Tag Archives: career

The left brain thinker in creative arts industry

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When I still had the idea of designing a business card a couple of months ago, I didn’t know what my job title should be.

I suppose this is for several reasons – 1. I don’t know how could one could only have an identity career-wise – maybe it’s just the coming age of “anything could be a career” – e.g. one could be an engineer by day, musician by night and who knows which one will take off first. The idea of being trapped into a single identity in a small piece of paper terrifies me. 2. I am third year into my career, still excited by and exploring a variety of things that I want, can and will do. And I have a vision or even expectation of myself to go beyond the dance/theatre industry. 3. Whilst everyone is a multipurpose monkey in theatre industry (thanks to Cui who invented this phrase), I have to claim that I am good at something, as much as not claim that I know everything. The nature of the industry doesn’t allow job titles to speak for themselves in such way. 4. I don’t want to be just a producer / arts administrator / manager – am seriously past the phase of wanting to be labelled just to sound like a “professional”. In other words, I want to be an awesome person all round who is capable of, in a rather odd imagery, growing like a tree outwards.

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Job application: Crafting the recruiters’ experience?

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One of the most useful lessons that I learnt in the past two years or so has something to do with marketing. Here are the few thoughts that I came up with:

1. Target marketing. Always. It is quality, not quantity.

2. Good marketing is like a good piece of art. It gets the audience emotional (excited, sad, shocked); captures imaginations; or as Ash wrote, “makes the intangible, tangible” – couldn’t agree with her more.

3. Depends on the subject to market, do allow space for input. It means being flexible, for opportunities might just seep into that intentional gap that was left open.

Recently I have been in the midst of job search (for myself as well as for Tyas). Job hunt, as everyone knows, involves a lot of marketing oneself: CV, LinkedIn and introductory emails that worked as cover letter…

Lots of effort were needed for each application (target marketing!), but secretly I wished recruiters experience something like this:

See a “me” – in 3D, perhaps; imagine hologram projection – on the two pieces of paper known as my CV

or this:

Hear me talking to them directly – with emotions, possibly hand gestures and facial expressions – by reading black words against white background, also known as my CV

In an era where humans are represented by numbers and IDs, if words alone provide an experience to the reader without any gimicky bold, underline or italics, I mean, it is kind of cool, isn’t it? Also the fact that you, as a candidate, are crafting an experience for your recruiter – what’s the word, empowered? 🙂

PS: This was the second time I went on a job hunt since university graduation. It was not unlike the first time, and the process and outcome was pretty interesting!

Work emails: what you say

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I was tired. I felt that I was overworked. I couldn’t be bothered.  I was very grumpy and only wanted to eat chocolate and junk food to try to cheer myself up.

I tried to work. Replied to an email and instantly regretted.

The email sounded pathetically foul.

Inked in my head was a piece of advice directly for me:

Just try to be careful about seeing it from the recipients point of view. Think about their agenda and expectation and then balance it with ours. You are very efficient which is great but give yourself an extra minute to think about these things before you write.

That morning, I decided to stop writing until I am 100% sure I am writing in the best tone.

It was a good decision.

Opinionated but let someone be in charge

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I am determined to be a strong candidate who is capable of the job role. It seems like I have succeeded because I got the job. In the past year on the job, I made my big mistakes. Now, I am determined to revert to the confident-self like when I first started.

I am learning to be a leader like my boss – the very primary reason I approached him in the first place. I see in him – opinionated, great public speaking skills, and confidence of making decisions. Eager to prove to him that I am still the capable person he hired a year ago, and since then have learnt the way he thinks, I voiced out my opinions before he spoke (or instructed what I should do).

Did I make him feel like he is not in charge? Did it just show that I am an immature “wanna-be”?

How do I find a balance between “learning” and “showing the growth”?

(But I am not him, I don’t have the same capacity and intelligence and wittiness he has. I must have strengths, work around it and build up my personality?)

Like a Boss

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Now I am not feeling solid about my career. Being able to intern for my dream dance company and learn from the producer is a dream which I have not properly thought that would have come true. It will be the most stupidest thing I could have done if I do not use this opportunity well  in terms of increasing my career prospects and professional development.

What should I do to make myself valuable through this experience? I have been thinking. So far I felt that I am completing tasks, but that is not good enough. So I thought I should go that extra mile next time when I step into the office.

After hearing my ramblings, Tyas just told me one thing:

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Dance-Me-Career

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The scenario:Watching Akram Khan and Nitin Sawhney’s Confluence at Sadler’s Wells, 7.30 – 8.45pm.

The thoughts:

In both the talks by Farooq (the producer of AKC) I attended, he showed a video clip of Akram’s work. Akram and Farooq and their partners were/are all dancers, and Farooq said what has kept him going to work in dance is the love for dance itself.

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