When I finished my secondary school, I have no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was happy to just live a normal life as it was. I started to work as a production worker in a Japanese factory because I have no intention of pursuing my studies in the next level. My life-changing story started after working for 3-months in the factory, I feel I wanted to try to work in the office. I was observing the office team. They looked neat in their uniform and the production line workers were very fearful of them. Whenever this Office team was out checking the production line, all workers would be shivering of fear. I always thought that's so cool. This office team was called the Quality Assurance team. It was headed by a fierce looking Japanese guy. Living in a village, I have never seen a Japanese in real life before. Let alone talking to one, this will be the first ever experience of my life.
The opportunity knocked when I saw the advertisement published in the notice board requesting for a QA assistant. There was only 1 vacancy so I decided to apply. My friends in the production line were laughing at me. They said, "You really have some guts but we don't think so you can make it, look at your competitors, they are all Senior people that worked as Supervisors that have worked for years here, while you are only a production operator and just joined this factory." I was disheartened by some discouragement words received from my friends, but nevertheless, I was still stubborn to pursue this job. On the day of the interview, I got more discouraged. The production line was very huge, there could easily be around 1,000 people working in one shift. We worked in 3 shifts. Some people laughed at me because it is impossible that I can beat all those experienced Supervisors that have worked for years as compared to a fresh school leaver without experience like me. But as stubborn as I can be, I couldn't stop myself, I decided to go for the interview.
When I arrived at the office, there were 12 applicants already there waiting for their interview turn. They were all Supervisors as I was told. I was the last one to arrive, so I just stood there as there were no chairs to sit. It was such an embarrassing moment as they were having fun making a mockery out of me, teasing and laughing at me. All of them went in one by one, I was the last one. As I entered the room, the fierce Japanese Supervisor and HR Manager were rather surprised to see me. Of course right, seeing a young girl who was wearing a uniform of a production operator. It was so difficult for me to speak English. I had never spoken the language except when my English teacher asked me to answer her questions or to read out loud in class otherwise I only converse in Malay. I was acting confident and when I got lost for some English words, I just told them honestly, I was not used to speaking this language. My secondary school results certificate did support me as I had good results. They (My interviewers) said that they believed I can improve as I can understand the language well just not used to speaking them. They did not bother to ask about my experience or technical knowledge which were essential to this position. Surprisingly, my interviewers were fond of me and I got the job :D.
That same day I was given a new Uniform and was told to start in my new office the next day. Can you believe it? I can't either that time. I was expecting to be turned down and would accept it as my experience but instead, I got the job. My first ever office job. When I returned to my production line, my Line Supervisor was already told about my transfer. He congratulated me and announced it to everyone. Everyone was so surprised, the crowd that was laughing at me went silent. Some of my friends ran over and hug me to congrats me. I was just smiling at them... in my heart, I believe that it is very important to have the courage to follow my heart intuition because they somehow know what I truly want to become.
That's all for now, hope you like my story of how I ended with my first ever office job.
Wishing you a pleasant day!
Take care and Stay Blessed!
Yours truly,