A Fight to get My Ass to Work
I've always thought that I have the smarts to perform decently in the corporate world. Instead of taking the so-called 'easier option' and opting for a career in coaching/teaching, I should first test myself in the fast-paced business environment. Note that I've put the possibly offensive phrase in approstophy, indicating that while it may be the opinion of some people, it certainly isn't mine. Let's leave the debate as to which is tougher for other people, shall we?
A Day in the Life of a Typical White-Collared Worker
Initially, it was really painful process. My body clock, accustomed to sleeping late and waking up even later, underwent a rude shock while readjusting. The entire process of dragging my body to work and then continually abusing my brain throughout the duration of the day left me haggard. After work I was mentally exhausted, reaching the climbing gym looking like a zombie. It was necessary to stone for 30 minutes before even reaching to extricate my rock shoes from my bag. That time spent staring into space is crucial for clawing some form of sanity back. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting myself to be so drained.
When I first started out, I resented being made to do mundane tasks like data collection and compilation. Perhaps I did a decently good job, because after a while, my superiors starting entrusting me to harder tasks. I snooped around a bit before it dawned on me that some of my work is going into some consultancy reports, of which they charge their clients upwards of several tens of thousands for. A sense of pride swelled up inside. My ego purred. They really trust me! I've also started to see the big picture of how everything comes together, that it is in fact a factory line process right from data collection to data analysis to providing recommendations. A report is only as good as its weakest link, and I certainly do not wish to be that crumb which made the cookie crumble.
Foreign Talent
Foreign Talent
I am especially impressed with my superior who is from the PRC. When asking requests of me (the shitty bothersome intern), she begins her sentences with Sorry Jansen.. Can you please help.. After I get the job done, she thanks me profusely. Academic wise, she is highly qualified. If a Ph.D and a CFA 2 doesn't count as being qualified, I don't know what does. One might think that with such credentials, she would probably be ivory tower material, or worse, a snobbish personality.
The most amazing thing about her is that despite her sparkling credentials, she has absolutely no airs about her. Nope. Nothing. None at all. Once, after realising that she has made a silly mistake, she laughed at herself. In her slightly wheezy voice, she said, I think I studied too much, got permanent head damage (Ph.D) now. The colleagues in the surrounding tables burst out into laughter. I laughed along too. But on hindsight, an untested undergraduate like myself has no place laughing at someone like her.
She is in the office before 830am and leaves way past 6pm. In fact, I don't even know when she leaves the office. She has no qualms about going back on weekends to tie up any loose ends. My mentality when I started out was that I am going to leave at 6pm on the dot. After all, why stay beyond if you are not going to be remunerated accordingly? After seeing her work ethic, I told myself that maybe 615pm is fine. Soon, it became 630pm. Now, I only leave the office when I've completed all the tasks assigned to me. Such is the inspiration she provides.
Others may not consider this zealousness to be positive work ethic. They may think her to be a workaholic. They may think she does not have work-life balance. But I beg to differ. I think the reason for her single-mindedness is because she takes immense pride in her work.
This is despite her having a 15 month old child waiting for her attention at home. She did not take maternity leave. Heck, does she even take annual leave? Yet she shoulders on, putting in the extra hours now so that she can provide a better life for her child in the future.
I don't understand why certain Singaporeans are so anti-foreign talent. At opposition rallies, such people even chant about kicking out foreigners, without realising that Singapore's economy is heavily dependent on the maintenance of our export competitiveness. Is it not plain to see that if you kick out foreigners who value add to the company, you eventually shoot yourself in the foot later?
Moods fanned to a fever pitch. Tensions run wild. Petty emotions over-ride logic. They turn into a mob, deriding foreigners as if the foreigners are some alien entity incapable of feelings. Hello? Aren't these people human too? Laughable. Honestly, if I were the employer, I have no qualms of giving the job to a foreigner of her calibre, rather than some local whose best response is to whine.
Little Intern Ko still has much to learn. He finds it highly ironical that much of that learning is from a foreign talent, whom some of his fellow countrymen despise.
The most amazing thing about her is that despite her sparkling credentials, she has absolutely no airs about her. Nope. Nothing. None at all. Once, after realising that she has made a silly mistake, she laughed at herself. In her slightly wheezy voice, she said, I think I studied too much, got permanent head damage (Ph.D) now. The colleagues in the surrounding tables burst out into laughter. I laughed along too. But on hindsight, an untested undergraduate like myself has no place laughing at someone like her.
She is in the office before 830am and leaves way past 6pm. In fact, I don't even know when she leaves the office. She has no qualms about going back on weekends to tie up any loose ends. My mentality when I started out was that I am going to leave at 6pm on the dot. After all, why stay beyond if you are not going to be remunerated accordingly? After seeing her work ethic, I told myself that maybe 615pm is fine. Soon, it became 630pm. Now, I only leave the office when I've completed all the tasks assigned to me. Such is the inspiration she provides.
Others may not consider this zealousness to be positive work ethic. They may think her to be a workaholic. They may think she does not have work-life balance. But I beg to differ. I think the reason for her single-mindedness is because she takes immense pride in her work.
This is despite her having a 15 month old child waiting for her attention at home. She did not take maternity leave. Heck, does she even take annual leave? Yet she shoulders on, putting in the extra hours now so that she can provide a better life for her child in the future.
I don't understand why certain Singaporeans are so anti-foreign talent. At opposition rallies, such people even chant about kicking out foreigners, without realising that Singapore's economy is heavily dependent on the maintenance of our export competitiveness. Is it not plain to see that if you kick out foreigners who value add to the company, you eventually shoot yourself in the foot later?
Moods fanned to a fever pitch. Tensions run wild. Petty emotions over-ride logic. They turn into a mob, deriding foreigners as if the foreigners are some alien entity incapable of feelings. Hello? Aren't these people human too? Laughable. Honestly, if I were the employer, I have no qualms of giving the job to a foreigner of her calibre, rather than some local whose best response is to whine.
Little Intern Ko still has much to learn. He finds it highly ironical that much of that learning is from a foreign talent, whom some of his fellow countrymen despise.
My personal take is that Singaporeans see foreign talent as a threat partly because they are afraid that they may lose their jobs to foreigners (esp. foreigners like your capable colleague). Obviously, every Singaporean will (should) worry about providing for his/her family, so keeping his/her job is definitely something of great importance. However, I feel that Singaporeans who want to kick out foreigners are not taking the right approach. Kicking foreigners out isn't the best option. It is the easy one. By keeping foreigners out, there will be less competition for jobs
ReplyDeleteWhy do I say that kicking foreigners out isn't the best option? There are a couple of reasons. 1. Without foreigners in our land, there is no one to constantly tell us how we really stand in comparison to people from other countries. (Take climbing as an analogy and think of Ponti). 2. Talented and capable foreigners will just make another country their home if Singapore does not welcome them. Let's say that the talented people in Singapore migrate to Hong Kong when Singapore kicks them out. Singapore will definitely lose its competitive edge to HK. GDP will fall => living standards will fall.
My advice to these people who want to kick foreigners out? Work harder and be the best in whatever you are doing. Then you need not worry about losing your job to foreigners. At the same time, you will be contributing to Singapore's economy
Okay. Back to work
Yeah guess it's too early for someone like me, a seedling that is shielded from the buffeting winds of change, a child that is protected from the merciless vagaries of work, to comment.
ReplyDeleteWhen push comes to shove, I hope I can take the consequences like a man.