Ripped from my Chrysalis
The long hibernation is drawing to a close.
After seven long, unfulfilling years as first mate, I'm stepping down, quitting the ship that I helped build. Nary a tear in the office as I depart, but sometimes gratitude - however fleeting the sentiment - is too much to expect. No matter. Media degree in hand, I'm stepping out, raw pink, into the job market to offer myself up to the encircling sharks of this, my adopted land.
Writing my CV now - but how does one enscapsulate seven years? Not the slightest bit of media experience which a prospective employer might be interested, but goddamn if I haven't done everything else. It's almost hard to remember it all. Just think of every job that can be done in a trading company, and you'd have my unwritten-CV in a nutshell.
Office boy? Check. Did accounts for two years. Management? Check, ran the business alone on several occasions, and this year I finally achieved my dream of running a stall at GITEX solo. (Which based on my comprehensive reports, turned into a bit of a nightmare but oh well..)
Ran techical support throughout - I can safely say I'm one of the best troubleshooters in Dubai, and peerless when it comes to fixing older systems (which is oh-so-useful these days, one supposes).
Ability to work under pressure? We used to build a hundred systems in Jebel Ali for shipment the next day. Doesn't seem impressive? Let me make that live for you. The previous evening, my team would ship in all the raw components, and arrange them under my assembly line procedures, designating each builder an area of responsibility. The next day, we worked from dawn till dusk, hammering and screwing together computers till our fingers bled (not an exaggeration). But that wasn't the end of it - all the PCs had to be packed, sealed, marked and transported to the warehouse. Which for the two people was often quite the job. And of course, the next day, we had to haul the stuff out of the warehouse and into the hot sweaty container - along with ooh, the six hundred or so other boxes which made up a typical shipment.
All this is in addition to finding the time to go to Melbourne and finishing my degree in Media and Communications.
But how much is relevant to the PR/Advertising/Marketing/Car Magazine that I'd like to join? Precious little, one suspects. They want people who've been in the industry and understand the way that it works, not somebody coming from a totally different background with utterly no experience.
It's a hurdle I have no choice but to overcome.
After seven long, unfulfilling years as first mate, I'm stepping down, quitting the ship that I helped build. Nary a tear in the office as I depart, but sometimes gratitude - however fleeting the sentiment - is too much to expect. No matter. Media degree in hand, I'm stepping out, raw pink, into the job market to offer myself up to the encircling sharks of this, my adopted land.
Writing my CV now - but how does one enscapsulate seven years? Not the slightest bit of media experience which a prospective employer might be interested, but goddamn if I haven't done everything else. It's almost hard to remember it all. Just think of every job that can be done in a trading company, and you'd have my unwritten-CV in a nutshell.
Office boy? Check. Did accounts for two years. Management? Check, ran the business alone on several occasions, and this year I finally achieved my dream of running a stall at GITEX solo. (Which based on my comprehensive reports, turned into a bit of a nightmare but oh well..)
Ran techical support throughout - I can safely say I'm one of the best troubleshooters in Dubai, and peerless when it comes to fixing older systems (which is oh-so-useful these days, one supposes).
Ability to work under pressure? We used to build a hundred systems in Jebel Ali for shipment the next day. Doesn't seem impressive? Let me make that live for you. The previous evening, my team would ship in all the raw components, and arrange them under my assembly line procedures, designating each builder an area of responsibility. The next day, we worked from dawn till dusk, hammering and screwing together computers till our fingers bled (not an exaggeration). But that wasn't the end of it - all the PCs had to be packed, sealed, marked and transported to the warehouse. Which for the two people was often quite the job. And of course, the next day, we had to haul the stuff out of the warehouse and into the hot sweaty container - along with ooh, the six hundred or so other boxes which made up a typical shipment.
All this is in addition to finding the time to go to Melbourne and finishing my degree in Media and Communications.
But how much is relevant to the PR/Advertising/Marketing/Car Magazine that I'd like to join? Precious little, one suspects. They want people who've been in the industry and understand the way that it works, not somebody coming from a totally different background with utterly no experience.
It's a hurdle I have no choice but to overcome.
posted by marwan | 2:27 AM
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