From Allied Hospitality to Foxconn

HI MY DEAREST READERS!

Sorry for not posting for such a long time! I've definitely been through A LOT in the past month. I had some very depressing time here by myself, wondering about my future and my life and all of that kind of stuffs. I couldn't figure out the purpose and motivation of my life, I didn't even know what I like. I'm still trying to figure out the work life balance, and still trying to get to know myself better. I've definitely seen some different sides of myself that I didnt know before, which is very interesting cause you would think that you know this person 100%, but it turned out that sometimes he/she could be one of the strangest strangers you've know.

But anyway. Like what you could probably see from my other blog, I AM GETTING A NEW JOB!

Here is the whole story. I always go to a Taiwanese restaurant for their great beef noodle soup. I met the owner a month ago and she was interested enough to have a conversation with me about what I was doing in Indy and everything. I told her I was here for my internship as an international student. At the end of our conversation, she asked me if I was interested in working at Foxconn, she could refer me to her friend there. I was like ya sure why not. She texted me her friend's email address later on and asked me to email him my resume.

I never did though. I was too busy with my new job in CCH that I didn't think about changing job back then. But everytime I went to her restaurant she would ask me about it, to a certain point that I felt sorry if I still hold my resume. So I finally did. Her friend replied me back 2 days later telling me that he has already forwarded it to the HR. All of these happened 3 weeks ago.

Two days later, I got an email from HR requesting a phone interview with me. During the phone interview, I didn't prepare enough for her behavior questions such as tell me a time that you were very stressful and how you overcame it, but she was still kind enough to pass the interview for me.  Also, she invited me for an onsite interview in the following week. This happened 2 weeks ago.

Last Wednesday, I went to the onsite interview. Before I did, I got a job description for the position that I was interviewing for, which was a Material Management Specialist position. I found someone on LinkedIn who graduated from UIUC last year and is currentlty working for Foxconn as an engineerer, so I got in contact with her. She told me that the MMS position is very basic, repetitive, and boring, but the worst is that it may bring negative influence for my career path as a finance graduate. In other words, I am over-qualified for it, which is the last thing I want from a job. But I decided to take a look anyway since I've already got invited for the interview.

So Wednesday morning, I went to the interview with my fancy looking resume and fancy looking outfit. I talked to two managers from the MM team for 30 minutes. I could feel that their offer didn't match my expectation. Like what I've heard already, the position was too basic for me. It would probably bore me in two months just like my current job. I am looking for a challenging position where I can continiously improve and learn. Two minutes after the managers left, they came back and told me that there was another position in Program Management team that she though I may be a great candidate for, she asked me if I wouold be interested in talking to their manager. I was like HELL YA! That's awesome I would love to! So I talked to the manager in Project Management Department for another 30 mins. He didn't really give me a specific job description except for telling me this position is very cross-functional, coordinating with different departments since it is project based, but he addressed some key words such as innovation, change, teamwork, and challenging. He talked like a business professor and that attitude and team environment are exactly what I've been looking for. 

After that, it was another two interviews with a team member in PM and the big boss. What we talked about doesn't really matter that much but I did find out that most of the managers have been working here for 8-12 years since it first moved here. I believe that shows everything. If none of its employees want to work for long term, such as CCH, then it is not a place for me to stay. In other words, if I didn't see someone who I want to be in 5 or 10 years in this organization, then this opportunity is not worth fighting for.

So, I got the new job this week. I negotiated my salary a little bit with Foxconn, wrote a letter to my current boss but still waiting for his response, looking forward to this major change of my career path that started not long ago. I was thinking I was very lucky. But then I realized it is not only because I was lucky. Sure, it was pure luck for me to find the Taiwanese place and had the chance to talk to the owner. However, if she didn't like my way of talking and behaving, she wouldn't want to refer me. Secondly, if the MM manager didn't think I was over qualified for MMS and qualified enough for this higher position based on my interview behaviors, she wouldn't has referred me to the PM team either. What I realized was, luck and opportunity are important and essential for one all the time. But it is always up to this person how he/she takes it. We have to be patient and wait for our luck, but at the same time, don't wait to improve ourselves to be able to catch the opportunity, and make the most out of it.