Blackmail...

Interview went well. Better than I had expected...I think. Actually, I don't really know...

So, I've been musing around....

My "current ex-boss", KK, was not as supportive of me taking on this new job, not as much as I had hoped. I was quite taken aback, from all that he said during the talk we had a few days before I went for the interview. Not that he didnt think I would be doing a good job out of Finance, but that I'll be getting limited exposure due to certain circumstances surrounding that job. As such, he thinks that I would not be able to carve my career path in that direction in the long term, and if I do return to Finance line, my years spent outside of Finance could work against me.

To a certain extend, I agreed with what he said, especially on the circumstances that surrounds the job which requires negotiation and persuasion skills...and yet, I cannot agree with him that I would not be able to maximise and use this exposure to my advantage in the long run. I am of the opinion that there are ways to work around those circumstances, and still play the cards to my favour.

Fortunately, my boss, Andy, supports me and thinks otherwise, that this exposure will be extremely useful to me later as I would be able to learn the mechanics of the O&G industry. This would be valuable knowledge, and together with sharpened negotiation skills, I would be able to give value-added advisory services which any O&G company will find useful.

I'll take my chances, whether the "game" I play turn out in my favour or otherwise in the end. Life is always a gamble anyway...but being an accountant, I'll make sure that I'll be taking "calculated" risks as much as possible.

The interviewer called KK up immediately after our interview. Apparently he was quite impressed by my background, and KK thought I was so "d*mn good at impressing" the guy...Of course, what KK meant was, that he thinks I "talked big" to the guy just to impress him. Actually, my interviewer merely asked me what kind of work I did when I was in UT and in the merchant bank, and whether I was involved in negotiations before. I explained what I did back then, and told him what negotiation deals I was engaged in and the specifics of the work involved. Nothing extraordinary.

KK had never asked me about my previous exposures, as he didnt care much about it. To KK, I am accountant, and the Accounting line best suits me. Never mind that I hate doing accounting work, because I am good at it. After working for KK for 8 months, he acknowledged to me, Andy and Mike (our Finance Director) that he was impressed at my steep learning curve and the in-depth knowlegde I have about SAP.

But he forgets (or rather, choose not to see) that I also have other skills and exposures not accounting related (although could be finance related), and this is where my interest lies. I truly believe that if we have a passion for something, we will learn very quickly about everything there is to it, and as a result, we'll do a great job on it, and hopefully, come out of it largely satisfied.

Finance in my company consists mainly of accounting and reporting work, 85- 90%. I try to spend about 10-15% of my time to perform system and process improvements to enhance accuracy and efficiency in our financial data and reporting, while developing and instilling in my staff the importance of understanding the end-to-end processes. I am fairly good at trouble-shooting because I always try to make sure I understand the principles behind the set-up, which not many people bother about.

However, that is not where my passion lies. I enjoy doing research and valuation work, looking for angles where approach can be used to maximise value for the company. Perhaps if I had not done corporate advisory work in a merchant bank before, I would very likely be quite happy doing what I do now.

Nonetheless, I am working towards trying to steer my boat in the right direction.

Sadly for Andy, since he came on board last month, several vacancies are in urgent need to be filled as the budgetting cycle will soon kick-off in March. As a result, Andy has tried to negotiate with me a "deal", where I need to help him out to fill another urgent vacancy for a couple of months. This will hold me back from my transfer for about another 6 months. I am not keen to help him out this time, because he has, on one too many occassions, thrown me into the choppy sea and expected me to swim out of it towing the boat behind me.

This is not a vacancy I would want to fill even if I was in dire need of a job to pay my house mortgage!

I'll have to figure out a diplomatic way of worming myself out of this one. I don't want to seem like I am ungrateful to him for helping me to get the transfer, and yet I don't want to get my hands dirty with the pile of garbage waiting in that position. I hope he doesn't "force" me to do it in exchange for that transfer...you know, like blackmail?

So, again, wish me luck so that I dont end up having to do another "rescue" job for Andy...at my expense and unhappiness.