What’s your forte?
I've actually got a mean set of photographs to show off, and a review of an ultra-cool concept to write about; unfortunately, I haven't had the time to switch on my home computer (yes I blog between work when I can squeeze in some distraction), so we'll wait a bit for that and you just have to bear with the texty-texty rants that fill my fancy.
But enough about that, because I was very tempted to ramble on about my most recent ram in with my mother and the obvious failure I am at dealing with my mid-twenties. I was sifting through boingboing on my bloglines (nifty application, that one) a minute ago and I came across this recommend which led me to Penguin UK's FAQ about its workforce page. Excellent!
Because my friend Vincent is looking for a job (and has got an offer the last I heard), and many people are wondering what it's like to work in different industries, I thought I'll shift away from marriage before another well-wisher comes along and congratulates me for Eric's (non-existent) proposal.
Content Writer
Who are you and what do you do?
I'm a content writer. I write scripts for multimedia products, specifically for educational purposes. I specialise in secondary school English.
What's the first thing you do every morning?
Make a Neslo and read the Bible.
What do you spend most of your time doing?
Surfing the Net and scouring books for teaching ideas to implement in my scripts.
What's the best thing about your job?
The production process, i.e. writing the scripts, and then seeing it transformed into in an interactive multimedia activity. Also, knowing that students and teachers will be relying on it to enhance their teaching-learning experience.
What's the worst thing about your job?
The impossible deadlines. On average, I'm required to produce one lesson script every three days. A lesson script can take up 25-30 full printed A4 pages, single-spaced, Verdana 10 point. Here, we work on a 'the deadline was yesterday' basis, and it kills my shoulders sometimes. It also hampers creativity, and the adrenaline rush is crazy.
What's the department like?
My department has twelve people. There's only one guy. You know what it's like working on an all-women team. (Then again, in my previous company there were seven of us, and only one guy too. I think the industry is women-driven.)
How did you get into your current company (what was your 'break')?
(I understand that some of you would like to keep the company name private, and that includes myself). For my first job, I was working as an editor at a reputable publishing press. I met my current boss on a major project, who offered me a position here. After six months of to-ing and fro-ing, I took up the offer because this place is nearer to home. Plus, I get to write, instead of edit.
Advice to someone who wants to start in the business
I don't think I'm qualified to give solid advice, but if you're still studying and you're hoping to get into writing/editing one day, I say: study very hard, and practise, practise, practise. You need a good degree (preferably English or TESL if you want to specialise in Education) to be considered for the position. Also be ready to be soaked in a seemingly boring world of Grammar and Dictionaries, and boring school teachers. Doing educational materials could just be your alternative to teaching, if you prefer a corporate environment.
I left out this quesiton:What's the salary like?
If you're very very good, you might be able paid by script, and it can go up to 2000 bucks per script. If you're fresh like me, with a bit of negotiation, you get paid a pretty decent monthly salary–one that requires you to pay an illogical amount of income taxes every year. Income tax is illogical!
You might want to try this out in the comments and talk about your job, or if you don't have one yet, your life. I hope this proves to be useful to many people.
December 8th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Subeditor (also known as copy editor)
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m a subeditor. I edit legal, HR, business, accountancy and taxation documents in reference manuals, hands-on-guide and reporters (the industry reference for those huge ass files with pages and pages of text in them). I specialise mainly in Asian products - specifically M’sian and S’porean stuff.
What’s the first thing you do every morning?
Check my email (for updates from editors if I’m working on a stuff at the moment), start off my editing tool (aka Sigmalink) coz if I don’t, it becomes a bitch later in the day AND finally, have breakfast.
What do you spend most of your time doing?
During peak days (when I have a product come in for me to edit), I do nothing but read and edit the stuff, sent it to the editor for touch-ups and finalising everything. The process can take anywhere between three to five working days (with non-peak days in between). Non-peak days see me surfing the Net, and doing other stuff like reading and writing on the side.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The process flow. Everything is very straight-forward and if it ain’t your fault, it ain’t your fault. One big plus for me is this: I NEVER EVER have to bring work home.
What’s the worst thing about your job?
The products itself. Some are fun to work with but most are terrible. It is not only long-winded, but badly written with grammatical, and spelling errors thrown in. Once, I came across a paragraphy with just one sentence in it. It could have been broken up into three different sentences. Because the content is technical, it also kills creativity. Hence, after products with BIG updates (like nearly 100 files to edit/go through), I’m totally bummed out.
What’s the department like?
SE (subeditor) dept has about three teams and on average, each team has about seven to ten people. Pretty flat hierarchy - after my team leader are the management-level peeps.
How did you get into your current company (what was your ‘break’)?
Honestly, no break here, or at least that was how I saw it.
I used to teach - for nearly two years - at a local private college and I got tired of the politics there. (You’d be surprised.) I was looking for a place that would bring me closer to what I really wanted to do - write. BUT prior to my job as a lecturer, I was a content writer and it was not what I wanted.
So I signed up with Jobstreet.com.my and JobsDB.com.my upon tendering in my resignation - I left my previous company without a job offer. Risk taker here. I was offered this job about a week after I resigned and I took it because 1) it was something my gut instinct told me to do, 2) it was a little like what I was doing previous (editing assignments, etc), and 3) it would help make me more ‘transportable’ since I may uproot in the near future.
Advice to someone who wants to start in the business
With this company, any degree goes - they need people from all sorts of background because of the nature of the documents/products that go through them - but one thing remains the same: if your English sucks, forget about it. You need to have an excellent command of grammar and punctuation - just average will not cut it as displayed by the number of people who came for the interviews and didn’t make it. They are strict. The other thing that is important is the ability to stay focused and to want to learn. Subediting isn’t a wishy-washy job. You’re responsible for the quality of the stuff that comes out.
The golden question which minishorts left out…
What’s the salary like?
If you’re with an MNC, it can go up to RM3800. Small company? Less.
December 8th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
I love Penguin, they release all the classic books for 1pound each, I think you can get them in Malaysia too..
People should read them and get some idea where modern literature was forumalted from.
December 8th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
Oh GOD.
I.AM.IN.THE.WRONG.INDUSTRY.
Mei, any vacancies over there? Serious.
December 8th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Maybe I should get the BF to post about the banking industry. People always look at it as a no-no because of the poor salary but when I heard from him…fuh…it’s a pretty stable job if you perform consistently and the pay by the time you reach 30 is at least 5 figures (before tax =P) and you get to build loads of contacts for future use and boy oh boy do you learn alot about the economy and $$$
December 8th, 2005 at 3:02 pm
Learn about $$$ as in investments and stuffs like that. Oh, I forgot…less office politics too.
December 8th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
@ Kurt: You missed the call for positions - they were actively (and massively) hiring a few weeks ago.
December 8th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
Mei, you do know that back in medieval times, the King would often reward a messenger bearing bad news with a poke in the spleen with the Royal Sword, don’t you?
Just checking.
Well, today, we just say “Thank You”.
But you will drop me an email should the bad news turn into good news, won’t you? Or if the newbies can’t take the heat and start turning over like pancakes?
Just asking.
December 8th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
I guess to ‘get into the business’/'my break’ is not always as planned, or coincidental even. That’s what got me traveling for work as an engineer…
The good Lord above does work in funny ways to put you where you are sometimes ~ if you believe in that sorta thing.
But like Minishorts said (to begin with): Hard work!
December 8th, 2005 at 9:14 pm
I’m not sure what I do, but my colleagues swore that I was hired for my looks.
What’s the first thing you do every morning?
Wait for it to subside, so that I can put on my underwear.
What do you spend most of your time doing?
Doing research to find out if it’s normal to be hard in the morning
What’s the best thing about your job?
I get to look good.
What’s the worst thing about your job?
I have to look good.
What’s the department like?
Full of clowns telling me what to do.
How did you get into your current company (what was your ‘break’)?
I went for an interview and they said that I looked the part.
Advice to someone who wants to start in the business
Don’t. Do something that requires brains, not looks.
What’s the salary like?
I don’t even wanna talk about it.
Oh, BTW, I’ve noticed that for whatever job you are asking for, they always want people with GOOD ENGLISH!
December 9th, 2005 at 1:05 am
haha…sorry loh, i was so groggy
wait, how much income tax, exactly?
December 9th, 2005 at 9:14 am
I’m not really fond of my job:???:
December 9th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
Congratulations on the non-existant proposal - hope we are all invited to the non-existant wedding. Will be a great time. We should have it here in Cyberspace seems it is also non-existant.
Eric is a lucky non-existant Groom.
p.s. I am my job. I want to be a different one though. I HATE I.T.! Waaah!
December 9th, 2005 at 6:45 pm
cool! i’m putting up mine.
December 9th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
One thing I’ve learned is that if you’re looking for a job, you have to know for sure what you’ll be doing - and not take it up blindly because of its name. Apparently the definitions vary from company to company: a content writer may not necessarily be only into scriptwriting - for example, he or she may have to deal with technical documentation i.e. software manuals, too.
Kurt - Er… I think the position for sub-editor is still open. Both of the job recruitment websites still have the advertisements up, and they expire next week.
December 12th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
I did a photo DVD (slide show + sound track) with Nero for my cousin’s wedding recently and it cost me nothing except the electricity bill
October 14th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Hi, minishorts, interesting blog. and hi to everyone…. looks like there’re no more continuation in the comments………? I’m working with an msc company, involved in content writing (or storyboarding, instructional designing) for a company writing for MOE…. anyone(or minishorts) can offer advice on how to go further?