Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Survived!
So yes, I survived my first day at work. Back into the good old industry I was once in...
Never thought I would don a suit ever again (and thankfully, I found an unworn old Country Road size 6 suit with the price tag still on that I could thankfully fit into and which saw me through my interview since I have binned most of my branded suits long ago and were too broke to purchase another suit)...
Everything has happened so quickly. It was only two weeks ago that my sweetpea, Rusty passed away (more about my little girl when I could bring myself to write her a tribute) and I was wondering how to pay for my surmounting bills with my meagre salary in retail. Rusty gave me no time to grieve. The next day, I chucked a sickie, choosing to stay home to mourn for my loss, only to be called up to work on marketing a few property developments in a South Pacific island country and also be called in for an interview with a big global recruitment company. I had only sent in my CV that morning. I think Rusty has been watching over me and wanted me to see Hope since I spent most of my non-working time focusing my efforts on caring for her. She had been a source of comfort to me and a distraction to my financial woes. And then I had to let her go to end her suffering...
So fast forward exactly two weeks ahead, I have landed myself in my new job and met the property developer in Sydney over the weekend with lots of interesting ideas to target the Asian market and not to mention, hasty goodbyes to colleagues and my regular customers in my shop ( "I will miss you. At least you remember people and their names.." said one of my elderly wealthy customers).
I started my new job today and it was overwhelming with one induction after another. The head honcho sat me down first thing in the morning and given the restructuring of the entire business in Sad Town, he shared with me his plans and where I fitted in this grand scheme of things. So I was the first CV out of the 25 he picked up and then I did really well during my cognitive testing and had scored the highest score in problem solving in the entire office and the only person I didn't beat was him. I was supposed to rank pretty high up there, he said. And he referenced check me to death and he got really good feedback from my referees (thank them for that!!!!). So his plan was to let me develop my skill sets within the company for the next year and when the business is ripe to take it to the next level as he had discussed with me, he would see me in the role of a team leader. I also just learnt that my new position title is "Senior Recruitment Consultant".
What can I say? I am surprised to say the least. He seemed to have so much high hopes in me. I better bloody live up to it. I cannot be luckier.
Similarly, upon meeting the property developer on Sunday, he also had some really big plans for me- but step by step, he would guide me there. I felt so honoured, given he is a veteran in his field and having been appointed a Trade Commissioner in a few of these emerging nations plus being so generous in his information sharing, I have found myself a really great mentor to learn about the ins and outs of property development and resort management. Hopefully, I would do my Dad proud. Finally my social tenacity may come into good use.
Serrendipituously, three days after Rusty's passing and after speaking to this property developer and after agreeing that our targeted clientele of wealthy investors looking for yet another tax haven, an old primary school friend whom I hadn't heard in a decade contacted me on Linkedin. I must have tried reaching out to her more than a year ago but heard nothing. Being the ultra smart person as she was since she young, she had started her career in investment banking before moving on to the buy-side to manage a family office for ultra high networth individuals in Europe which included royalty. Since then, she has come back to Singapore to run her own family office investment advisory firm for the ultra high networth families in the region.
Funny, how things come together. She has always been at the back of my mind. We used to be good friends in primary school and kept in touch sporadically even up till university where she went to Wharton School of Business. We used to be the two girls who came from wealthier homes in our class and I remembered many a party we had thrown in our own homes and where we had attended respectively at each other's house.
So yeah, I find that things are coming together. I used to do things and work my social network hard, not knowing why. Except I reckon it will come in handy some day or when I grow up. Maybe, perhaps this is that moment?:)
I am feeling good at the moment. Just need to focus so that my hard work will pay off and bear fruit. Lots going on in my head but more later...
Never thought I would don a suit ever again (and thankfully, I found an unworn old Country Road size 6 suit with the price tag still on that I could thankfully fit into and which saw me through my interview since I have binned most of my branded suits long ago and were too broke to purchase another suit)...
Everything has happened so quickly. It was only two weeks ago that my sweetpea, Rusty passed away (more about my little girl when I could bring myself to write her a tribute) and I was wondering how to pay for my surmounting bills with my meagre salary in retail. Rusty gave me no time to grieve. The next day, I chucked a sickie, choosing to stay home to mourn for my loss, only to be called up to work on marketing a few property developments in a South Pacific island country and also be called in for an interview with a big global recruitment company. I had only sent in my CV that morning. I think Rusty has been watching over me and wanted me to see Hope since I spent most of my non-working time focusing my efforts on caring for her. She had been a source of comfort to me and a distraction to my financial woes. And then I had to let her go to end her suffering...
So fast forward exactly two weeks ahead, I have landed myself in my new job and met the property developer in Sydney over the weekend with lots of interesting ideas to target the Asian market and not to mention, hasty goodbyes to colleagues and my regular customers in my shop ( "I will miss you. At least you remember people and their names.." said one of my elderly wealthy customers).
I started my new job today and it was overwhelming with one induction after another. The head honcho sat me down first thing in the morning and given the restructuring of the entire business in Sad Town, he shared with me his plans and where I fitted in this grand scheme of things. So I was the first CV out of the 25 he picked up and then I did really well during my cognitive testing and had scored the highest score in problem solving in the entire office and the only person I didn't beat was him. I was supposed to rank pretty high up there, he said. And he referenced check me to death and he got really good feedback from my referees (thank them for that!!!!). So his plan was to let me develop my skill sets within the company for the next year and when the business is ripe to take it to the next level as he had discussed with me, he would see me in the role of a team leader. I also just learnt that my new position title is "Senior Recruitment Consultant".
What can I say? I am surprised to say the least. He seemed to have so much high hopes in me. I better bloody live up to it. I cannot be luckier.
Similarly, upon meeting the property developer on Sunday, he also had some really big plans for me- but step by step, he would guide me there. I felt so honoured, given he is a veteran in his field and having been appointed a Trade Commissioner in a few of these emerging nations plus being so generous in his information sharing, I have found myself a really great mentor to learn about the ins and outs of property development and resort management. Hopefully, I would do my Dad proud. Finally my social tenacity may come into good use.
Serrendipituously, three days after Rusty's passing and after speaking to this property developer and after agreeing that our targeted clientele of wealthy investors looking for yet another tax haven, an old primary school friend whom I hadn't heard in a decade contacted me on Linkedin. I must have tried reaching out to her more than a year ago but heard nothing. Being the ultra smart person as she was since she young, she had started her career in investment banking before moving on to the buy-side to manage a family office for ultra high networth individuals in Europe which included royalty. Since then, she has come back to Singapore to run her own family office investment advisory firm for the ultra high networth families in the region.
Funny, how things come together. She has always been at the back of my mind. We used to be good friends in primary school and kept in touch sporadically even up till university where she went to Wharton School of Business. We used to be the two girls who came from wealthier homes in our class and I remembered many a party we had thrown in our own homes and where we had attended respectively at each other's house.
So yeah, I find that things are coming together. I used to do things and work my social network hard, not knowing why. Except I reckon it will come in handy some day or when I grow up. Maybe, perhaps this is that moment?:)
I am feeling good at the moment. Just need to focus so that my hard work will pay off and bear fruit. Lots going on in my head but more later...
