Yep.
It's the holidays again, and I'm jobless.
I've submitted tons of applications, and went for a few rounds of interviews, but still no luck getting what I want. Quite depressing really. When you put in so much effort, and it all amounts to nothing. Does it mean you weren't good enough? Or was it just the environmental factors that happened that were not in your favor?
How much can you attribute to the apparent "sway-ness" of it all, and how much should you really blame on yourself. Blames aside, how else can you figure out how to improve? What methods or ways can one use to improve? Questions, questions....
This round of internship applications went kind of funny. I think my resume is fine, for the most part, and my interview skills were pretty poor. But then again, it's so subjective. Here's what happened.
I applied on both the SIP portal, and the Talent Connect portal from the school. The SIP one never replied. Dead radio silence, I might as well have skipped altogether. In addition to that, I applied to some 20 banks through their individual websites! You can imagine how tiring that is. Especially when most of them require you to sit through insanely long winded aptitude tests. I think I spent many days just on that application process.
The Talent Connect portal situation is more erratic. Right off the bat, I got chosen for some DHL Supply Chain intern. But basically is do sai-kang one lar. They asked me to do some QA and software testing. Nonsense work, so I rejected them. Next up, I got asked to go for an IDC web developer/designer job role. Went for the interview, the guy was quite impressed, and I got converted from developer to designer. They offered me the job, but at that point I was still waiting for reply from many other applications, so I held off. Eventually had to reject them coz they couldn't wait too long.
The most bastard one is the Tierra Design company. They put up their job posting halfway through, but the way they write it, like it's a very attractive position. The title is so called "IT Project Manager intern". Then, they set the job posting deadline to super duper long, so it gives you a lot of hope. Also, they didn't reply one, except to say that they want to give everyone equal opportunities. Fuck that. Eventually, they re-posted the job offer again! This time I email her directly to ask what is going on. Then, I got a call and an interview.
I just happened to wear my new shoes to that interview. Not seasoned. Freaking pain lah. Kenna blister until the whole skin came off. Got lost somewhere in Bukit Merah. Finally found the place and I think I did well for the interview. But, they never replied. I ask Kelvin who applied for the same position, he said they already selected someone! Bastards! If I took my time and went down for an interview, it should at least be basic courtesy for you to reject me right? Argh.
The last 'encounter' happened very recently. My NS friend was kind enough to craft out a deal for me with this client company (Research Plus) who was looking to do mobile apps. He tried to ask for a higher pay lah, so props to him for that. But it was also located in a pretty hard to find area. That plus the fact that I already had that mega-blister on my leg, which made me walk slower. So, I ended up late for the interview. Shit. Then he asked a lot of theoretical and hypothetical stuff that really sounded kind of repeating the same points. I guess I was kind of uncertain? Coz my friend did not fill me in on 100% of the details, just brief sentences here and there. So apparently, they end up saying I didn't sound confident or convincing enough. Whatevers.
Moral of the story? It's so damn subjective! Of the lot, BAML; DHL; IDC; Tierra and Research Plus felt that my resume was pretty good. However, only DHL and IDC felt that my interview skills was acceptable. BAML said I spoke well, but didn't think I was suited for the job. So, some people like my interviews, some didn't. Very erratic. Good to know, that overall my resume is fine. Though, even that can be hard to judge. Accenture rejected me outright. 2 days reply, record timing!
So, I really don't know what to make of all this.
What I do know........... Is that I am jobless! Jobless again this holidays. I had a brief internship last year, but I don't think they're hiring again. As far as I can tell, and based on a survey of several friends, the job market is not looking so good as of late. Lots of my friends were having problems finding jobs too. Could this be an impending sign, that we'd all be jobless after graduation?? Time will tell.....
Maybe I should have just accepted IDC. lol! But I was kind of looking for a non-technical role this time round. Something along the lines of Consulting, or Project Management kind of roles... That's what drew me to Accenture and Tierra more that the other offers. Otherwise, I feel like it's quite a waste of my Information Systems degree leh. I might as well do Com Science, or Com Engineering, if I wanted to do the hardcore programmer route. Also, I do believe that developer roles don't really have a bright future. Everything is now being outsourced to China and India, and programmers have either very low pay, or no jobs at all.
Conversely, project management and consulting is the way to go. Companies will always need people to manage their outsourced projects, and to coordinate with the vendors. This is evident in Tierra, who asked me to help them identify flaws in their vendors software services.
At the end of it all, I'm not sure what I learnt. What I do know, is that I need to brush up on my interview skills a little, maybe tidy up my resume here and there. That's why I already signed up for NCC step-up thingy. Hopefully it will help. Another thing I kind of took away from this whole shenanigans, is that I could perhaps be more contented. I should have just accepted IDC's offer. Even if it was only $800. At least I was familiar with the role, despite not getting to learn more IS kind of stuff. Designer role should be no kick for me.
So now, after weeks and weeks of all these nonsense stuff, I guess I'm still jobless after all. What can I do? What should I do? I don't know... But if anyone of you has job offers. PLEASE! Do email me!
