Interview for a new job: Strike 1

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Hair, check. Blazer, check. Skirt, uncheck. I'm just rocking my G-string instead.

At 10AM tomorrow morning, I will have my first face-to-face interview with the HR personnel of this company based in Singapore.  This company is an international business media company, and Singapore is its Asian regional office.

I’m pretty psyched about this deal.  Of course, who wouldn’t be?!  First, the sector is business media which I have always had an interest in.  Second, it’s based in Singapore – and I do need to return to Singapore for family reasons.  Third, this will be my first interview on Skype, which means I get to be interviewed while wearing nothing on my bottoms but my G-strings.   :D

This company’s interview process is pretty arduous by Singapore standards.  I saw its profile on JobsDB, sent in my resume (I had to include my gender and marital status which shouts DISCRIMINATION in my point of view!), had a phone interview, submitted an application form which required my replies to 10 questions (which means two nights of sleeping past 3AM to pen 10 wonderfully-written paragraphs of 250 words each), and tomorrow I have a Skype interview with two ladies from HR.

Chest bump to you if you ain’t panting already.

I have got through this far through some fool-proof tactics that I’ve never failed to employ when hunting for a new job.  I had planned to write them all in this post, but after thinking about what I want to write, it just seems waaaay too long to fit in.

I don’t mean to be a c0ck/pu$$y teaser, but please keep a lookout for my next few posts.

And wish me luck yo!

Peace out,

Fortunecat

Expenses by the week: 10 – 16 Oct 2011

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I’ve been suffering from guilt for the past one week, because this post is a week late.

The thing is, I have been very busy with work.  However!!!  In all defense I have been really vigilant in using YNAB everyday – to the point of staring at the screen till my pupils dilate and my eyes start to water.  Intense, yeh I know.  I’m an intense bitch ;)

This week I have made a lot of progress in planning for my financial future.  I will share all these plans with you in the next few posts.  First things first: recap for the (last) week…

Mon 10 Oct

  • (HKD 28) - Breakfast (Damn that delicious chicken chop bun!)
  • (HKD 45) – Groceries
  • (HKD 100) – Octopussy top-up

Tue 11 Oct

  • HKD 270 – for EY’s birthday
  • HKD 261 – for EY’s birthday
  • (HKD 31) – Breakfast (Chicken chop bun again!)
  • (HKD 110) – Lunch at Xiao Tian Tian for tete-a-tete
  • (HKD 300) – HK Electric

Wed 12 Oct

  • (HKD 18) – Breakfast (chicken chop bun for three days running…)
  • (HKD 18) – Groceries
  • (HKD 27.90) – Toothpaste

Thu 13 Oct

  • (HKD 27.80) – Breakfast (Macdonald’s.  Hey I broke the curse of the chicken chop bun!)
  • (HKD 24) – Lunch
  • (HKD 47) – Dinner with GC
  • (HKD 18) – Water Bills

Fri 14 Oct

  • (HKD 78) – Breakfast for me and the girls in the team
  • (HKD 31.50) – Groceries
  • (HKD 149) – Jeggings from Bershka
  • (HKD 99) – shoes from Groupon
  • (HKD 475.41) – YNAB software
  • (HKD 1330) – telephone bills

Sat 15 Oct

  • (HKD 26) – Lunch
  • (HKD 32.50) – Snacks
  • (HKD 41) – Groceries
  • (HKD 5900) – Rent
  • (HKD 35) – Repair

Sun 16 Oct

  • (HKD 2.30) – Tram ride
  • (HKD 63) – Groceries

Major, major spending this week!

The rent was due this week so that takes out almost 20% of my income.  Next, I’ve had lunches and dinners with my colleagues and friends for some cosy girl-time – and we all know that Fortunecat needs her cosy estrogen gatherings sometimes.

The one thing that I cannot forgive myself is the F***ING CHICKEN CHOP BUNS!!!!  Why oh why are you so darn tasty!  The ciabatta bun, the aromatic chicken chop, the special mayo….  I’m slapping myself after each chicken chop bun.  And it doesn’t help that my 100-calorie oatmeal is looking at me shaking its head every morning while I wolf down down a 500-calorie sin-on-a-bun.

One thing leads to another.  I guess it’s because of the chicken chop bun that I’ve expanded in size.  I used to be a size 26 and now I am a size 28.  Case in point: the jeggings from Bershka.  And, my fellow fashionistas, size 28 in HK language means I am an elephantic size XL.  I think God is doing more than sending me a message.  He’s sending Thor the Thunder God to thunderize my thighs.  One more chicken chop and I get chicken thighs.

The one good thing I have done this week is to finally purchase the YNAB software.  I’m at the point of obsession!  I will do a review on it once I have used it for three months.  Oh, and also I’ve got money back from EY’s birthday since I paid for the bill first.

Peace out yo!

Expenses by the week: 3 – 9 Oct 2011

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“Expenses by the week” is a new column that documents what I am spending for every single day of the week. That means stripping down what I have spent to every single cent, analysing what I have done wrong, and celebrating what I am doing right.

Mon 3 Oct

  • No Spend Day! (a great start to my first spending recap!)

Tue 4 Oct

  • (HKD 5.60) – water
  • (HKD 100) – top up Octopus for trip to Shenzhen

Wed 5 Oct

  • (HKD 110.30) – groceries from the market

Thu 6 Oct

  • (HKD 28) – coffee from Pret A Manger

Fri 7 Oct

  • (HKD 6.90) – a bottle of coke
  • (HKD 32) – a bun for lunch
  • (HKD 47) – dinner with my pal LL. Some girl time together!

Sat – 8 Oct

  • (HKD 57) – Dimsum with my pal LL.
  • (HKD 477) – Dinner and drinks to celebrate my friend KF’s birthday.

Sun 9 Oct

  • (HKD 11) – soon kueh for brunch

TOTAL: (HKD 874.80)

That’s a hell lot of money for a week!!!!!

However half of it goes to celebrating my friend KF’s birthday. It was a great night out, and special days come only once in a year, so what’s not to celebrate??? Fortunecat is frugal but she ain’t no stingy penny-pincher, yo! Moreover, I was responsible by not asking for additional, unnecessary rounds of drinks, so I think I didn’t do too badly on that.

I also spent some money on Friday and Saturday with my pal LL. She needed to talk badly, so we went out for some gal time together on Friday night, then she stayed over, and the next morning she received some really bad news, so we went out for dimsum for lunch. I couldn’t possibly leave the poor girl alone!

The only slip-up I’ve had this week is honestly the coffee from Pret A Manger. I need to break this habit to have expensive coffee!!!

Till the next week,

Fortunecat

Goals before I hit 30

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If you look to your right, you would see an image under “Goals before I hit 30″ – which is 8 months away!

In the next few days I will post about what landed me in debt (that’s quite a story), and what I am doing to get my feet up on emergency savings.

G’nite, y’all.

Career vs Job

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ca·reer/kəˈri(ə)r/

Noun: An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress.

job/jäb/

Noun: A paid position of regular employment.
Verb: Do casual or occasional work.

You might think that the decision is an easy one.  Everyone wants a career – a remarkable one at that – that would look amazing on the resume.  A career is like a trophy that you bring home and show off to your family and friends.  A job is just, well… a job.  You spend time on it, finish your assignment, and scram.

GET READY TO BE SURPRISED!

Most of my family and friends often wonder why I like to bust my ass off.  I’m the kind of girl who’s really expressive, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that when I am loaded with projects, I am ecstatic with joy.  Yeah, sure, I would give that puppy-dog eyes to moan the number of hours I put in, the miles I cover in a month (that includes walking through bloody trade shows!), but the satisfaction that I get is priceless.  I almost feel like for every hour I put into work, the more turbo-boost I am feeding my resume.

SO WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT “JUST A JOB”?

I finally know why – it was like Yoda just told me “Extra income.  Take you should.  Extra time.  Need you do.”.

You see, I have been offered a few jobs in the past few weeks.  That includes 1) a joint partnership in a startup (part-time); 2) a new project in a client’s company (full-time); (3) a new position in my ex-boss’s company (full-time); and (4) a joint partnership in a new project in a new market (full-time).

In my head I already know I am keen on (1) – the new startup.  However, all the stakeholders agree that this should be handled as a sideline, and no one should quit their job for it since it is a new product and we do not know if it can generate enough revenue.  And since that is a sideline, I have to it is preferred that I find a FT job that allows me to have enough time for the sideline.

My current job allows me to have enough time on my hands.  It is boring, uninspiring and unfulfilling – hence I have been on the prowl for a new job since a month ago.  Keeping my current job means that I have more than enough time to develop the sideline.  BUT I FRIGGIN’ WITH A CAPITAL F HATE MY JOB!!!!  The company I work for is a huge MNC, and having them on my resume is a huge plus, but my job is soooooooo boring that half the time I feel like going home by lunchtime.

On the other hand, my ex-boss’s firm is very tempting.  Not only will I get more projects to handle, I get to travel more, and most importantly, I AM BUILDING A CAREER.  The only thing is, there is no time in this job to even take a dump, not to mention a sideline.

What would you do?  Career or job (with a potential career)?