My slacker days are over

This is a rather belated post as I didn’t have time to complete it, but I have finally found a job. Or rather, I have finally managed to secure employment after almost half a year of being on the dole. To be fair though, in that 5.5 months, I had to pack up all my things, say my farewells, fly to a different continent, unpack and settle into a life so different from the one I had grown used to. With little more than a fistful of friends and one boyfriend and my life savings, divided by two point five.

After spending the best month ever meeting up with friends and holidaying, I’d arrived mid-October. Australians generally go into holiday season mood around then. I too, remained somewhat festive and did not try too hard to hunt for employment. Sure, I tried out for some through the usual online venues – SEEK, MyCareer, CareerOne and some other more obscure ones. And I met up with two overly optimistic recruiters who cheerfully proclaimed that I was an ideal employee. Maybe they were sincere, but the following 5 months or so showed that employers did not feel the same way.

Before leaving Malaysia, I’d had several recruitment agents email me with offers. I wasn’t too concerned. I politely turned down their offers; I didn’t want to be tied down to a job location, scope and employers of which I wasn’t sure. Nevermind all the naysayers who kept reiterating the difficulty of starting out Down Under. It was certainly naïve of me. Because then the global financial crisis hit. And advertised work dropped. People were forced to take unpaid leave, or worse, retrenched. Casual work, a foreign concept to most Malaysians, is rather common here. It is what it sounds like – your boss will let you know as and when you’re needed. While casual work usually pays well (about AUD20-30 an hour), your hours are uncertain (and you don’t get any leave at all). And in the current climate, many have not been axed per se, but have had their hours reduced significantly.

My point is, it’s a pretty tough job market out there. Even in the most conducive conditions, immigrants (even Aussie grads) often face difficulty competing with the locals. It’s not so much the technicalities (though that does play a part too), but the cultural differences tend to divide us. Integration is a very big issue here, and for a very good reason too. Not to mention the inane “No Australian Experience” cliché. Most Aussies obtain their first job through referrals from friends and family, which is often not an option for most new arrivals. Of course I'm not saying everyone will have a hard time, but as a general rule of thumb, be prepared.

I spent my Christmas in Melbourne, a city I found I could more easily relate to, with its hustle, bustle and excellent shopping variety. After New Years Day, then began my real JobQuest.

From January until end March, I applied fervently for work online. I adjusted and readjusted my resume, according to the advice of recruiters, friends, a man from an online forum. I tailored my cover letters to suit the selection criteria of individual advertisements. I literally spent hours describing why I was “the best fit for the position”, “attracted you to work for our company”, “how your experiences and skills will help contribute to this role”. I filled in repetitive field after field. I developed headaches filling in online forms and writing long essays why I felt joining (insert company) would enhance my career (nevermind I had never even heard of it before). I begged friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, acquaintances of uncles of friends, friends of family, random strangers I’d struck up conversations with (Thank you everyone! Sorry I was such a pain!). I even begged a good friend to have his dad pull some strings for me, something I am 100% ashamed of having to do. I grovelled. I whinged. I prayed to God every night, trying to keep faith in the dire circumstances. I spent countless sleepless nights, emerging after two hour naps to start my JobQuest at 6.30am on most days. Heck, I even applied for jobs I wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole under normal circumstances (to maintain some semblance of dignity, I won’t elaborate which ones). More than once, I sat on the couch and burst into tears, feeling like a worthless piece of crap for mooching off my boyfriend, for not being able to buy even the most menial luxuries. On good days, I would attend fruitless interview after interview after interview. Each one would raise my hopes a little, each praise of my being “well presented”, excellent communication skills and experience in a large corporation etc etc. And week after week, I would check my phone and emails obsessively, hoping and praying for the callbacks that never came. When all else failed, I even begged you, my readers, for leads. (Thank you to Pat and Eliss who responded!)

My self esteem was -187455676395930.02. The mirror reflected only failure.

There were friends, family, acquaintances who would cheer me on. Fellow migrants, in their varying accents (French, Belgian, Swedish, Chinese, Taiwanese, Pakistani, English, Singaporean, fellow Malaysians), would try helping me pass my resume around, cheer me on, tell me Don’t Give Up. Friends did the same, with the additional duties of counselling my sorry, self-pitying ass. Family too, especially my long-suffering mother tried buoying my sinking spirits. And then, there were some pretty awful people who showed their true colours. To the ones who jeered, said I was stupid for ever leaving my life behind, those who turned their backs on me, those whose offers to help were of the NATO (No Action Talk Only), well, whatever surface skimming, insincere relationship we had is really over.

And then I got The Call. Yes, the job was a referral, through the sister of a childhood friend. I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of networking. This will be difficult for many, who are perhaps more used to formalities, but you need to ask, ask, ask and beg if necessary. Saving face will not feed and house you. One must think of survival.

Finally, I want to emphasize why I wrote this post. During my lowest periods, I would search the web for others in similar circumstances, hoping for some sort of enlightenment. There were a few, but I didn’t really come across anything explicitly addressing this issue. Nonetheless, the subtleties gleaned from other Malaysians (and Singaporeans) abroad did offer some hope.

If you’re looking for work,

1. Ask everyone. I really do mean EVERYONE. Don’t be pushy, but express the seriousness of your intentions clearly.

2. Go to online forums and make friends. Actually make friends with everybody. Obviously, job hunting will be on your agenda, but just remember no one likes being used.

3. Different countries have different venues for jobseeking. Find out what they are.

4. If necessary, take some bridging courses with local universities.

5. Don’t sit around on your ass at home all day feeling sorry for yourself. I did that for 2 weeks and snapped out of it after getting a very long lecture from a friend. If you’re not going to bother putting in effort, don’t expect a job to land in your lap. No one owes you any favours.

6. If you get really depressed, go out, hang out with a friend or take a drive. I can’t emphasize how important it is to keep positive. I probably lost quite a couple of opportunities because my mentality then was Go ahead, waste my time. I know you’re not going to hire me anyway. We all know the preference is given to the Australian candidate. While this may be true, your moroseness may be interpreted as a lack of self confidence.

7. Pray. Trust me, it works.

8. And lastly, like everyone says, Don’t Give Up. Somewhere out there, there will be a role waiting to be filled by you. All in good time.