ShareThisToday we are privileged to read a guest post from Elisha Tan. I met Elisha at an NUS event and was immediately inspired by her entrepreneurial aspirations. She’s taken an unconventional option most job-seekers wouldn’t have the courage to take. Here’s her story.
I’ve recently graduated from a reputable local university with a Psychology major but unlike many other recent graduates of my batch who have move on in life to find good paying jobs (and many have found them), I’m taking a step back…and offering to do free work.
You see, despite my academic background, I am immensely interested in using my Psychology knowledge in the field of Marketing and Public Relations using social media, before leaving the workforce and trying my hands on entrepreneurship. However, after the low response of interview opportunities and going through unsuccessfully to those interviews, I realized that I’m inadequately equipped with the necessary know-how in getting employed for such jobs.
I do receive many calls for interview with financial agencies but I know exactly the type of job I want and I am unwilling to settle for anything else. So other than finding a proper job or continuing with the academia pursuit, I decide to offer myself up for apprenticeship for social media and to be willing to accept no pay for my work. I hope to spend some time in building up more hands-on experiences before moving on to either work in a big firm doing social media or get out for my own business.
Honestly, it feels a little sour not to be able to get into the ideal of working in a job I love that pays well and to learn as much as I can on the job before setting off to start my own business. Well, life is not a bed of roses. But I think that this may be the best for me right now; to do what I love, to learn loads but not earn (or earn much), rather than settle for a decent income while dreading to wake up every single weekday.
This option most definitely comes with its set of consequences of which the most glaring problem is that lack of monetary income. A graduate like me should earn at the very least $2,000 per month excluding CPF. As such, I wouldn’t recommend this option to anyone without ample savings or have loans to pay.
The next problem requires your discerning skills to sieve out which offers are good. Let’s face it, all Singaporean likes freebies, free labour included. It is very important for anyone who wants to consider this option to sit down and really set mutually-beneficial expectations with prospective companies regarding your stint. Make sure your time and opportunity cost is worth the effort.
I’ve been very fortunate to be offered opportunities from promoting myself through social media tools and I’ve decided on ‘working’ with Adonai Training as a social media marketing executive. Although I am working with no fix pay, I am learning and practicing social media marketing which gives me great satisfaction. By a twist of fate, my working relationship with the company has also blossomed into talks of the prospect of holding some shares in a new company to be set up by Adonai Training’s holding company.
The option of taking a step back is indeed a risky one. Not knowing what you can really gain out of it but knowing at all times what you are ‘losing out’ can be stressful and daunting. But if you ask me, I don’t regret taking this option.
A psychology and social media practitioner, Elisha Tan devotes her time to study the applications of social media and its impact on the social, economy and business arenas. As the Marketing Executive of Adonai Training’s online marketing, Elisha has been engaging social media as a marketing strategy to market events and customers’ marketing activities. As a hobby, Elisha maintains a blog where she pens down her thoughts and experiences on entrepreneurship and social media. Follow her on Twitter at @elishatan or link up with her professionally on LinkedIn.
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