Future Of Us - Jobs of The Future ~ Smithankyou - Lifestyle and Travel Photo Blog.

Some moons ago I was talking about how I really do not enjoy attending events anymore, but last week I actually attended one and I must say I'm glad I attended this one. (Which i kinda had some doubt before the event started. Read on and you will know why.)

I'm glad not because they took nice picture of me lah.

I was having a lot of doubts about attending this event cause it's not the typical kinda event where I just have to be there and be good looking, take some pictures and eat my buffet. On the email, it says "dialogue session with minister Lim Swee Say". Meet minster leh!!! What if I say the wrong thing? What if they do not even allow me to stand near him because I look like some bad guy. But my worry was put to rest when I saw this other person who attended the event with me looking even more suspicious than me.

Damn chio right my friend? Wanna make a guess who is she? (answer will be at the end of post)

What the hell! Who goes to an event and meet the minister looking like this?

It was actually a fun (surprisingly) and rewarding session I must say. The session started off with a role playing game. (Not the type I like) We were given this card that has different attributes and we were known as the job seekers and the objective was to, well, find a job.

Given how many family days, team building events, or corporate training games I've designed and facilitated when I was in the events industry, I pretty much figured out what this game was all about without much explanation. erm... not because they didn't mentioned but because ~~she~~we were late.

I really like how the session started with a light hearted game to break the ice for everyone before leading into the main QnA Session. The whole event was facilitated by Minister Lim himself, yes, including the game! I was actually like right beside him with no security guard holding me!! YAY!

Anyway, because of this event, I actually gotten myself some extra mileage both on the TV and on the Internet (again, I know. Sorry guys. I didn't mean to do disrupt you normal TV programs again.).

I was interviewed by CNA about how I feel about the event. Link

As well as interviewed by the most ~~annoying~~ entertaining interviewer ever about my experience. Link

With these two very detailed interviews, I should just skip my whole event experience thing. On top of just being fun and engaging, this event got me thinking about some of my own life experiences both as an employer as well as an employee. How have things changed since the day when I was the fresh grad until today where I am on the other side of the table.

Early Days

I remember every detail of my first interview for my first full time job. I was seated across this table with two gentlemen looking at me. Asking me questions after questions and the question that I totally saw it coming - why the change of industry? Why do I want to pursue a career in events management instead of being a computer engineer which I was trained in school to do so. Being young and ambitious I told them the most cliche answer ever - Passion. (hair stands)

I got the job. And it's not because of my very awesome interview but because of my willingness to take a very low pay. I have friends in that company and I know the starting pay for a diploma fresh grad with relevant qualification was $1,800. I knew I do not have that but I wanted the job so much. Not just because I needed the money but simply because I want to be in this industry and pick up the relevant skill and experience. I bite the bullet. I lowered my expectation and I got my very 1st job at the pay of $1,350. For the 1st three to four months, I worked an average of 14-16hrs each day including weekends. I was so poor because I needed money to buy outfit for work, I needed to pay for ~~alcohol~~ food and transport but I was SOOOO happy. I have never felt that satisfied from being tired and working.

I didn't became cash rich from this very 1st job of mine but I learnt so much. I met so many people. My network was a few times bigger than before. I was very proud of myself at the end of it, because when I left the company and needed a new job, jobs came to me and I've so many ex-clients recommending me jobs with way better pay and I could take my pick. The 30 months of lack of sleep and bread eating paid off I guess. (okay lah, not that poorthing lah, I ate more than bread. Or else how did I even put on so much weight after I ORD from army.)

Being a Young Employer

Fast forwarding the story, 5 years later after my 1st job, I started my very own events company. It sounded pretty cool to some of my peers that I was a self-employed, but being self-employed also means doing everything yourself and both your success as well as failure lies on your hands. There is no such thing as sitting around and wait for payday.

The team was lean and hiring was out of the question at the beginning. We grind hard, we got lucky and very soon we got too many projects. Too many for the two of us. We needed to hire.

You know what was the most painful part? Everyone came in asking for a relatively high pay simply because they have some degree. Some of them has close to 0 job experience and they always tell me that "They are willing to learn and are fast learner."

I am totally cool with people learning on job because that was what I did but the fact is that I didn't ask for a very high pay. I do not understand why must I pay you such a high pay and teach you my trade? I do not think this is very fair to me at all. There are a few things I look for when hiring somebody. 1. Solve my problem. (Work for me, handle my clients, basically I get more hrs to do other things.) 2. Bring in more money for me. (Basically your network, your contacts etc.) So these fresh grads are coming in with neither of the above and still ask for high pay and the only thing they were selling me was "Good Attitude".

It was so painful to hire good people as a small startup with limited resources and the "kids" out there seriously not helping. High expectation simply because they got a degree, asking for OT pay etc. But who pays you OT for events, advertising and PR industry?? X_X

My Point is...

If you read and watch my interviews from the two links above, you will know why I bring up these two experience of mine. I mean I can't comment on a macro level of the job market as I haven't been a job seeker for a while and neither am I hiring on a big MNC level where I have a headhunter on it.

What I could totally relate from this Role Playing Game is really the difference in expectation between employers and employees. We all wanted to be treated fairly. We all like to be compensated like our peers. And we all like a big fat pay cheque. But do you know what else I like? To have dinner with Kristen Bell! (maybe also Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, or Emma Stone.. oh oh! Anna Kendrick! I digress) The truth is we do not always get what we want in life. We have to be realistic and to be fair. If you have nothing to offer, it is very highly unlikely you are going to get anything in return and that's that.

The idea is the same for any negotiation at work besides hiring. We always need to create a win-win situation in order for the other party to bite. Somethings gonna give. (Or at least that's what I believe)