Career options
Remember when we were young... people were fond of asking us what we wanted to be when we grew up? (Hmm... do they really keep track of our answers anyway??) Oh well, I was thinking about it and I recall some of my 'proper' answers being... police officer, pilot, sportswoman, explorer, etc. How varied the answers were (sometimes ridiculous!) and how often they were changed, according to our whims and fancies!! Haha!
As I matured, (yes, I did mature ok!) I began thinking more seriously about it... I knew there were some careers which were total no-nos for me. For instance, sales.... not when I needed to convince strangers of my product, present my pitch and perform... definitely not in the light of "the customer is always right" attitude. (Cos we all know that customers are NOT always right! So why go against our principles just to cut the deal?!) I'm saying this from a specific experience... when I worked in outdoor sales... the most basic and 'xiong' sales. Directly face-to-face pitching by catching any Tom, Dick or Harry on the street. You name it, I've done it. From peddling watches to office workers on the streets to ah-pehs lim-ming kopi or Guinness Stout at kopitiam to selling perfume to mechanics repairing the underneath of cars in ROV to sneaking in and out of private office's backdoors, etc. It's people-related alright, but just not my kinda tea. Deceptive promotion lah, I feel. But I do give the thumbs-up and respect to good, honest, sincere salepersons. Some people do have the flair for it, I must admit.
Similarly, when I took a marketing module, I felt like it was just deceiving consumers into buying a certain product they do not need/want through tricky measures like promotion, packaging, etc. It's just not right.... It's corrupt!! (Though I did excel in that module! Haha!) And here's an even more extreme view. I feel that charging people at selling price in order to earn profit is not too right, though it is 'natural'... So yeah, I'm definitely not cut out for business. I think I'll die from my own conscience before anything! =) Haha! I think I belong in the era of barter trading for necessities! *grin*
And to focus on my passions... there are only several career options which I can envision myself in. Other than teaching, there's working with an NGO in a developing country iimmersing in the culture and helping the villagers and especially the kids, working at a summer camp in US monkeying around indulging myself in the outdoors and loving the company of the kids, (I'm still bitter over Singapore's 'summer holidays' clashing with the US one... such that I cannot afford to go over to work anymore!!) organising local outdoor camps and workshops for kids, or become a chef and just enjoy the cooking (though the business will have to be run by someone else!).... Yeah. I guess these are the few options...
But anyway, teaching is the main course now (not just cos of the bond lah!). At least in teaching, I'll get to work with kids... it's a dynamic job (cun imagine myself in a static desk-bound job!), and 'innocent' and 'hassle-free' in the sense that I dun have to deal directly with money issues (I suck at number-crunching anyway!)... like which deal is the most profitable, etc. I'll just have to focus on my main objective, and that is to teach the kids whom I'm entrusted with well. I dun go, "Your parents pay me more, so I'll have to teach you more. Your parents don't pay me enough... I'm not gonna teach you!" And though now kids are not considered as 'innocent' anymore, in general they are still 'purer' than the adults lah. The commerical world, so-called 'adult world' is frightening! (Too luan4 for innocent young banana saviour. Hahaha!) I guess it's this attitude that I wanna remain in the school environment. Disclaimer: This is NOT self-psychoing. Heh.
Whatever it is, I trust that God will lead me. He is my perfect guide because He knows all my needs (He created me!!), and has infinite wisdom and power and riches.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6.
As I matured, (yes, I did mature ok!) I began thinking more seriously about it... I knew there were some careers which were total no-nos for me. For instance, sales.... not when I needed to convince strangers of my product, present my pitch and perform... definitely not in the light of "the customer is always right" attitude. (Cos we all know that customers are NOT always right! So why go against our principles just to cut the deal?!) I'm saying this from a specific experience... when I worked in outdoor sales... the most basic and 'xiong' sales. Directly face-to-face pitching by catching any Tom, Dick or Harry on the street. You name it, I've done it. From peddling watches to office workers on the streets to ah-pehs lim-ming kopi or Guinness Stout at kopitiam to selling perfume to mechanics repairing the underneath of cars in ROV to sneaking in and out of private office's backdoors, etc. It's people-related alright, but just not my kinda tea. Deceptive promotion lah, I feel. But I do give the thumbs-up and respect to good, honest, sincere salepersons. Some people do have the flair for it, I must admit.
Similarly, when I took a marketing module, I felt like it was just deceiving consumers into buying a certain product they do not need/want through tricky measures like promotion, packaging, etc. It's just not right.... It's corrupt!! (Though I did excel in that module! Haha!) And here's an even more extreme view. I feel that charging people at selling price in order to earn profit is not too right, though it is 'natural'... So yeah, I'm definitely not cut out for business. I think I'll die from my own conscience before anything! =) Haha! I think I belong in the era of barter trading for necessities! *grin*
And to focus on my passions... there are only several career options which I can envision myself in. Other than teaching, there's working with an NGO in a developing country iimmersing in the culture and helping the villagers and especially the kids, working at a summer camp in US monkeying around indulging myself in the outdoors and loving the company of the kids, (I'm still bitter over Singapore's 'summer holidays' clashing with the US one... such that I cannot afford to go over to work anymore!!) organising local outdoor camps and workshops for kids, or become a chef and just enjoy the cooking (though the business will have to be run by someone else!).... Yeah. I guess these are the few options...
But anyway, teaching is the main course now (not just cos of the bond lah!). At least in teaching, I'll get to work with kids... it's a dynamic job (cun imagine myself in a static desk-bound job!), and 'innocent' and 'hassle-free' in the sense that I dun have to deal directly with money issues (I suck at number-crunching anyway!)... like which deal is the most profitable, etc. I'll just have to focus on my main objective, and that is to teach the kids whom I'm entrusted with well. I dun go, "Your parents pay me more, so I'll have to teach you more. Your parents don't pay me enough... I'm not gonna teach you!" And though now kids are not considered as 'innocent' anymore, in general they are still 'purer' than the adults lah. The commerical world, so-called 'adult world' is frightening! (Too luan4 for innocent young banana saviour. Hahaha!) I guess it's this attitude that I wanna remain in the school environment. Disclaimer: This is NOT self-psychoing. Heh.
Whatever it is, I trust that God will lead me. He is my perfect guide because He knows all my needs (He created me!!), and has infinite wisdom and power and riches.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6.
posted by Banana Saviour @ 11:44 am
1 Comments:
At 2:26 am,
Geognut said…
Proverbs 3:5-6 is also found on our wall in our auditorium at the jiak kantang secondary school (indep).
Verses that I try to remember all the time.
The Best Is Yet To Be
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