Prince: Finally..Yo..uh..!

Okay, here it goes like that.

I have to shift because my housemate is moving to ‘Puchong’ in early ‘May’; and I consider that area quite a bit distance to any place in town. Hence I started looking around, and I found out that my brother; who stayed in Kelana Jaya, has an empty middle-room for rent.

I plan to move out but indecisive of where to move to; because my next destination must near my office. Thus, last week, I told my brother that I will give him the answer after Monday’s Interview.

On Monday Morning, I did not know what the hell wrong with me; I started packing my stuff in as if I have decided to move to Kelana Jaya!- as if I am sure got the job at Phileo Damansara.

I went for the interview at Phileo Damansara on Monday afternoon. The interview was arranged by Michele, the recruitment consultant from Jen International Executive Search. When I arrived at Phileo Damansara, I received a call from another ‘University College’. They are offering me Senior PR Executive position and a 30% increment from my previous pay. That, I thought, is a good catch! - Only if I am willing to get back to Education industry! However, I decided to give my answer the next day morning- of course, as a last resort - if the interview didn’t work-out!

I walked into the meeting room confidently (I don’t know why; as if I am going to get the job!) The Japanese Manager shot me many questions but I managed to handle it well. Lastly, he told me that he was concerned about my ability in data analysis since my past experiences are in PR & Marketing which did not deal much with data-mining work. The interview took about one and half hours; and I thought I won’t succeed. I thought I have lost my hope again; but I saw a glimp of light when I received a call from Michele.

‘Hi, Steven, you have got the job’, said Michele.

For God sake! I really can’t believe that I have finally got myself into MNC (Multinational Company)! That is my dream since 3 years back when everybody is talking about how good a MNC treating their employees.

The appointment letter will be ready on 27th April 2007, the company is UniCham (if I got it correctly); it is a Japanese FMCG company. I was offered a marketing executive position.

After one year in Advertising industry and two years in Education industry; I have had enough with it. When I decided to get-out of it, I thought it would be difficult; and I have prepared for a pay-cut. Eventually, everything seems to go well.

The reason why I have to turn down the previous-few offers-
1.Title means nothing if you are earning only an executive pay! They can give you great title, such as Asst. Brand Manager or whatsoever but pay you an executive salary. For me, it is such a despised; are they pity me or what?

2.The industry itself does not practice the culture of ‘promotion’, ‘increment’ and ‘bonus’. Although, some industry leaders do give-out such good benefits but in partial to certain employees; which we call it favouritism. I don’t want to put myself in a situation where I am getting high pay without ‘promotion’, ‘increment’ and ‘bonus’ for the rest of my life with the career.

3.The industry started to hire employees under contract; one of the well-known private colleges utilizes it as an easy way to get rid of employees. They change their middle-management (Senior Executives, Asst. Managers and Managers) once in 6 months! The turn over rate is extremely high until now. That is what scares me a lot because it gives me NO job security.

4.The industry is stagnant because they do not practice ‘change’; probably being affected by the nature of the education industry itself which utilises a more conservative approach in their management. Thus, they practically avoid ‘ideas’, and they do not really encourage ideas.