Knowing the Right People

I am also not ashamed to say that I did seek ed for officialdom’s help in my search for a job. But, I was given the run around and felt that I was treated more as a statistic than an actual person.

Nevertheless, I did not give up hope and  continued to seek for answers. 

I did my own research online and  stumbled upon some websites that led me to  meet a few  enlightened and perceptive people.

It was definitely a morale booster during a particularly tough period.

Transitioning.Org http://www.transitioning.org

I chanced upon Transitioning.Org -  a non-profit organisation that provides emotional support to the unemployed in Singapore. It is staffed by  volunteers  providing career coaching and counseling support.

The non-profit organisation is founded by an admirable man, Gilbert Goh, who is also President of the organization.

Though we only communicated via email, his pep talk along with his articles found in  his website  allowed me to see that my flaws are not mine but are from the pre-conceived notions of judgmental people and organisations.

He read through my emails and helped  me to understand where I was going wrong. 

He also  directed me to one of his volunteer career coaches, Ms Helen Lim – a dynamic lady to say the least.

Silver Spring http://www.silverspring.com.sg

I went to meet  Helen  not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of the meeting.

Helen  is a very perceptive lady. She is the managing director of Silver Spring and has over 40 years’ experience  as a human resource practitioner.

Silver Spring is a social enterprise which aims to provide a platform for people seeking to find change in their careers, regardless of age.

In the few hours that we talked, she was able to understand my needs, saw my strengths and have a general idea of what kind of  job would suit me best.

She advised me on the changes I need to make on my resume to better reflect my strengths and career goals.

It is quite unfortunate, though that people-minded career coaches like Ms Helen Lim, are not the norm.

We need more human resource people like her – those that understand people and try to help them reach out to their goals.

Association of Comic Artists Singapore (ACAS) http://www.acas.org.sg

The next person I met is Mr Amane Chu - the Assistant Secretary and Founding Member of ACAS.

The association was formed by a group of professional, semi professional and amateur comic book enthusiasts.

They  focused on publishing works by their members/ associates and are also open to collaborating with anyone round the world. They also conduct comic art and writing classes.

I came to know about them while I was looking to relearn  drawing. But what struck me  most was Amane’s honest answers.

And it allowed me to become  more aware of my own weaknesses and fine-tune my plans.

I think the   email below from Amane (A)  sums up what I am trying to say best:

Me: Is it really possible for someone like me to attain enough skills to be a graphic novelist?

A: In reality you may say so, but in ‘willinglity’,  90% of  it depends on your will strength. We are born with 10% gift  at most and 90% of the rest is through  hardwork – at least if we want to be successful.

Me: I must say, it was a huge knock on my confidence, when none of the recruiters from the animation or design school was interested to answer my queries fully. It could be due to my age, as I noticed they were more happy to answer queries from the younger people.

A: We will be frank about this, my President, Mr Hinds, he is from England, he told me that animation industry is quite particular about entry age. This is quite true.  I’ve a young friend of about 25-27, just graduated from a local animation school, he is still having problem finding a job in the animation industry.

Me: Anyways, just to keep you updated.  I had an accident which severed the ligaments of my right thumb years ago; even after surgery it was not 100% as it used to be and I had stroke about 3 years ago which wiped out a good portion of my memory.

A: Wow, you must have struggled through a tough tough time. Anyway, doesn’t matter whether it is 100% recovery, you can treat it a young child’s thumb; just starting to learn  things with it.

……..(the rest of the mail I will not  disclose, out of respect, as it is related to his personal health experience)……

Me: My mother, thought I was crazy, scrawling geometric shapes on a daily basis. So I think now I am able to control my pencil better.  I am relearning to shade the geometric shapes. They look blurry at the moment, but it’s a start.

A: Well, to normal people, they most likely think that we’re crazy people, but to us, we’re struggling to achieve what we want to do. 

Conclusion

People may claim that I am stubborn and not heeding their advice, that if I look hard enough I will always seek out those who will say what I want to hear.

But I am not searching for the truth or vindication that what I seek is not delusional. What I seek is a smoother path in my journey.

And that was one of the many important lessons I have learned during these few  rough months.

I never give up hope and kept asking  and  moving –  never allowing anyone to say that I am not good enough.

I’ve also learnt to filter out the ‘noise’ and the negativity in my  search for  the relevant input that I need to rebuild my life.

At the end of the day, it is me and no one else, who will be taking this path and a little guidance from sincere and honest people who don’t judge me will surely make my rebuilding journey a much smoother one.

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This editted article is taken off Shafie’s blog  wheresmymanual