The Missing Pieces

​I am currently in the mood for job hunting. Its quite a routine to visit LinkedIn and Jobstreet almost everyday. While browsing, I always ask myself why are the jobs available does not entice me. I don't know, is it the job or is it me?

It took myself quite some times to think about it. Why couldn't I find a job that spark my interest? I've worked for more than 10 years. I'm now in a middle-management position and yet, finding the right job is too difficult for me. What do I really want in my career life? Do I even want it at all?

You see, those are the questions flying inside and outside my mind. I know those are valid questions. In fact, I've been thinking about it like forever. I have goals and my goals were reviewed annually and sometimes quarterly, based on the current situation.

This 'looking for new job' process made me realize that there's a lot of missing pieces in this journey. I have to set up a different goal and may need few contingency plans to solve the puzzle. 

Here's why:

• The future jobs are shifting to almost everything digital
• Current jobs will mostly be outdated and obsolete
• My academic qualifications are not the same as my current work
• I do not have the right qualifications for the future jobs
• I may not have much experience in niche work, sector or industries
• Due to that, I have lack level of confidence to try working with the giants or applying for higher position
• I need to also consider freelancing or acquiring professional skill as part of income generation, especially when am getting older

Wow, that's A LOT. Now I know why I can't get what I want. But wait, what do I really want, again? 

Perhaps, I'll list it here for my own reference:

WRITING

I always love writing. I used to dream to become a columnist in the newspaper and magazine. Write about things. I even wrote a novel but it stopped half way due to writers block; which seems like forever. 

I wanna publish a book. Or two. Or maybe more. I write blog. But the last post was last year, during our first MCO. That's how bad I am in pursuing my dream. I wonder how will this attitude lead me to become a writer. Sometimes, when I am motivated, I joined writing classes. I didn't write. I just listen. Sometimes, I only attended few classes and I still didn't write. It's obviously a half-cooked motivation. I used to share lotsa thoughts in my Facebook but since people nowadays like to screenshot every single thing they read and twist it, I stop sharing. I only share about foods and movies now.

I know for sure that I am not giving myself justice. I failed me.

Too bad. I saw a lot of writing jobs that allow you to work from home or anywhere you want. Some even give you the opportunity to travel or even eat (I love food!. Cholesterol is laughing at me now. Shut up!)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

I also like to work on things related to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. I discovered this area when I started my job at SME Corp. Malaysia and spent my entire career life within this subject matter. My first 9 years was to take care of the SMEs. I practiced my customer service skill from my previous work in Astro; managing the front line, engaging with SMEs from all over Malaysia. My advisory service skilled developed when I was selected to undergo a training for Business Advisor. Learnt from the best sensei from Japan, I managed to equip myself with the right knowledge and skill to face the SMEs. A very good exposure I must say. I'm thankful to be part of the few.  

The passion didn't stop there. I accepted an offer at Agrobank to serve under the newly established Business Advisory Unit as a support role to our business team. Here, I spent 2 years dealing with mostly micro sized enterprises in agri sector. It was my pleasure to not only manage outreach programmes for the agropreneurs but to also provide training and advisory. Best part is, I can see their honesty and determination to learn especially those from rural area. They were hungry for knowledge, and I'm always with my plate full of things to share. 

Now, in my current post, I'm still looking into initiatives for agriculture especially to develop entrepreneurs within the ecosystem. Some technology implementation won't hurt. In fact, it is the way forward in ensuring our products are in great quality and sufficient quantity to serve the nation.

I love doing this. I am proud to see businesses growing. The hard work, the skills, the strength- those are some sort of motivation for me. I know I want to do something about it. I want to pursue my career and become a subject matter expert in this area. I want to be able to become the advisor, coach or maybe a trainer for the business.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Business development, stakeholder management, parts of Project management...those are the things I've learnt in my entire career journey. I must say, experiences contributed a lot to this skills. You know people through your years of network. You keep the circle and you leverage it when you need them. To do that, communication and negotiation skills plays a big role. You need to be able to wear different hats when talking to different types of group. You must be able to control your body language and tone of your voice. Make sure to choose the right words when saying no or to disagree with something.  You can surely get all of this through a lot of practices. I failed a lot especially at my younger age. It's not easy to control your mood and tone especially when you tend to disagree with some decision. I am expressive. My face will easily turned red when I am angry. People saw that and told me. So what I did? I learn to control it, one way is to always put a smile and yes, use the right word to express it. 

With those learnt skills, of course I am interested in engaging with people. I can't be sitting behind the desk to do routine work. I must slot some engagement activities or meeting in my weekly calendar to listen to new proposal from the potential collaborators or even businesses. I kinda missing those days when I was tasked to attend seminars, workshop or even training abroad. I met a lot of great people from other countries. We had same spirit and passion towards SMEs and developing them for the benefit of our own country. Sharing thought and ideas run in my blood, I guess. It can relate with my interest to write. I mean, I won't write if I don't like sharing. It's surely related. 

FREELANCING

I'm sure most of us would love being a freelancer, at your own sweet time and place, managing (or chasing) the deadlines. This is a perfect plan for an early retirement. The opportunities are wide, you can take any job related to your experience, talent, qualification, skill and passion. Gig work is the current trend in this Gig Economy. It's not wrong to be unemployed but still generating income. It is part of the future and making more sense in this pandemic (soon to be endemic) situation. The sector is booming, you can see it through a lot of platforms developed with a lot of jobs offered. You'll be surprised to see some of the available jobs that's quite alien to you but were enjoyed by other human in this planet. I once saw a job that require you to translate Netflix movies, a voice over job online and an online interior designer. There's other weird job over the net like Line Waiter, Office Happines Consultant and Professional Sleepers (for research). I mean hey, people were getting income for that. What stopping you?

The Conclusion

Now I can see the missing pieces here. It's not that I am not doing what I love, it's that I am not doing it enough. I need more skill to polish the talent buried inside me. I need to read more to learn more. I may need the right qualification or certification to be able to gain trust when sharing all the thoughts, ideas and experiences. I may need to develop more skills to able able to cope with the future technology so that I can also use this to give awareness and educate our small businesses to be in line with whatever latest technology the world can have. 

The next steps shall determine what I wanna be or where I want to take myself. I'm not gonna rush but at the same time, I can't delay it. I mean, if I need a better education or Professional Certificate to keep me relevant in the market, then that's what I should be looking for. Capacity building is a must. Skills are to be polished. Profile need to be improved. Time need to be properly managed. Plan need to be implemented. Of course, doa and tawakkal for our rizqy are all from Allah. We plan but Allah is the best planner.

Okay, am signing off to find my missing pieces. No, actually I found it. So, now let me try to patch it accordingly. May Allah ease.

...Nkay

Que Sera Sera