I've been job-hunting for over a month now, and it hasn't gone very well so far. I have been contacted by a couple of banks, but circumstances meant that nothing has come out from said contact. As for the other companies I've sent my resume to, I have yet to receive any kind of response, which I (somewhat optimistically) put down to:
a) Bad timing. We've been having a number of public holidays lately.
b) My being just another candidate among hundreds of others.
I have talked about being unemployed in my last post from over two weeks ago, and it's pretty much as frustrating now as it was then. One key difference between now and then, however, is that I now have another option: furthering my studies.
Furthering my studies had not been an option at all over the months that have passed since graduation. I'd been keen to start working and start earning, and if I were to start studying for a Master's degree it was going to be after I'd gained a few years' working experience and had collected enough money to be able to fund my studies myself. Even so, I was also wary of the fact that I might not even have the motivation to further my studies after immersing myself into the corporate world for a few years.
The funny thing about life, though, is that things don't always turn out the way you think they will. Almost completely out of the blue, I've received an opportunity to work as a research assistant while at the same time study for a Master of Philosophy (MPhil/PhM) in Management. It means that I'd basically be paid to do my Master's.
MPhil, for those who are unfamiliar with it (don't worry; I'd never heard of it before either), is an advanced postgraduate research degree that's just a level below a PhD. In fact, it's typically awarded to PhD thesis submissions that don't quite reach PhD standards.
Anyway, nothing's confirmed yet. I still have to sort out the exact details, which I hope to do when I meet up with my would-be supervisor later this week. Assuming it all goes well, though, there's a good chance that I'll go ahead with this program instead of waiting for God-knows-how-long for a response from any of the companies I've applied to work at. This would at least give me something to do as well as a bit of income. Oh, and there's also the small matter of being able to work on my Master's degree as well.
The downside of this, as far as I can tell, would be the foregoing of the higher salary and industrial experience I would have instead gained from choosing to work. That is kind of a big deal, actually, but if I'm going to do my Master's at some point anyway, it might as well be now while I still have the head and heart for it. I'm getting paid to do it as well, and there's also the possibility of getting a scholarship, so on the financial side I'd still be getting something.
One thing about the research I'll be doing though: the topic is women's entrepreneurship. It does seem interesting somewhat, and the research would possibly be given further weight given that I'm not actually a woman, but for me to be researching this topic seems a bit...unusual, given my background. Still, conventional has never really been my thing when it comes to education choices, so maybe it wouldn't really be all that unusual. It'll probably be just another one of those things that I'm going to have to explain to other people about in some length.
I'm at a crossroads in my life right now, and I'm clearly edging towards studying over beginning my career; a few months ago, studying had not even been an option. It's things like these that make me wonder why I even bother planning out my life at all...well, not really, but you get what I mean. Nevertheless, let's hope everything goes well.
a) Bad timing. We've been having a number of public holidays lately.
b) My being just another candidate among hundreds of others.
I have talked about being unemployed in my last post from over two weeks ago, and it's pretty much as frustrating now as it was then. One key difference between now and then, however, is that I now have another option: furthering my studies.
Furthering my studies had not been an option at all over the months that have passed since graduation. I'd been keen to start working and start earning, and if I were to start studying for a Master's degree it was going to be after I'd gained a few years' working experience and had collected enough money to be able to fund my studies myself. Even so, I was also wary of the fact that I might not even have the motivation to further my studies after immersing myself into the corporate world for a few years.
The funny thing about life, though, is that things don't always turn out the way you think they will. Almost completely out of the blue, I've received an opportunity to work as a research assistant while at the same time study for a Master of Philosophy (MPhil/PhM) in Management. It means that I'd basically be paid to do my Master's.
MPhil, for those who are unfamiliar with it (don't worry; I'd never heard of it before either), is an advanced postgraduate research degree that's just a level below a PhD. In fact, it's typically awarded to PhD thesis submissions that don't quite reach PhD standards.
Anyway, nothing's confirmed yet. I still have to sort out the exact details, which I hope to do when I meet up with my would-be supervisor later this week. Assuming it all goes well, though, there's a good chance that I'll go ahead with this program instead of waiting for God-knows-how-long for a response from any of the companies I've applied to work at. This would at least give me something to do as well as a bit of income. Oh, and there's also the small matter of being able to work on my Master's degree as well.
The downside of this, as far as I can tell, would be the foregoing of the higher salary and industrial experience I would have instead gained from choosing to work. That is kind of a big deal, actually, but if I'm going to do my Master's at some point anyway, it might as well be now while I still have the head and heart for it. I'm getting paid to do it as well, and there's also the possibility of getting a scholarship, so on the financial side I'd still be getting something.
One thing about the research I'll be doing though: the topic is women's entrepreneurship. It does seem interesting somewhat, and the research would possibly be given further weight given that I'm not actually a woman, but for me to be researching this topic seems a bit...unusual, given my background. Still, conventional has never really been my thing when it comes to education choices, so maybe it wouldn't really be all that unusual. It'll probably be just another one of those things that I'm going to have to explain to other people about in some length.
I'm at a crossroads in my life right now, and I'm clearly edging towards studying over beginning my career; a few months ago, studying had not even been an option. It's things like these that make me wonder why I even bother planning out my life at all...well, not really, but you get what I mean. Nevertheless, let's hope everything goes well.
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