I was at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology while I got a call from headhunter Niqueen. I was not looking forward to hearing from her at all. The minute I took the call, the loud voice of hers greeted me. I didn’t lack epic headhunter encounter stories during this gap when I was looking for jobs. My work with Niqueen was one of my many unpleasant experiences. The usual routine for a call started with her long and preaching talk on what was right for my career. She never got to her point directly but spent long time to build up her dubious rational that won’t stand a closer look. I didn’t want to come off as rude. I gathered as much as patience to grind through this warm up talk once again. “So, what’s your decision for the job offer from Connect?” She finally moved to the real reason that she was calling me today. I interviewed with Connect through Niqueen for the past three weeks. It was one of the biggest real estate asset management platform in Hong Kong, but I was not so sure about its culture. I asked Niqueen to give me a few days to think about it but she was really pushing. I didn’t feel it was right and her voice was like Janice’s from Friends which started to give me a headache. I wanted to wrap this up right now. “I’ll pass this opportunity at the moment.” I felt relieved. “I understood. Thanks.” I can almost hear her grinding her teeth.
One month into job hunting, I have received two job offers. I kept an open mind to going in for different interviews and the unattractive roles remained unattractive. Deep down in my heart, there was a voice whispering at me, “Take it. You won’t find another one.” I turned down both of them. It was not because I had unwavering confidence that I can find a right and great job later, but because other things in my life had my attention now.
It was my first time to come to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I did have lived in Hong Kong for more than 5 years, but it was such a hassle to come to HKUST. I didn’t think I would come if I was still working at the moment. I transferred three times via MTR and took another connecting minibus to finally arrive at the campus.
The campus was gorgeous. HKUST was built along the coast with rich forest in the backdrop. Compared with University of Hong Kong, which also enjoyed a great view at a hill top on Hong Kong Island, HKUST had the luxury of space. Far away from the city center, HKUST afforded more public areas to its students and visitors. I worked on the campus for the whole afternoon before I came in for a startup event in the evening.
I can’t remember starting from when, it seemed almost everyone in Hong Kong had their side business. Doing a startup has become a trendy thing. I was curious about fintech and entrepreneurship for a while. This time during the break I took the chance to go in varied events. I introduced myself as full-time event goer and it was not joking. I was busier than I was at work. Lorena mentioned a series of startup competition to me and suggested I can go there to explore a little bit. This time, it was held at HKUST.
I met James when he went on stage to pitch his idea. I didn’t come with my own. Actually I didn’t even know what to expect. I planned to join other people’s team and contributed from my business background. While watching from the audience during the pitching stage, I found this guy, James, very refreshing. There were quite a few people delivered a power speech. Some of their business ideas were not bad. But just from their 3 minutes pitching, I didn’t think there would be great synergy coming from the teamwork. This competition required the people with the idea to find another 3-5 members to work on the project together during the weekend. The final pitch to the panel will be on the late afternoon of Sunday. I can’t be sure those aggressive or even narcissistic people won’t win in the end, but I was sure the experience to work with them won’t be pleasant. James, on the other hand, spoke softly and interacted with people with the utmost politeness and humbleness. While explaining his business idea, he talked with a pure passion. Working in Hong Kong, you would meet a lot of people with huge egos or narcissists. I decided to take a break from this pattern. I asked James if I can work with him — anyway, it was just a game. “Yes, sure. It’s nice of you to join this project.” James responded swiftly.
The final surprise came on Sunday. We won. It was the first time for six of us to join this type of competition. We had no expectation. Now we were blown away by this exciting news.
Starting from there, I joined more startup events. It was fun. The timing was right too. I didn’t think I would like a full-time “modern hippies” life style. But during my gap between jobs, this was a fantastic experience. I worked full-time for the startup project for free. I figured out ways to leverage my experience to get things done. Even in my dream, I was working out my own business idea. Without a job, I gained completely new perspectives and met new friends from non-business background. Life was full of ironies.
Not considering the fact that I had to cut the times to eat out and paced myself on my La Mer cream, my unemployed time was actually pretty cool. I’ve seen more possibilities.