I didn’t worry so much bout what my first job was going to be when i finished college. I just kinda let it fall into place. I worked regular freelance jobs of all types during my college years, but my first REAL PAYING FULL TIME JOB was because some magazine editor saw some photographs of mine on my blog (yes i was blogging since then… :p) and asked me to send more samples over.
I got hired as a photographer and writer. And so started Joyce’s colourful career! (Or so she says)
After being a writer and photographer for 4 years, i was offered a job that focused on partying and PR for an MNC. I got that job because… they saw me out partying so much? Haha. It’s probably because i just loved being out and talking to different types of people every night.
Fast-forward one year of partying for work and i was getting tired. It’s not so fun when partying becomes your job. Because then… what would i do to unwind?! I found myself telling Adrian Yap about an idea i had, at TAG @ The Loft one drunken night. We followed up, and so came the birth of Tongue in Chic. I got to create my fashion baby with a great team, and meet so many fabulous like-minded peeps in South East Asia. At the same time, i was also managing KinkyBlueFairy’s content and earnings.
When i felt i needed to choose between TIC and my blog to concentrate on, i chose my blog. And took a gap year off at 28 years old to freelance again, and focus on travel. What a great year that was! But i became bored soon after and started thinking about a different industry i could expand to. I let word out to various advertising agencies that i was looking for some work, and got a job with Universal McCann.
It was a completely different life to me as the type of people who work there have a different mindset from those in publication. It was a big change but i loved the new challenges i put my mind at working on, and the new environment i was submerged rather surprisingly in.
Right now, I still freelance for Universal McCann and have the time i need (without foregoing sleep) to blog.
Even tho i’ve changed jobs a few times, i’m very lucky (touch wood, bless me all fairies) that i had jobs that required all the things that i love doing – meeting people, taking photographs, writing articles, partying, fashion, trends, and ideas. If i have to connect all those opportunities back to two main roots, it would be
1) Networking,
and 2) Luck.
I swear it’s because i go out and talk so much which gets people knowing what kind of person i am, what i may be good in doing, and when i’m looking for a job. And it’s also luck.
But consider this: I would go out 5 nights a week, every week, for 9 years (gawd, that sounds like a lot of alcohol in my head) which equals up to = A LOT OF SOCIALIZING. And you must say, not everyone is as enthusiastic a socializer as that!
Which can get one thinking: What if someone just DOESN’T like talking to random people and making an hour-long conversation out of it? What if they don’t like drinking? What if they don’t like loud places? How do they find an opportunity?
If i wasn’t the way i was, i’d probably be searching for jobs on listings sites, like myStarjob. Besides the typical online and print job listings, the career website has value-added services like:
- Visume – Malaysia’s first video resume, it allows job seekers to submit and upload their visumes online to apply for jobs, and even allow employers to conduct a ‘live’ video interview with potential candidates. This definitely saves a lot of time – yours and theirs.
- A 16-paged Career Guide – available in The Star newspaper (and online) every Saturday, serving as a valuable resource for talents seeking professional advice and opportunities, and for organisations to use this opportunity to profile their organisation to attract talent and build reputation.
- Training services– seminars, workshops, on-ground trainings, and talks by industry leaders will achieve the single-minded purpose of building better talents in the workforce community.I took their Jobgraphy Career Test for fun… >
And got these results, which doesn’t surprise those who know me i’m sure >
Besides all the informative articles and video content to surf, the first thing i would do as a job seeker is to send in my resume. You never know who might find it, and you can’t just depend on luck to fall into your hands. You have to take action to form your own future.
All job seekers that send in their resumes before March 2013 stand a chance to win a Proton car, with RM100 shopping vouchers being given away every day from now till the end of the contest period!
If you won this car, many payment responsibilities will be off your back! All you have to do is send in your resume for a chance 😉
For more, visit www.myStarjob.com
