#24tings

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2019.42

We’re already almost half-way through 2019..how crazy?! I haven’t updated on here for a while so I think I’m due for another post. Career-wise, I’ve reached another milestone after recently securing a job in another company in the construction industry. The company is well-known and respected for its paint and coating products and is a brand that I never imagined I’d work for. It’s crazy knowing that my first day there as an ‘Estimator & Admin Support’ will be in exactly three weeks’ time (!!!). Actually long story short, I applied for the ‘Junior Contracts Administrator’ role there initially but was rejected (the Talent Acquisition girl told me that she and the hiring managers were impressed with me and my thank you email, which they forwarded to her, and that she’d give me a call should another role fitting for me comes up). A few weeks later, I get a call from the same girl asking if I’d be interested in applying for the ‘Estimator & Admin Support’ role (which is apparently in the same department/team but will be helping out the Junior Contracts Administrator - which is odd ‘cause apparently after a few months, the role will transition into a Junior Contracts Administrator role??). Anyway I told them that I was interested and then they gave me an Estimating sample task to complete. I got the task wrong in the first go ‘cause I misunderstood the requirements, but then the second time around I assume I got it right ‘cause they said they wanted to proceed to the next stage. I didn’t have to come in for another interview anymore ‘cause apparently they knew me well enough from the three times they had already interviewed me in the previous role I applied for. Eventually, after the medical test and some reference checks (thanks Michael, Jay and Robin T-T), I got offered the job! I’ve submitted all the required pre-start documents already and now I’m just waiting to start. But boy, has it been a rollercoaster ride. At first when I didn’t get the first role I initially applied for, I cried - but told myself that if this was God’s plan for me, then that was fine. I kept reminding myself simply; if it wasn’t meant for me, it wasn’t meant for me. Next thing I know, I get re-directed to a different role in the same department. It’s weird ‘cause that’s sort of how I got the role in the current company I work for now. The HR lady said they wanted me to work for them, but wanted to find a role that fitted me better. A year and a half later, I admit I’ve enjoyed my role as a ‘Project/Installation Coordinator’. It’s pretty cool how I can now say that I no longer have the same, if any, phone anxiety I had just around 2-3 years ago. I find it easier to join in and respond to office banter and are more familiar with the “office politics” they speak of, and the difference between good and bad management. I've also learnt that just because something has been getting done a certain way for a long time, doesn’t mean it needs to continue on that way. If you see a better way or process, go for it. Don’t be afraid of change or making mistakes. Thinking about the fact that I’ve never worked for a company for this long before and how I’m leaving not only colleagues, but now friends, behind is a bittersweet feeling. I couldn’t say the same in my previous job in my first full-time role as a Detailer as I didn’t really get along with my workmates there. But it’s different this time around. The people I’ve been working with for the past 1.5 years are good people - people that I’ve created many fond memories, inside jokes and experiences with. This time around was also the first time I resigned properly and with four weeks’ notice. It was awkward for the company to announce my resignation on a day I was away on leave for Levy’s graduation and my first Access Connections Mentoring meeting for this year (more on that later). Although there’s no way of really knowing if it would’ve been better had I not been away. My manager was very understanding and open to my resignation and told me that he completely supported my decision to further develop my career. He wasn’t in the office when I informed him so it was all over the phone. I had been dreading the thought of resigning but I think it wasn’t as bad as I initially pictured. I’m not sure how people feel about me leaving. I’m sure most of them are unaffected or unbothered. I will miss them though. Especially my team and all the people that have been there and helped through the ups and downs. Aww and my installers too (the subcontractors I scheduled for installation bookings). I feel like we’ve all become close and now it’s time for me to go. I came into the company at a time when a lot of people had already been there for a long time. Now, I’m leaving at a time when I’m one of the pioneering people in the company. Due to the high staff turnover I’d say around 85% of people in the company haven’t been there for longer than a year. This meant that I always had a group to fall back into and I was fortunate enough to never really be alone and left out. Robin, the one who trained me in my current role, resigned around 2 months ago. He was one of my references. Jay was another and his wife works in the same company as my Dad. Michael was my third reference and he knows someone who is currently applying for a role, and for his referral, for the same company that I got my recent job offer from. What a funny and small word we live in. I mentioned earlier that I had a meeting (for the Access Connections Mentoring Program that I’m a part of) with my mentee which was just last Thursday where we met up at a cafe called ‘Stovetop’. It was nice meeting her. I couldn’t help but think that it seemed like she had her life together already though. Her Dad owned a construction company and she works once a week as a Design Assistant at a pretty big company. To be honest I felt a bit intimidated and inferior when I read about her background and what she had accomplished in her life. I kept wondering why she needed a mentor. Then the day of the meeting came and it turned out alright. I opted for the casual and raw mentoring vibe where I didn’t worry too much about formalities and just voiced out my truth and how I really thought of the construction industry and how it was like working in there as a female. We chatted for just over an hour and then she had to attend a lecture/class and I had to go to Levy’s nursing graduation. Our next meeting will be on the second week of July, where she hopes to get some tips on resume writing. Sometimes when I think about it enough, I wonder to myself how anyone can see me as an adult or take advice from me. I’m literally still trying to figure my life out as well and now I’m giving advice to people only a few years younger than me. I feel a bit crazy sometimes but hey when am I really going to feel like an actual adult though? Probably never.

As I draw closer to the next chapter of my life which I like to think is when I start my new job in three weeks’ time, I feel like I’m due for a bit of a life makeover. I need to get my life together again in terms of health/fitness, fashion, how I present myself to people, helping out around the house. I haven’t been to the gym in months, I’m breaking out pretty bad and I feel like I’m starting to look and feel old. Which I shouldn’t!? I’m only 24 - this is supposed to be my peak. Or the beginning thereof. I really need to get this going. I’ve already gone grocery shopping for fruits last week and I’ve started to incorporate more healthy eating. Now on to the other things on that list..