Mad World

Imagine that you are being gravitated toward a black hole gobbling everything that travels in its way. And well this is the feeling of a person who is involuntarily lost a job possibly has. You are slowly breaking down and being torn apart day by day as long as you have not found a job or any other activities that can greatly console yourself.  You feel that you are useless and unproductive. As time goes by you feel stressed and get mad easily, and even become awfully desperate in life. You have very least idea to describe about yourself in a positive way when you look at other people who has a full-time to job to do. And you look back at yourself and said “This is me, a poor one. I am worth less than a penny”. You become more pessimistic, and wish for something to happen so that you could escape from this terrible time. 

Why jobs are so important to you? Actually, it is really important to you because a job is a vital part of your life. You gain respect. You are honored. And You feel your existence. These are what you get from your job though it does not always sound so positive like this, but at least you always expect to reach all of them. Jobs define who you are. And if you live in a society that values more in conformity, it is even harder for you to escape the consequences from embarrassment for living without a proper job. You have to confront with people who might easily get you upset when you don't have any particular things to do, but walk around and catch the air. Clearly, most societies in the world value conformity and people have to follow one another. A standard which is valued much on success is set for everyone, so if you fail to reach the standard, you will be desperate unless you decide to find a different type of philosophy for living. 

Well, I was one of this people. I lost a job three months ago when the company went bankrupt. In July 2012, I resigned from a job at microfinance to work for a German online company which invested in online business in Asia. Over there I was hired to lead a content production team. My team and I worked really hard, but after less than two months the investors realized that Cambodia and other small-market nations—Myanmar and Bangladesh were not ready for this kind of business, thus they resolved to close the company. 

It was a shocking news, and at that moment I felt like, “Oh my god, I was doomed”. However, I expected that I was going to find a new job very soon, not longer than two months. Because when I first graduated in 2010, I could get a job within a month when I had so less network. Now, I had a broader network, so things would be easier.

You know I remembered when I woke up the second day after losing the job, I rushed to check the time in my cell phone, and said to myself, “Oh, I was late to work!” A second later, I realized that I did not have the job anymore. I murmured desperately, “What should I do today? Where should I go?”

A week after losing the job, I started applying for jobs in different types of positions. I applied for over 60 places within three months, from a highly responsible position to an easier one. Out of 60 applications, I was contacted to interview only 5 places, which all of the 3 applications were selected by foreigners. I got offered 4 positions of out 5. Two of them was related much in direct sale which I reacted, “Sale?, Urgh”. I was very disappointed when the reality was different from what they stated in the job requirements they advertised. Some friends asked me, “Why don’t you work there temporarily?” I replied, “I dislike it. Even if I got offered a low paid job with something that is not related to sale, I would accept it,” Sometimes I even wanted to say, “I have enough money not to work in this kind of bullshit job. You know working in this field in a country like Cambodia, you will be humiliated every single day, so the amount of money you earn can’t pay for depression medicine.”

It is interesting to note that all of the applications that I tried to polish thoroughly were not considered even for a basic position. In contrast, applications which were not well prepared, I mean without cover letters, were selected and those employers who considered me were all foreigners. This led me to have an assumption that many Khmer-own companies selected candidates from their networks or they promoted the internal staff, so my applications were thrown into trash bins.

I had tried actively to get a good position, but two months later I had not been offered a decent job. Days became gloomier and gloomier to me. I became paralyzed. I started to ask myself, “What should I do next in my life? Poor guy, you lost now. Don’t expect much from everything around you— honor, pride, and fame might only exist in your dream. You should start to plan a new direction in life,”

During this period, I became a grumpy guy, easily upset and mad. I saw everything in a vague, unpleasant and dark color. I became reclusive. I did not want to do anything even my part time job. I did not clean my room. I drank sometimes... I was really spoiled.  I almost kicked everything that annoyed me out of the way. Honestly, I upset a few close people around me. They had been very helpful and good to me, but I just looked at things as they were all non-sense. Despite I had this negative feeling, I constantly told myself, “There’s got to be more to life,” It did help console me for a short period of time. 

But madness did not help anything. It only sucked your life more than the real situation of losing a job. I started to look at a new direction of life that would help me out of this mess. 

However, thank God, everything has been positively changed when I am writing this paragraph. I got a very good job offer and started working last week. I love it and the students. The first week was awesome. My life has been renewed, and it is very bright and colorful. And most importantly, I am working in building perfect attitude. It will give me more than I expect.

A key trick for everyone who is looking for a job should know is that approximately more than 70 percent of candidates are selected through network. Most of companies might promote their internal staff or select the supposed-to-be-good candidates recommended by the network. If you are having a good job at the moment, please be happy because you are the lucky one. Many university students have turned their future into family business with the help of their spouse or parents as they experienced a rough time in finding a job or some of them are not confident enough to work in private sector. So remember that besides having a solid competency, you have to build a strong network once you start working in a company or organization. It helps you a lot in a rough time.