineering graduates (which may or may not be true). Next is our interviewing skills, this is a bit tricky because I did not know what is expected for different kind of jobs: what do they expect for an IT specialist? what do they expect for business developer? what do they expect for Test engineer? Well, before that, I must say because there isn't much career which is related to our field of study, perhaps I have to keep my options open and write in to many companies of various fields of careers.



Secondly, the resume and cover letter writting. I obtained a template from my seniors and changed certain particulars on it. The same applied for my cover letter. I used to think that my cover letter and resume looked alright until another senior of mine pointed out mistakes here and there. In fact that happened after I did not receive calls for interview for about 2 months and by that time I think I have already sent out more than 200 applications, yet only 2 interviews. It was a bit depressing and disappointing and my family members (not just my parents, but my younger sister) started to worry about me and my financial condition. I decided to look for my senior and consult him what can I do while I can't find a full time job and I can't even work part time here because I am not citizen or PR!



I went to consult him regarding that matter and upon his request, I printed out my resume and cover letter. Like I've said, he pointed out the mistakes here and there and asked me to edit my resume. With his advice in mind, I edited my resume according to his advice/ suggestions. After he read my cover letter, immediately he asked me to grab a book from the library or career center and studied carefully how to write a catchy cover letter. He also taught me some tips when attending interviews, though that wasn't too different from what I knew, it's still useful and helpful.



With the edited resume, I logged on to various employment website again to look for jobs. In a particular week, I had 4 interviews, wow! Also, I received two job offers on the same week too. Well, there were some people who asked me why do I still attend the interviews while I already had job offers. My answer is, well, why not go down and chat with them? Is good for expanding networking too, no harm to go down and talk to them.



Next, here's the time I need to make decision, to choose between an international MNC or local research institute with strong backup. If I were to make an anology, I'd say it's choosing Coke or Anything/ Whatever; local brand or internationally recognized brand. In the end, I've chosen to start my first job as IT Specialist in IBM.

The training programme will last for 3 months and we will be trained with the sales specialists in some sales training. This training is challenging for people who do not have much experience in sales and poor command of English. Anyway, it is going to end in a month's time, hope that I can survive through this training programme.

After the 3 months training, there'll be job rotation programme whereby we'll be assigned to various business units to learn how each unit is functioning. I doubt if we can contribute within such short period of time, hmm........ Anyway, after the job rotation, finally I'll go back to my own business unit and start my job officially. Again, since I know nuts about database management, that's another challenge for me to overcome, to learn the technical skills by on job training.

I may not be able to see whether I've made the right decision at the moment, I hope I'll prove to myself that I've made the correct decision some time later. No matter what, I feel grateful and thankful for being offered a job and working here, wish me good luck :)