FINDING YOUR IDEAL JOB

The other day, I learned that a colleague is about to leave for a 2-year master degree in an international school.  I can’t just help but to think times fly so fast because when he joined in the company nine years ago, I did the orientation for him and now he is pursuing a remarkable higher step in his career.  This made me pause to ponder a realization: your relationship with your job.

I am currently a land based guest worker in a foreign country.  The fact that the nature of my tenure is a supplied to a client, there is no chance for me to have this perk of being sent for a master degree, or even let say personality and professional development training.  That’s fine.  I accepted that.  But should I stayed in my work and hadn't given up my stable job at a big company back in my home country many years ago, will I ever experience of being sent for a study?  If I did not leave my work and just persevered to hone my craftsmanship – would I be successful?  Maybe it’s no.  Going back to my realization; my relationship with my job is not ideal.  Though it is not like a work for pay scheme but for years it has been always working all day to get pay, no career development.

During my job search before I landed my first local job, I always anticipated to be asked in the interview of what is my ideal job.  In many companies I applied, I cannot recall if I was asked but if I will answer this question, I would say my ideal job is something that will be sent to different places.  It’s something that I would experience travelling, meeting new colleagues and different locals, and seeing different places especially the remote areas.  Something like bank auditors but I am not an accountant, or consultant maybe but I am not engineer, architect or any licensed profession, or is it a representative?  I want going to distant places like provinces while working and enjoying the environment.  I don’t want to be assigned in let say a branch because assigned means a long term period.  What I want is just a short period of time and then go back to my home office.  This is my ideal job, and I never got it when I landed a job.  That’s fine.

During the early years of my career, I was not competitive because I was not ambitious then.  I was not aiming to receive fast promotion so I was not driven to do the best of me.  This is because when I cannot go to different places, my mindset had been always focused in my idea of leaving the country to work abroad not for career goal but of personal goal.  In result, I did not excel in any job from the two companies I have served with.  I had no recognition to count and feel proud of.  In fairness to me, I really worked hard to learn my craft, loved my job, gave my loyalty and I did not exhibit work attitude but I cannot really find the happiness.  So I preferred to leave because I cannot find my type of work to make me happy, hoping to get what I really want when I get work abroad.

But the thing is, I didn't find the dream job I wanted even though I have worked abroad.  This did not brat me to make attitude.  I have to deliver what I am paid for, give what is due.  If on the day of my retirement my morality asks me if I’d been a good employee, I will reply “yes”.  I may not be the excellent or the boss’s favorite employee but I am sure I’ve really worked hard my job, fairly earned every single cent on my pay and dealt with colleague well.

Today I just miss how the big, well-known, top, and reputed companies are taking care their employees.  If not by giving hefty salary, maybe by sending them to courses, developing their personalities, providing company team building, giving the 13^th month and Christmas bonus, benefiting from labor union, etc., I miss how to be a real employee of a well-established company.