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[QUOTE=Anonymous;19427]I didn't think I had to say this. As cliche as it sounds, your future/career lies in your own hands. No one is else is looking out for you (and no one else should) in case you haven't notice already. When was the last time you actually did something about your career progression?

Anyway, I thought I should share my story. Perhaps that might shed some light on how you could make good.

I was a local scholar. I started out being deployed at a line department doing some corporate development work (certainly not career making work). It wasn't my cup of tea but I did the best I could anyway and sucked it up for 2 years. Truth be told I wasn't getting anywhere. In the future, my AO director whole reveal to me that my CEP then was a low 9 (to him, that's low). I could have gotten it because I was a scholar, or because I had a first class bachelor's degree + masters. But whatever the case, unlike what you have heard, low 9 (i.e. superscale) CEPs are not that uncommon in the civil service. Remember having a high CEP doesn't mean you would reach it eventually. My own staff's CEP was superscale 9, and she is not a scholar.

I was promoted to mx11 after that stint, most likely due to the CEP. But even before that, I had put in a request for a posting with HR. I was offered an interview with a policy unit at the ministry HQ. I eventually took up the post. This is despite many of my colleagues telling me that it was a hardship post that many people shunned. I thought, "don't piah how to succeed?".

I went. Workload was really hellish. In fact for the initial period of about 3 months, I struggled. I was really quite suay - first month I went on reservist. When I came back my supervisor went for his reservist, followed by leave. There was no one to teach me the ropes and I worked directly with my AO DD. He wasn't exactly a nice guy to work with and I was almost marked down by him. Fact is, in the ministry, it is a dog-eat-dog world. You don't really expect your peers to help you because it is at the expense of their own progression (when it came to ranking, they would be ranked with me. If I screwed up, it bodes well for them). At that point I really wanted to quit. I called up my PSD contact asking her to compute my bond cost.

Thankfully my supervisor came back and he guided me. Also by that time, I started to get the hang of things and soon I started to do okay. At that point in time, my portfolio was quite sucky. A lot of dirty and unnoticeable work. It didn't really matter to me, so long as I know what I did was meaningful, even if it didn't catch the eye of others, I had my job satisfaction (i compared it with my earlier corporate development work).

But eventually I got luckier.  Part of my portfolio became more prominent and my stern Director took notice of me because I was juggling a lot of heavy projects at the same time. I was also lucky in the sense that my supervisor was quite nice, and he put in a good word for me from time to time. They helped creep up my CEP.

At that point in time, I had become pretty established because I paid a lot of attention to my work and i learnt by reading and consulting many experts (legal, policy, etc - grew to like law) because I'm inquisitive by nature. I gained a fair bit of knowledge. There would come a point in time when I became quite an expert and my departments would consult me on issues related to policy and application of legislation.

[U]All this stemmed from hard work.[/U] Depending on the need, I worked weekends and late nights. Here I give an example. There was a project that had a lot of history (I grew a liking to history after that :P) and it was voluminous. I combed through every document on record and that was literally 30 volume files, on average each about 4-5 inches thick (tied together by string) to understand the history. At the same time, I put together a chronology based on that information for my management. That was easily 160-200 pages.  I was literally a walking dictionary/consultant on that issue after that because I had digested the information (I came to realise my memory was pretty good) and my senior management took note of it. I pulled out the key documents as well and assembled a quick search history folder.

All that is 1 project. At any moment, big and small, each one in my unit handles 15-20 projects. On top of that, appeals and complaints. Of course the level of urgency was different for each. Also not all are equally important.

I also built up quite a network across service because much of my work was inter-agency. I also made friends with some foreign counterparts. I'm still in contact with them (but of course I know where to draw the line). I build my network with honesty and trust. I try to help my counterparts when I can, and when I can't I explain to them why. Most people will be nice to you when you are nice to them. I'm the kind to reach out my hand to shake first. But they also know me to be no-nonsense when it comes to work. That has to be the case, if you want to be taken seriously. I find that my network helped me a lot because if I need urgent help/info, it was usually a call or 2 away.

My Director changed after a couple of years. The new Director was a nice person and he came to notice and appreciate my work in part because we had to work closely for some matters. He, and my supervisors continued to help creep up my CEP. Last I heard, its about an 8/7.

I try to pay it forward by grooming my staff under me. To mean, each of them are like my students and I taught them everything I know. I speak to them often about their career direction and help find them opportunities if they want to strive. If I think there is potential in them, I speak to my bosses about their CEPs to push it up. If they say, not enough justification to push up, I get them to agree to give my staff more opportunities. I'm glad to say they are doing well. You know, I think it is always better to give positive comments about your staff (and also your colleagues) then to put them down, like I see some other bosses/colleagues doing. Some people are jealous about their staff's CEP/performance and try to block them. I think that's stupid and narrow minded. I had a staff who was an MA and who was very gung-ho, didn't really want supervision. I gave him advice as and when he needed, and stepped aside to let him fly (work directly with top management). It's always better to have your staff do well then do poorly.

Anyway, the point Im trying to make is that one should be positive and proactive. If you think you have what it takes and you're not being noticed or appreciated. Tell your boss. If your boss isn't the kind to help, change unit. Don't just sit on your hands. I was lucky that my bosses happened to be nice. But I know it doesn't always happen. If and when I meet a mean boss, I will either suck it up for a while, of if I can't take it, move on.[/QUOTE]

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31-01-2012 04:42 PM

Unregistered

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit

Hi miwashi, I am not sure what to say regarding your staying put there for 6 years with no promotion. The civil service was my first job after university. I was not very well-informed of how things like promotions worked before signing on. But after 1 year I realised non-scholars had a bad deal and I was not going to accept that given how capable I thought myself to be. So I quit. Everyone in the family objected to my quitting. Everyone. But I did it and went on to do different things with my life. Maybe you can give that option a thought too...

He got try, but his expectation not realistic. Trying to get a related job like analyst or ops team lead in pte sector already hard to overcome the stigma of public servant being slack.

Some more he want to go for jobs totally not related to his current exp like media editing or some software job.

28-01-2012 04:54 PM

Hermit

Quote:

Originally Posted by miwashi

I know it varies with the person, of course, but usually, how long does it take to move from MX13-MX12-MX11?

I spent one year in MX13, then after that 1.5 years in MX12 and quit.
And then some years later I joined a stat board at MX12, where I've been for 6 years with no promotion.

Is this normal? I cannot help but feel that I was already considered condemned staff from day 1 as the scholars and young people around me were given visible and career-making work, and have advanced levels up while I don't even think I'm getting a promotion this year.

25-01-2012 03:23 PM

walker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Maybe he reminds me of my ex-colleague, got funny vide on him Keith Lum VS Steve Jobs - YouTube

Always complain how he so good and others dun appreciate him until in the end kena fired.

Power stupid, hope I never need to work with this kind of idiot

19-01-2012 01:36 PM

Unregistered

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Maybe he reminds me of my ex-colleague, got funny vide on him Keith Lum VS Steve Jobs - YouTube

Always complain how he so good and others dun appreciate him until in the end kena fired.

Must send him to IMH for further check up.

17-01-2012 11:00 AM

Unregistered

Quote:

Originally Posted by normalworker

LOL is this for real? Your colleague look like ah beng trying to do stupid things to attract attention.

I hope he is not from banking or engineering industry, otherwise I feel embarrass to associate with him.

No lar, he was an administrator supporting my dept.

This guy one of a kind, he was so convinced that his IQ is same as Steve Jobs that he will openly just say in a meeting “ that’s because your IQ is too low” to others colleague he disagree.

He just bitch everyday and cannot seem to work with anyone and keep implying that he got many lobangs with big MNCs outside until in the end one day told by manager to “resign”.

13-01-2012 03:00 PM

normalworker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Maybe he reminds me of my ex-colleague, got funny vide on him Keith Lum VS Steve Jobs - YouTube

Always complain how he so good and others dun appreciate him until in the end kena fired.

13-01-2012 01:57 PM

Unregistered

Maybe he should consider reading this book:

The 48 Laws of Power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

13-01-2012 10:14 AM

Unregistered

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous

guys give him a break man. He quite poor thing also. It is probably very hard for him to sell himself because of his current job. Miwashi I think if you are really keen on improving, better consider doing an MBA or something.

What he needs is some hard knock on reality to wake up his idea. What's the point of senselss nonsense like keep positive, empathise with you, improve yourself, keep trying etc. That is just patronizing.

He can't seem to navigate simple politics at such a junior level and simple organization like NEA. Totally no support and nobody willing to help him inside. He can't seem to sell himself to any prospective employer as well after so long.

Surely this indicates that the problem with him runs far deeper than just bad luck to join a lousy job. Most people career not smooth sailing, sometime crap co., lousy boss, wrong industry, but to get into such a state for over 6 years and still no sign of getting out cannot be just bad luck.

12-01-2012 08:31 PM

Anonymous

12-01-2012 04:50 PM

Unregistered

Maybe he reminds me of my ex-colleague, got funny vide on him Keith Lum VS Steve Jobs - YouTube

Always complain how he so good and others dun appreciate him until in the end kena fired.

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