coolohoh | Happy Holidays!

Happy holiday peeps!

Going away on holiday from 21st to 26th Dec!

Family outing to genting and malacca…! Hmm if i aint too lazy i'll update with some photos when I'm back :P

In other news… i think I'm pretty much set to become a financial services consultant… in AIA. Registered for the first of 4 license test already. Gonna have a lot of memorising to do after I'm back from the holidays…

I've no idea how i'll do in this field… i guess finding clients will be a trouble for me, at least at the start. I don't have a huge network of friends to rely on and all… and i'll have to plunk up my courage to go talk to ppl. I guess i don't have a problem with it once i get started… i can chat on and on, esp since its not like i don't have a topic to talk about… I'll be trying to explain to them and sell them the policies and stuff.

Of cos I'm worried about how I'd do. Can i make enough sales? The $$$ is very very attractive though. It seems all too easy to earn big bucks as long as you can find the clients. Of course, that's the catch. Finding the clients. Assuming that i do get off to a decent/good start though… I'd soon be earning more money than i can get in doing science… and if i even do decently, like say… top 1000 consultants out of like the 3600 in the company, their average annual income is like more than what research scientist would earn. i.e. scientists with a phD. And no i don't have a phD…

Yes… the money is very very attractive. Extremely.

Will i enjoy it? I don't know. I can't say till i've tried can i? But i guess i won't hate it. Meeting people… yeah I'm always apprehensive about meeting people, but in a way its something that I'd like to try and overcome. Speaking and explaining to people… actually i don't have a problem with that. I was the weiqi captain and teaching people was something i did all the time after all. Plus with this job its not like you'll be presenting to a huge class of ppl, and judged based on your language skills… it'll very likely be a 1 to 1 thing, and use of 'singlish' or mandarin might even be appreciated by the client. Perfect English will get you no where if the client doesn’t understand it...

The job flexibility is definitely something that I'm gonna love. I mean like… yeah 1st year there'll be training and stuff… but if i can get past that… there's no fix working time. You only report once a week for meetings, the rest of the time… its up to you to manage when you meet with which client etc…

In research on the other hand, its completely different. You life is dictated by your experiments. You dictate your experiments, and in turn it dictates you. Yes, i do like it that way too. I'm a science person and i do love research, i'll definitely miss it when i step into this completely different field. But yes, this will be a completely different lifestyle from research. Yeah i guess clients will have requests on when they wish to see you, like there'll be times they are free and times they aren't, but you are still quite in charge of your own time isn't it? In science, you pick when to start your experiments. And that's about it… the rest all depends on the experiments. If it lasts 8 days and you have to check on it everyday, on matter which day you start your saturday and Sunday at least for that week is gone (happened a lot during my interns at IBN, though i was an intern and my mentor was the one who had to go back on sat and sun). Or if your experiments takes like 10 or 12 hours… you start in the morning and end late at night… which happens a lot and very often. For someone who likes doing experiments like me, it’s a joy. Even being in the lab itself is a thrill to me… well… at least when I'm allowed to do my own experiments. I've sent out job applications for stuff like microbe testing and all those routine work (actually they were only looking for diploma holders:X, they've not gotten back to me tho)… yeah sure it'll be doing science, but not the science i want. Yeah i'll be in the lab, but i don't think i'll be happy either. Heck no, in fact i think i'll get bored pretty soon, doing the same stuff over and over.

And corporate/office jobs… well i interned at the accounts dept of a hospital once (was looking for medical/science related interns but those were all filled already), and i was bored to death staring at numbers. Like literally! I gave up and wrote to request for an internship at IBN (research institute) again after a mere 1 week.

Will i be bored to death with this FSC aka insurance selling job? I sure hope not… at least i think it won't be as boring since i'll be able to meet ppl, go out a lot… at least I'm not gonna be stuck in an office all day long. Heck and yes, as much as i hate to think of it that way… I'm a materialistic kid. Or at least, i've got needs. Apart from the space crunch on my iPhone, the home button is functioning less and less, and even the on/off button is not responding well. The thing is pretty laggy - memory kinda full + old and slower processor. And i think the earphone jack isn't working very well - thinking it’s a problem on the phone side since the earphones work alright on my lappy. And then i dream of alienware computers for playing my games, and maybe a new macbook with more ram so my comp doesn’t hang for like 5 minutes when i start to play videos (and of cos, more storage space). And new earphones! My sis's earphones spoiled and she ask her friends if they have any spare/old ones to lend/give her… and a particularly rich friend passed her a jays earphones saying they don't fit well… like a jays! That super expensive thing that i've been eyeing for ages! That and klipsch of course… they're like over a hundred bucks sgd a piece! Ok the basic ones are cheaper, but that's like still around 70 SGD for the cheapest model! Yes its like way more expensive in SG compared to in US… My sis love listening to music with strong base and i was thinking of getting that for her once i get erm… work and a salary…. yes jays for her and kilpsch for myself… and of course… i'll finally be able to support arashi instead of always going 'ahhhh i want to buy the concert dvd but… *looks at bank account* i guess i just dl it…' its not that I'm a cheapskate or that i like piracy, its really the $$$ issue (but of course, i don't think i'll be that crazy to buy the RE and LE of every single release, I'm not THAT hardcore and all… plus you know, space constrains and I'm sure my parents will freak out if i do that)

Opps I'm going off track again...

but yes…. $.$

I guess i'll never know till i try… but i really hope i can do this well. WIth this job i'll be able to have enough time to read all about those trendy gadgets i've been reading about during my very extended 'holidays'… AND be able to afford them. Like seriously… now i know why it is those ppl who aint that good at studies and end up doing sales that make BIG money.

Sure money is not everything. I don't know yet how badly I'd miss science… I guess at least i'll still have time to read all my science related non-fiction… but yeah. so far no luck with the research related position, and I'm not too hopeful with my less than stella results… so if I'm not going to get my first choice of jobs, i might as well do something that can possible pay extremely well. I'll have sales targets to meet to get my basic pay (otherwise, no basic pay at all, just commission based), and if i meet that target (and they all make it sound like its really easy to do so), I'd be making more then what *most* of those job applications i sent out pays already… ridiculous huh? Like 800 bucks a month more than what I'd earn if i get that microbe testing job. Of course the thing is there's always the damage of me not meeting the sales target, and then it an average monthly income so i'll start off with less pay then earn more later (to meet the sale target, i sure hope i can meet it!)…

Loads of perks for those achievers though. Company conventions several times a year to different places… its like if you earn about XXX amount you get to go to XXX place… like hell ya good life.

Yes… its like… its hard not to get drawn to the job. And i hope i can make a good living out of it. And i think i can too… you have ppl from ITE coming into this job (much lower education qualifications), and I'm sure there are many before me with lower education qualifications who succeed and do really really well. I think its also a lot of a confidence thing at play here… like your people skills and presentation skills. So yeah… I'm telling myself - if those ppl can do it, you sure can do it too!

Okays… i better get to sleep now :X 4am already opps :P