from inception to departure - Part 1

(disclaimer: this story is only a re-telling of a fragment of my life, no form of defamation was intended)

2008

our final semester was over by April 2008, we were graduating in August, so in those 4 months i went to a total of 3 interviews. I was not looking for an immediate job, I wanted to start work after graduating (malas mode). I was already working part time at a consultancy.


Job interview No. 1- this interview wasn't even planned for, my bff Haida called me & asked me to go & try out for this interview she found in the paper, it was looking for Quantity Surveyors to work in Qatar. Mula2 memang malass sangat sebab rase belum ready, but lepas dipujuk Haida, ktorg pegi. oh still have a copy of the add:

haida siap highlight lagi tuk aku, thats how efficient she is :) so we went, we were interviewed seperately, by two Japanese guys, they were really nice & polite & even showed me a whole slideshow of activities in Qatar & their project. I was starting to get interested but didn't get my hopes up. Jauh kot Qatar! working 6 days a week ;p


a week after that i got a call from their headquaters in Qatar, they said i had succeeded the interview & they wanted to offer me a position straight away. I was unsure, but i just told them that i might be willing to accept & start only after i had graduated by end of August, they agreed & in the offer letter they emailed me, the starting date 1st September 2008.

Haida didn't get the offer, neither did our other classmate, so I was a bit skeptical about going by myself. So eventho I had already signed the offer letter (as they had to prepare a work visa for me), I started doing my research. I contacted my 2 seniors that were working & living  in the Middle East, Abg Farid & Abg Faizal (no not my faizal).I chatted with them through ym a lot & asked them every single thing i could think of. they were supportive, but a bit worried for me coz i was a girl & they were willing to help get me contacts if i decided to go :)


I was feeling prepared & ok with going there, 5 years contract. masa tu, sayang was already working in Sabah, I consulted him a bit, but me being the egoistic aween, if he said he supported me in anything i wanted to do, just that he was sad & worried about me, I really just thought he was jealous of me going elsewhere & trying to control me. betul, I really under-appreciated him then :(


In the mean time I was still in contact with the reps from Qatar, I asked them when I could sign the work contract to confirm. they told me the offer letter was it. okay, a one paged letter je? then after i kept on pressing them to sign a contract, they replied I only had to sign the actual contract when I reached Qatar. now that struck a suspicious cord.


I was unsure again & started asking Hunny (who was working in Dubai at the time) what I should do. She asked me the salary they were offering & told me it was way to low for me to save & survive, she said counter-offer the company, if not it wasn't worth it. after that I just felt like maybe I shouldn't go, takut!


sooooo, after thinking it through, i just decided to see how it went. if the company at the last minute offered to sign the contract in KL, i would at least consider, but they didn't. they kept calling & emailing me to remind me of my departure date & sent me the flite tickets & working visa. but in the end. i didn't go.


i decided to wait till my convocation was over before i started job-hunting, i sent out emails to a few companies on 31st August & waited to be called for interviews.

end of part 1