My first job before I truly graduate

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Liyana Hanim 4 Comments

Actually,I have not officially graduated from my uni since my convocation will be in November.Right after I finished sending my thesis for degree,I got call backs from a few jobs ranging from a publishing company,a language center,a teaching job and a certain bank for CSE(customer service executive).

And I decided to choose the one that is near my house (I don't think I can work outside of Shah Alam because I have to be near my family and the person that I love..being miles away from them is just so not happening to me!) and pays the most,regardless whether it is related to what I had studied in Uni,because I thought that I can use my knowledge in the future,since I just want to dip my feet into the working world first.So I took a job that I thought was relatively simple,with a certain bank(company policy so I can't discuss much about it).

I was a bit reluctant to explain to people what I am doing now, initially, because people do have this perception that we are paid peanuts or it is an easy job or it is just a simple thing.Boy were they wrong!Today while me & my workmates attended a talk by Mr.M, it made me proud the fact that the bank choose me out of many applicants,along with my other fellow workmates.He told us that there are people who look down on us,whom he calls 'Musang' just because they hate others being happy and it rang a bell inside of me.

Because I've to admit it was hard to explain to people whom thought that I should not have taken this job since they say that I have bigger potential in life.It's very degrading since I think this job is cool!I get to interact with other people(understanding the myriad of accents of people in this country-like eventhough they're speaking in English or BM,it might not SOUND like it so it is indeed improving my listening skills!!) and I can literally find out what ANYONE who has a credit card with the bank is buying everyday,even celebs..*wink wink*.Just type in a name and bam,I can find out anything I want about their cc.

And to be truthful during this 1 month of training on the various aspects of banking,going back to classes,pages and pages of notes,learning the complicated computer system,it sort of made me afraid whether or not I can do this job.BUT,after a few days of actually answering calls and solving the credit cards problems of various people,it was fun and it gave me an adrenaline rush.

And yeah,we don't just 'answer' calls.We have to use a few system on the computer that are created solely for the purpose of cc and you have to be trained 1 month before you can actually do the job.Thus you have to be able to multi-task while on the job--answering calls,checking their accounts on the pc ,solving their problems and keying them in the system.I learnt a lot of new things like balance transfer,linkage,credit limit,gst,waiver,interests,finance charges,late charges and so many other things and now I have much knowledge on cc management,aside from what I studied in uni which was the English language, which is super cool!

I can actually say honestly that I love my job.It is a bit scary when I have to talk in Malay because my words become all jumbled up,but in time I know I'll get better and better.Besides,you have to start somewhere,even it is small and life is full of opportunities and I know that the world is my oyster.:)