WORK & PLAY COMES TOGETHER AS ONE!

WORK & PLAY COMES TOGETHER AS ONE!

• 14 March 2011

(Just so I don't have to repeat myself thro it's a joy to spread the good news!)

I'M OFFICIALLY HIRED AS AN INTERN AT

NUFFNANG-JIPABAN!

I'll start my long grandmother story. Stay Tuned!


Let's go back in time, to the start of Poly...
Before entering Poly, I already knew about Internships, well, back then, it was one of the reasons why I wanted to join a Poly. Because having internships is something different from what the JC kids have, you get a taste of the rat-race world out there and essentially, getting a job is one of the reasons why we even go to school and thus seeing ourselves ending up chasing after certs and grades.


So throughout my Polytechnic journey, I was exposed to various forms of media, met many new people and gain much experiences thru events, etc... Somehow, I would always analyse the company or best still, see if the company impressed me or left an impression. Just a habit or what they call 'zhi-ye-bing!' That's very important, not just for internship but generally. Like predict if the company will survive or not!


I never really sat down to think about Internship Issue... *seems so long still, back then!* HEH!(:
I only shortlisted some companies that I wanna work for. Eg. MediaCorp, SPH, Nuffnang, OMY.sg, CLEO, SEVENTEEN, etc


So, just this month after the school gave us the Internship Briefing... that's when I really set my mind on finding an Internship. AN IDEAL ONE, to me, at least...

If you don't know me, one of my Philosophy in life is 'Want to do something, you go all out & do it to the best of your ability, or else don't even bother to start doing it!'

Call me kiasu or what, but I told myself that I have to be very determine to find & self-secure an Internship even before April. I've got my reasons people, CAUSE 1st week of April I'm in Korea, 2nd week I'm having Freshmen Orientation Workshop & Camp, 3rd week is Week 0 Orientation, 4th week start school alr. SHAG, where got time right! I'm super busy, so I must get this thing done and be at peace be happy or else..... GG.com.sg.

So anyways, one day it dawned upon me that I HAVE TO START SEARCHING. I was with my friends online discussing which companies we should approach. I really don't know. Since Year 1, I was determined on interning at MediaCorp, despite the travelling distance. Because thro I'm in Business, I loved the Media (guess cause I'm exposed to it kinda much already!) and the company itself sounds good, don't you think so? BUT the thing is for MediaCorp, they may not offer the position that I require. Most of their interns do the real deal of production to scriptwriting to being a PA. Yes, basically more for the Mass Comm students. Nth much for BUSINESS students.
AND, after hearing my teacher & senior's comments, they say intern there very 'Sai Kang' and it's a very established company, so as an intern, you can't do much.


WELL WELL. So being a little more realistic, I eventually erased it off my mind & told myself I can't be stuck in my train of thoughts forever. Since MCS is down, SPH is most prob gonna be the same case. So I decided to place NN as my top choice of company. WHY? Because of their work culture, I am a blogger myself & the fact that it was a company potential for further growth! :) However, cause they don't offer internship places specific, so I wasn't sure if they would accept me.

& I know I cannot limit myself to just ONE right, so I decided to start the jobsearch proper, with a blank sheet of paper starting afresh! All I know is out of my 2 majors (Corp Comms & Tourism), I will head towards the Corp Comms side! Tourism's too cliche for me.

So here are the few things I asked myself:
1. WHAT TYPE OF COMPANY DO I REALLY WANT TO WORK IN?

Somewhere fun, not too corporate cause I can't stand it la!

2. WHAT DO I WANT OUT OF IT?
To learn the ropes from a mentor or be involved in the company and its projects, as much as possible. So long best is don't ask me to come in office, seat there do nothing & slack around can already.

3. BIG or SMALL company?
I literally weighted the pros & cons (I shared w my friends as well!)

BIG Company
Pros: Good Reputation - Looks good on your resume, Sounds good when you tell people. Some may be impressed as well +PLUS even if you end up doing 'Sai Kang', you can really get the people connection & relationship. BUT THAT'S IF YOU REALLY WANT TO WORK IN THAT INDUSTRY THEN YOU NEED IT. OR ELSE, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

Cons: 3 months intern, what can they delegate you with? Projects proper? I doubt so. Thus, you get the extreme. Either they don't let you do anything or they throw you too much work without any guidance. Either ways, DIE.

SMALL Company
Pros: Lesser people, so the people can mentor you and you may learn more. Since not many people to do the work, you end up doing most of the work and be involved (if you are lucky!)

Cons: Little people would have heard of the company before. You end up slogging for nothing if you realise it's not a good company.

But really, it all depends to you. For me, it's very important that I myself must be happy with my choice, duh, I made it so I can't regret no matter what I eventually choose. I know for some other poly students, they don't really bother then that's okay! haha!

& here are the few things I set a criteria for before selecting the company:
1. MUST suit my Personality!
FYI, I'm someone who can't seat still for long, have short attention span so don't make me seat infront of a computer from 8-5pm I will die! Also, you must let me talk or else you'll find a gloomy Samantha at the end of the day. And, PLEASE LET ME DO SOMETHING. Don't make me 'Zuo Bo' or slack. I rather work like a dog (I hope I don't regret saying this now!) & get satisfaction out of it!!!

2. Must be a company that I'm willing to work for.

Since all is for Internship, so since if really end up do saikang, might as well choose somewhere I'm willing to right not!

3. The company must have a website, a presentable one (shows the culture of the company & more importantly(?!!) so my first task if I ever get selected won't be to revamp their website cause I almost cried while doing dreamweaver & swear never to touch it again!)

4. I must hear the company before at least / easy to read up on the company from their website.

5. Somewhere in Town area, so I will have the 'FEEL' that I'm going to work.

___________________________________________________________________

So having settled all those above, I shortlisted a few MORE companies besides my initial shortlisted list of companies. They range from EVENTS to PR to ADVERTISING. Just to keep my choices open... Okay, it must be relevant to my course so that's just the few... Out of the many, I only had 1 top choice which was one of the few from my initial choice list. The rest, somehow deep down, at the back of my mind, it's just like 'Orh at least if I self-secure those, I won't be 'thrown' to any other company by my sch'. That's the only comfort I had, can you imagine my agony!

Thro I said earlier in this post, I will head towards my Corp Comms major to search for an Internship, BUT, I don't want do PURE Corp Comms! After that stint with Zaq & he shared with me about the PR industry being not so glamorous afterall. It's more of doing background work and making sure everything is in proper place, prepare things for the company, etc. I know it's not me, I can't do that. My idea of PR is frontline is meeting with people is attending corporate events. THAT'S WHY!

If I applied for those PR firms, most prob I can get it if I really really want it, but seriously, those PR firms via the website, to me... looked too corporate, too 'HIGH up THERE' and I don't think I can survive in general. Too chim for me, at least for this stage!!! No Point! Not saying that I'm not competent enough or whatsoever but I had this concern 'What if they throw you things you never ever seen in your entire life. Human's work standard difference, you know...

So, after shortlisting afew, nevertheless being so lost, I decided to have a talk with 2 of my teachers, who gave me feedback about experiences from their previous students. THANK GOD for both of my teachers, because they gave me some tips as well as enough supporting reasons for not trying out for EVENTS & PR Firms.

In general, some EVENTS firm intern end up doing brainless work like the event execution. You do OT without pay, You slog your weekends off for nothing and at the actual event, you could even do nothing except carrying bricks or set up stage or tear tickets. What a dead job, see EVENTS firm just sound good but the insides of it, you wouldn't know. I'm not saying it's not good, but I'm just repeating some experiences that was shared with me. The worst case scenario. For PR firms, there was this top student who went to a top PR agency and she was indeed thrown a project all by herself of which she was lost cause no one helped her. Sucks right I know!

SEE AFTER HEARING ALL THOSE, THEY JUST DOUBLE CONFIRMED THAT I SHOULD JUST GO FOR MY INITIAL CHOICE COMPANY. I DIDN'T EVEN CONTACT THE OTHER FEW THAT I SHORTLISTED JUST FOR THE SAKE OF SHORTLISTING THEM. I mean, unless really bobian. Cause even now I contact the others, I get it I also no happy right so what's the point! (((:

When I say I want something, it's for real, I'm not kidding & I'll go all out for it!

So yups, I followed my heart & didn't contact other companies except for Nuffnang!

Why do I say the above words???
What did I do? (:

Despite knowing they did not advertise for Interns & they don't normally do except for Design or IT side (if I'm not wrong), I just tried to apply for it. Open to discussion lor...

So, I sent an online mailer via their website to check if they offer internship positions. No Reply. So, I courageously called them up and just sent my resume to HR side. Then a few days later, I called them to check how's it going. Elisa was nice enough to call me back and she arranged for an interview.

16/March/2011, Wednesday, 12pm

I had an interview first with Hui Wen, the country manager. It was a really informal interview, kinda like a chat instead. Cause we didn't even say 'OKAY START NOW' sorta thing. I was filling in my application form and she came in and starting asking me questions like why I applied to intern her, what I wanna get out of this internship, etc. hahaha! Basically, I said I like their unconventional and fun culture and I don't wanna be just another intern in just another company doing just the typical stuffs an intern do. And, I know at NN, it's not like that so it's good!^^

She was fine with me, but said that for Nuffnang's side, it's quite stable since it's more or less established, so there's nth much I can do there as an intern. So she recommended me to help out at their sister company, Jipaban, of which I can learn more things! Thro it wasn't my initial choice of doing blogging relations but it's equally good and to me it's all the same since it's under one big family tree, only that I'll be involved in online shopping more. So, that's when the manager, Elaine, came into the interview room. She asked me the same questions, heh(:

Then that's when Boss Ming came in, saw my spot-on cover letter (the first line which caught his eye JUST MY GOOD LUCK just cause he likes that certain thing.. Super Qiao. Of course, with that same CL go other company may not be spot on) & resume, spoke to me (see below). Initially, the 2 ladies came to a conclusion that I'm most prob accepted (& they'll let me know again) but the question is which company needs me more. Churp Churp, Jipaban or NN? I was left hanging like huh so should I go find other companies (of course best is don't need la!) then Big Boss officially, offered the internship position to me immediately ON THE SPOT! & I'm be working under JPB because it's gonna be real exciting journey coming up with new campaigns, strategies, etc. Especially since it's year end so there's year end sales as well X'mas!

ANYWAY ACCEPTED!!! SO... That means, I can fill up those forms from my school and get my self-secured application done asap. +PLUS, I don't have to rack my brains sourcing for other companies and the whole process......... Sounds Good aye! Woohoo! (: I’m so happy because I got what I wanted! Some say it's like Singapore version of cool companies like Google. HAHA, I actually sorta agree!

It was really funny cause I didn't exactly research on the JPB beforehand, only know about it surface. Then he asked me to comment honestly about the site and whether I like online shopping and oh, another thing about whether I shop from JPB or from the blogshop itself... I was being very honest and ended up sort of gave 'areas to improve' about the site. Like it being very messy, no first dominant visual when I enter and that I end up shopping from the blogshop itself because there's mailer so I would click on the link to their new collection before deleting the mail from my email what! THE BEST PART IS: I was 'lucky' because apparently what I said are those areas they really are discussing how to improve on! heh! (: And, the truth is I prefer to travel overseas to shop rather than online shopping. I save on those money (difference in the price - higher markup price here) and use it to go travel and get the products myself. Different people, different thoughts! Of course, I understand the convenience of online shopping cause I am a 'victim' of it too, burns a pocket in my hole sometimes. HAHA! So everything happens for a reason! (((: I believe that there's still a huge market for online shopping because honestly, not everyone is like me who would bother travelling overseas due to time & money factor... thus, they rather spent their time and money online shopping.

So anyways after the interview, Elaine brought me around the companies to take a look and meet some people. They were very friendly and warm. Very bubbly people excited for me to intern with them, like 'YAY We've got an Intern!' HAHAHA. Naise! Seem like very nice people to work with, heheh!

Anyways, I foresee this internship to be a really challenging and fun journey!!! Elaine pre-em me that it's gonna be challenging because my internship period starts from Sept-Dec, which is YEAR END so the company gets really busy and exciting! & I will be involved in many stuffs and even to the extend of planning my own events and taking up my own projects/campaigns. OHOH plus maybe even go out to pitch sales to clients, exciting much! (See, I was right about THAT - ownership & involvement! haha!) BUT, sounds too much to comprehend and stressful right? OHWELLS, I'll brace up & do my best!!! (: It definitely beats having nothing to do or to do some random lame paperwork like what some interns in other companies do...

LET ME END OFF WITH SAYING:

I'VE GOT A COOL COMPANY CAUSE...

1. Wear casual clothes (not too formal kind, thank god man!) to work
2. Start work later than normal hours (Don't need squeeze on trains)
3. Have such a fun culture
4. Friendly People
5. Take ownership & be involved so much in their stuffs
6. Pay me reasonable salary
Apparently, I'm their 1st POLY intern so they weren't sure how much to pay me! I shall not disclose this infomation k! Can only say that I'm satisfied with it! Thanks!
7. It's a 5 day work week
...
8. Wear my signature flower to work! (HAHAHA!)

All in all, I'm grateful! Sept 14th, Here I come!!!

Thank God, Thanks Nuffnang/JipaBan, Thanks TP, Thanks to whoever that have helped me in a way or another!

Toodles!

XOXO,

SAMANTHA