Thursday, May 14, 2009

Dingfest

There is some serious dingfest going on out here. And I am getting enough of personal action too.

I applied to a handful of internship opportunities where I thought I really had a fit but I got dinged left, right and center. Some after an interview and some without the interview. I always knew it will be tough, but man...this shit is messy. I just wonder what P4/5 will be like. Royal fuck up I guess.

Here's an interesting one. We had this career fair in Singapore. Country manager of a top Pharmaceutical company was there. Since I could not see him at the fair, I later sent him an email showing my interest and stuff. I got a reply saying the HR is scanning the opportunities available and should get back in 2 weeks. 4 weeks later no news so I sent a reminder.

Lo and behold.....the HR replied today saying..."Thank you for sending your CV. We were highly fuckin impressed and shit. But unfortunately yada yada. None the less, we will retain your super kick ass CV on our system and have also forwarded it to other regional offices. We wish you the best of fuckin luck."

But...a big fuckin but here....I NEVER sent my fuckin CV to this company !!

I always had a certain hatred for HR people. Let me give you another example. 2 years back I applied to a consulting firm and was rejected straight away. A while later, I was headhunted for the same company, for the same fuckin job. How does that work then?

Fuck it. I am not looking for internship any more. I will take the summer off, improve my Mandarin and scope out certain markets and business interests I have. Instead of getting dinged for jobs which wont take me anywhere, I might as well spend the summer and figure out where I want to be. So thats the fuckin plan.

Interestingly, 5 years ago when I was going through a similar dingfest, my life took an interesting turn and I came out on tops. Will it happen again? Fuck yeah !

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Gentle Reminder

Last night I was walking back from a party, drunk, tired and everything else. It was 2am and a bit cold and then it started raining. I got completely drenched and instead of running for cover, I stood in the middle of the road with open arms and enjoyed the rain.

You see I love getting wet in rains. Its such a refreshing experience but I cant remember when I did it last. I guess it must have been almost 3-4 years since I got completely wet in the rain - intentionally.

Last night reminded that life is not all about MBA, financial models, internship, jobs bla bla. There are a number of trivial things which bring joy and happiness in my life and perhaps they wont change ever. I still enjoy the rains, I love a decent home cooked meal, I love watching movies etc. But over the past years, I was running around like a headless chicken, pursuing things which would bring me happiness and recognition from a social perspective. Of course its important to have a job and stuff but its not everything. And I am glad I got caught in the rain. I am glad I was made aware of simple things which I still enjoy and which I almost forgot about.

On a different note, I met mbamrs. She is such an interesting person. I have been following her blog for a long time and it was great to finally meet her. Someone with a clear sense of things, well composed and willing to explore.

So how is Fonty? This place rocks (so does sgp but at a different level). I dont think I have been this relaxed in such a long time. I love this small town, love the campus and just getting adjusted to the house party concept. The two campuses are definitely different and I will soon do a post about the differences.

Note: mbamrs pointed out that my blog contains a lot of foul language and hence to prove that I can survive otherwise, this post contains no foul langauge.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Moi...Fonty...Génial

I am here boys...Fonty.

Arrived last evening in what seemed to be an endless drive through French countryside. Was tired and eager. I booked myself a small studio in Fonty city centre and I was kind of sure it would be a complete dump.

Boy I was wrong. The studio I got is a loft converted into a living space and its cute. Yep...you heard it right..me saying "cute". Its small, its beautifully done and just perfect. Since my childhood I wanted to live in a loft. And finally I am here. There is only one problem though...I am kind of tall for this loft. But who cares....I love it !

Fontainebleau campus is huge. I have been on campus for about 4 hours now but still dont know my way around. Open spaces, gardens....its the complete package. Food is much better here than Fonty. You might struggle for Asian food but I personally dig sandwiches, smoothies etc. and Fonty is waaaayy better than Singapore. Infrastructure is great but then again Fonty has 3 times more people than Singapore.

Classes start from t'row. Today I have to organise tons of stuff...bank account, paper work bla bla.

By the way, just heard that MBA applications are up by 500%. Thats going to be one hell of a competitive process. Good luck to those who are applying.

The first 2 terms were all about MBA business - you know getting back to school, coursework, assignments etc. The next 3 terms will be about the individual participants. You choose the electives, decide your workload etc. For me, P3 is going to set the tone for P4-P5. I need to prepare myself for the job search battle for the second half of the year. And what better place to do that than the beautiful lawns at Fonty. Job situation for July 09 is really bad. Its much worse than December 08 class. So you see, I really need to get my act together if I dont want to shit myself during P4-P5.

But for now, its me, my cute little studio and the beautiful lawns at Fonty.

Miss you H...Wish you were here... :(