Saturday, June 17, 2006

From a jobless bum to a mad scientist :D

I finally got a job!!! Woo hooooo!!!! And the reason for the unusually high number of exclaimation marks is because it's a job I think I will enjoy very VERY much, and do very well in, AND the salary and perks for a fresh grad like me are pretty darn good! My only gripe is that the office is almost 45 minutes away from my home without jam (so imagine how long it will take in early morning traffic. Bleh!), but oh well, can't have it all. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Management Trainee job at Cadbury, coz' for some reason or another they never got round to calling me back after first round of interviews. I was calling them up every week for the past month to see if I was shortlisted or not, and the person who interviewed me would always say the HR manager was away on business and couldn't look through the resumes for shortlisting yet. And she would also say she would call me the following week to let me know, but never did. This week, after not hearing from her again, I gave up calling her back.

Luckily I had been applying for other jobs recently and last Wednesday I applied for a very interesting job I saw on the JobsandMore website. It was for the position of Instructor for a company called Mad Science, which basically does science presentations to primary school kids in a fun and interesting way. They do it as after-school extra-curricular activities, or at birthday parties, camps, special functions, and so on. It sounded fun and suitable for me coz' it involved teaching kids, science and entertaining, all of which I love doing. So I just applied for it from the website, and the next day already I had someone from the company call me up and ask me in for an interview. So to do some research on the company first (always good to know more in-depth about the company where you going for a job interview...learned that from previous interviews! Makes a good impression if you can spout some company background... ;)) I checked out the Mad Science website and it looked pretty impressive. And then I also checked out the careers section, which has a video showing what my job would be all about. And I do have to say... it looked like so much fun!!!! So I was very interested in the job by then.

The first time I went to see them wasn't really an interview per se coz' the director who was supposed to interview me couldn't make it there last weekend. So I only spoke to another instructor, who basically just told me what the job was about in more detail. So I had to wait another week for the director to come in, coz' apparently he's not usually around, away doing other businesses and on trips. And I just went for the REAL interview today, met up with the boss, who seems like a real nice and easy going kinda guy. I didn't really have to crack my head to come up with impressive answers to his questions during the interview coz' from my CV and what I told him about myself, he thought I was very suitable for the job. He even said he thinks I have a lot of potential in playing a major role in the company, as it's still a small but growing company in Malaysia. Whoa, how often do you get a comment like THAT in an interview?? And he also asked if I was willing to learn more about the business side of the company in the future, if I prove myself to be really good, to which I of course said yes. Being involved in business means potentially being in management. Management means more money and more perks. Money and perks are good. Sign me up, baby. :Þ Of course, I didn't quite say it like that....

So at the end of it, he said he would have to confer about me with another company director and then call me back later today to give me an offer that would be "attractive" to me.... and when I did get the call, the offer was indeed quite attractive, so I definitely took the job. And now I am sort-of officially no longer a jobless bum (sort-of coz' I haven't signed the contract yet)! And I'm so happy!!! I got a job I think I'd really enjoy and the pay isn't crap! I am so blessed!!! Thank you God thank you God thank you God!!!!! Tomorrow I see my new boss again to discuss my work in detail, and also, I presume, to sign the work contract. Goody goody gumdrops. :Þ How often do you hear someone excited to go to work, eh? Thank you God thank you God thank you God!!!!!

Another minor issue though, is the exasperating part of telling people what I work as when they ask. It's gonna be so funny telling people that I work as a 'Mad Scientist'! And everyone's gonna have some preconceived ideas of what weird stuff I'm doing. My mum already thinks I'm working as a 'clown' with Albert Einstein hair, and some other people I've told ask if I have to wear weird spinning glasses and a lab coat saying 'Mad Scientist'. Well, I'm pretty sure I don't have to do any of that... except for the "Mad Scientist' lab coat. :Þ But it would be kinda troublesome to explain that it's not just fun and games, but it's also a franchise business, so I would be learning some business skills as well. One of it's major businesses is to work with other companies to get sponsorship for products. One example I read on the website is that when they teach about sun protection, they get a sunblock company to sponsor products, which generates publicity for the sponsor's products, which of course pays Mad Science for the publicity. So it's not just about 'clowning' around and entertaining the kids, but also making the business grow in Malaysia. And since the company isn't that big in Malaysia yet, I'm thinking I really could help it develop a lot and become one of the top people in this company one day. Oohlala. Top person means more money and perks. Money and perks is good. :) Ok, I think we all got that part clear....

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