A Sunday morning

It's 1024am Sunday. It's quite rare that I am up at this time and not being at church. Just shared a breakfast deluxe with my wife and in-law - granted, I ate most lah.

Came early to Shaw tower to see an "acupunturist" but it turns out that we needed to call for an appointment first. Saw a TCM doctor yesterday at Marine Parade: reach 8:15am and left around noon! Cost us $90 for some herbs, which it quite worthwhile considering the thousands you may spend on western medicines; fingers crossed that TCM is good though I am not holding my breath.

Going to have dim sum with sisters and a cousin from Mauritius. So here I am at Mac, trying hard to resist getting to chomp on especially since lunch is 2 hours away. It's pretty filled up with many families.

Challenging month ahead. One more month before I lose 2 staff. Already lost 2 staff. Recruiting is a bit of a pain but I have to admit that we do take too long to recruit. Well, I took 1-2 weeks to write a good JD and then that's another 2 weeks before I get to do interviews. You then have to select and get your selected candidates vetted by management; only to find that the candidate has rejected the offer.

Fresh grad from NUS rejected. I now have another grad with working experience asking for a fresh grad pay. I have another who worked in Engineering and still asking for his last pay. I then have a grad through correspondence study asking for a poly salary. I have that sweet young lady barely out of university asking for almost an AM level pay. I have a double masters chinese national asking for a fresh grad pay. Why focus on pay, you might ask. The truth is that I don't need someone who's experienced. I will go for the freshies simply because I believe it's easier to train them. And well, they usually ask for lower. Or I might go for a very experienced fellow, one I know could potentially reply me! After recruiting about 5 people and another 3 soon, I have to admit that I do rely on gut feel many times! Yea, I know, I've read about how gut feelings are not always good but that's me.

For the record, I went with the grad with working experience asking for a fresh grad pay partially because she/he can start immediately (she/he might still reject the offer). And I will also go for the fellow who worked in Engineering but asking for his last pay (though we'd probably offer a lower pay). The double masters will probably come third, and yea, I'll also try to get the freshis from correspondence course asking for Poly pay.

That's replacing almost a quarter of my team. I was prepared for that because I knew that such cycle happens every 3-4 years. The good news for me is that as far as I know, I am not losing 4 staff because of reasons directly attributed to me! Sure I might be responsible in some areas but all in all I doubt so. Anyway, 2 are being transferred out and 1 has kind of already indicated that she/he might resign (family decision).

Time of uncertainties coupled with the ever increasing demand from management to up our value-ad to the company: More internal controls, eLearning, audits, training etc etc. It's so weird because when I became a HOD, there was no such "training". As I was sharing with someone, we the current HOD/managers are probably the first batch of guys who will pave the way for the next generation. We will have the hard work. Then again, I am not complaining. That's part of the beauty of where I work - having the challenge to do new things!

I am 34 this year! I've worked for 10 years but I still have another probably 30 years to go! This is no joke and I need to believe that in another 15 years' time, I will still be relevant and if I am not, I must be wise enough to accept that and well, be contented with what I will have then. Nobody owes me a living. I can only make my own happiness given the circumstances I am in; so should all of you.