Life For Rent

As I sat through the review classes I am attending each weekend, it sorta dawned on me the real meaning of ‘experience. Everyone knows how important experience is when it comes to salaries. It is not the one and only factor, but it is a contributing factor. However I don’t think many truly understand why experience can garner someone the pay package he or she gets. We just know it in theory, till you have been around for a while and you see yourself morph from a greenhorn to one that is not so green anymore. What has changed? Yes, you do know a little bit more. What else? You shoulder more responsibilities, you are trusted to carry out high level tasks, you manage people perhaps, best of all you develop that confidence that you can indeed do what you do, and have proven yourself that you can do it well.

So experience alone, is not the only factor. Rach and I talked bout someone who has been working for 13 years yet earns a very low salary despite being in a profession that is reputed to garner high salaries.  What I neglected to mention was, it is the combination of experience and responsibilities one is entrusted upon that garners that pay packet. Market value is another contributing factor but is subjective. My opinion is that your degree’s primary task is to get you that salary for your first job. This is because the person has nothing to show, other than academic achievements at that point. From the second job onwards the reliance would be on experience (the wider the scope the better, although some will prefer to focus experience as an SME) and subsequently what you can shoulder and take charge ultimate influences your ability to climb through the ranks.

The one thing which people may not realise, until they have joined the working force for a while is, many a times (not always) it is who knows you (not just who you know. Cause I also know MM Lee Kuan Yew but does he know me?) not what you know, that can leap frog you miles ahead of the ‘competition’.

Yes, a good pay package is great. However the ultimate reward for me personally, is to love my job, be confident that I can deliver beyond expectations, have proven that, and receive positive feedback on it. There will be others who don’t really bother too much bout these and it is all bout the dollar and cents. There is no right or wrong here. One needs to know his or her goal. At the review class, one of the students was asking if she should focus on the official material or just do more sample questions. I asked her, what is your goal? She said, to pass the exam. I said the solution is obvious, do the questions. It will take a long time to be good in the subject and reading multiple material would be useful. That would be a long term goal. Short term goal? Pass exams. Therefore, you need to have a strategy to achieve that goal. Every goal has a strategy. Time line is a contributing factor. What do you do if you have 1 week to your exams? Do you flip your textbook and read line by line? No time for that honey!

I seek satisfaction from knowing I am doing an alright job and loving it. If it comes with a nice pay package, I wouldn’t complain at all. I will not do something that I do not enjoy. I have been asked to join the different industries, from a banker (using the financial knowledge I taught myself) to that of being a lecturer from my ability to interact and articulate concepts. Even law, it seems. Either, perhaps, would easily earn me a lot more but I chose not to go down that path cause I do not enjoy doing that work. I know I can earn a lot, but I also know one day I will resent the fact I am doing stuff I don’t enjoy and burn out. Or worse maybe I will run away with my clients’ money..

Bottom line? Strategise your short-long term goals. Speak with people in the industry who are more senior than you. The one thing different between my classes now and those back in school? The class comprises of participants from different sectors doing different things. It is a valuable experience and information sharing session(not forgetting networking) that takes one beyond the material in the book. One way to fast forward the need to go through a task to garner that experience, is to hear and discuss it with someone who has already gone through it. You leverage on someone’s experience, and vice versa. It doesn’t cost anything, yet it is priceless.

We challenge each other, we challenge the lecturer and no one is really right or wrong in that sense which makes it a valuable session for everyone including the instructor.

And that, is the value of being in the workforce. It is fulfilling in both tangible and intangible ways. How fulfilling will it be for an individual, solely depends on him or her. Which is why when I hear of people complain bout this and that in their working environment, or their job, or their pay, it tells me something.

I can be a student still, as I am now, but no longer that student back in Uni days.