@ j0b reVieW

It was hard getting a job as an NSF. Perm part time jobs need CPF contributions. Temp jobs require time commitment. I can offer none. Even Recruit Express rejected me, for being NSF.

With some luck I came across Oxford Certified Tutors. They offer me a work as a tuition agent, or coordinator to some. Basically I work like a self employed. Giving out flyers and source for records in my own time. However some cock up caused the flyers to delay, till it was almost sch holidays. That means the post exam tuition frenzy would have been snapped up. I tried slotting flyers into letter boxes, but this would not directly capture the market and response is poor.

I can't just sit around and do nothing and let $ flow out of pockets all the time. But then a trip in mid June and signing up for orientation camps came in my way now. I can't commit to a job for 1 month with such schedue. So my best chances lies with the World Book Fair, International Food Fair and PC Fair to be held in June.

Sadly, all this 3 fairs happened to cluster at the same time. With Book Fair held in Suntec Convention Hall and the other 2 fairs at EXPO. I 1st came across a lobang for book fair. I was lucky to grab it at an instant, without much thinking. Little would I know that the book fair would spans over 10 days, whereas the other 2 fairs were only 3-4 days.

I din know the work was going to be so fun. The job was found by my sis. We went for the interview, but only I got thru. The company was a math tuition center. The director wrote some maths manuals and was selling it at the book fair. I was hired as a promoter. We were given training but they were useless. Instead of training us sales, the perm staffs there trained us math... They seems to think that more knowledge in maths = more sales.

I still remember the last training I had. It was Yao Hui's Birthday then. I went for celebrations at Bang Zhi's house after training. We drank chivas and bombay sapphire that nite. We also watched Liverpool's great come back against AC Milan and won their 5th ECC. Basically, I din sleep that nite. Next morning, I just went off to Kembangan and report for work. It was a busy day. 1st I packed the books, then loaded the goods on lorry, unloaded the goods at expo and lastly set up the booth. All these done with 1 other guy. I nearly fell asleep at work, if not for frequent talking with that guy.

2 days of setting up the booth. I noticed it was my strength to do constructions and hands on work. Need labour next time, do call me. However, I really need to improve on selling skills. I'm not a good salesman. I can talk alot to customers, but my words dun seems to catch, or they simply can't understand me...... Sometimes I had to engage help to close deals.

During this 10 days, I got my pink IC. I saw Lee Kuan Yew walking past 10 feets b4 me, served a father who thought his pr 3 boy sec 3 physic laws, met pr sch kids who can solve tough JC qn, witnessed several unethical sales techniques, knew a middle aged couple working hand in hand to outplay the system & maximise commissions, spoke to teachers & principals of schools local & foreign, seen cutting edge technology for teaching kids and many more. I also signed up for12 months of National Geographic. It was an enriching work experience indeed. Monetary wise, I hit the set quota of average 1 sales/hr, hence qualified for a pay scheme of $8/hr. If my estimations are correct, I should recieve ~ $500 for the 8 days I worked.

I must say the best part of this work was getting to know some new friends. Some were my sis's classmates. 1 gal was in my 1st 3 month class b4. Many are current students of NUS, NTU & SMU. A few will join me this year. I'm glad the work environment was real friendly. There was little competition, and more co-operations. We all cheated the system by handing excess sales to collegues so more of us can hit quota and get $8/hr. Some of them prepared me for orientation nonsences. Best of all, we even go for buffet dinner and bbq after the 10 days work. Amazing group of collegues.