Run Of The Mill (Part 4)
Freshly recharged from his trip to New Zealand, Niv set out aggressively hunting for a job. He applied to every single government agency and statutory board. He applied to all the big companies. He even sent in applications to the smaller companies. However, it seemed that nobody wanted to give him a chance.
Sure, he got a few interviews. Companies were offering salaries as low as $1900 for an Engineer?! This was ridiculous. No way was he going to let himself be treated like an experienced Diploma holder and be undercut by the needs of such companies. Some others, especially the bigger companies, questioned him and asked him why he had not graduated with Honors. Those interviews always ended with the employers making it seemed as if Niv had wasted their time. ARGGG! What is going on? What is Singapore's continuous obsession with Honors?! To add insult to injury, not a single Government agency nor Statutory board called to offer him an interview.
With things looking really bleak, along came one of the insurance agency. Time and again Niv had told himself that he will not go into insurance. The job is not well respected and you lose all your friends. However, his greed took over when shown the possible amounts available for earnings if one was willing to put in the effort. After agreeing to join, he was sent for training where he learnt the basics of insurance and how to protect the interest of the clients. Along with 5 other new colleagues, they spent some 2 weeks learning the business. During this time, he was good friends with one of the other new colleague, Snowy.
When he completed the training, he thought of all the possibilities, Alas, it was not to be. The hours were long and the pay was not really very attractive. In fact, there was no pay, it was purely commission based. He tried but he just could never make the breakthrough. Initially, he was approaching people with wild abandon. However, as time passed, he became more and more dejected. It could be his lack of courage in approaching the people on the streets. His fear of rejection. He had a hard time getting his career to work out for him.
Around the same time, he started to be friends with another colleague, Heng. Heng had been in the line about 6 months prior and happened to be his senior at the university as well. He had not met Heng while she was at the university but they hit it off after the initial hiccups. They both were under the same manager and after some time, even the assistants in the agency though they were a couple. To everybody, their impression was that Heng approached Niv first, while Niv was the one who took little steps. Niv really did like Heng but things just did not work out for them and they never spoke to each other for a very long time.
With his career in the pits and his savings all but dried up, Niv decided to leave the insurance field. He is not able to survive based on just passive income. He had to get some real income and fast. The CPF Board had just sent notice to him to start repayment of his polytechnic and university studies. Also, the university had sent him a letter to inform him of the beginning of the repayment for his PC loan taken in his freshman year. So much repayment, so little cash.
Sure, he got a few interviews. Companies were offering salaries as low as $1900 for an Engineer?! This was ridiculous. No way was he going to let himself be treated like an experienced Diploma holder and be undercut by the needs of such companies. Some others, especially the bigger companies, questioned him and asked him why he had not graduated with Honors. Those interviews always ended with the employers making it seemed as if Niv had wasted their time. ARGGG! What is going on? What is Singapore's continuous obsession with Honors?! To add insult to injury, not a single Government agency nor Statutory board called to offer him an interview.
With things looking really bleak, along came one of the insurance agency. Time and again Niv had told himself that he will not go into insurance. The job is not well respected and you lose all your friends. However, his greed took over when shown the possible amounts available for earnings if one was willing to put in the effort. After agreeing to join, he was sent for training where he learnt the basics of insurance and how to protect the interest of the clients. Along with 5 other new colleagues, they spent some 2 weeks learning the business. During this time, he was good friends with one of the other new colleague, Snowy.
When he completed the training, he thought of all the possibilities, Alas, it was not to be. The hours were long and the pay was not really very attractive. In fact, there was no pay, it was purely commission based. He tried but he just could never make the breakthrough. Initially, he was approaching people with wild abandon. However, as time passed, he became more and more dejected. It could be his lack of courage in approaching the people on the streets. His fear of rejection. He had a hard time getting his career to work out for him.
Around the same time, he started to be friends with another colleague, Heng. Heng had been in the line about 6 months prior and happened to be his senior at the university as well. He had not met Heng while she was at the university but they hit it off after the initial hiccups. They both were under the same manager and after some time, even the assistants in the agency though they were a couple. To everybody, their impression was that Heng approached Niv first, while Niv was the one who took little steps. Niv really did like Heng but things just did not work out for them and they never spoke to each other for a very long time.
With his career in the pits and his savings all but dried up, Niv decided to leave the insurance field. He is not able to survive based on just passive income. He had to get some real income and fast. The CPF Board had just sent notice to him to start repayment of his polytechnic and university studies. Also, the university had sent him a letter to inform him of the beginning of the repayment for his PC loan taken in his freshman year. So much repayment, so little cash.
posted by Prosage at 12:28 pm
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