Oh well. I’m disappointed, of course, but at least now I know where I’m headed.

That and I AM having quite a bit of fun at my current job. =) So maybe it’s meant to be after all.

And there is always another time, another test.

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All that aside, what does it all mean? And why is it still being currently defined?

Well, for starters, the company I’m working for is quite small, and the Perth branch is only just expanding even though it’s been around for awhile. And with all expansions, there is plenty of teething and feeling your way around going on. So what it will finally end up being is what the current staff build it to be. That’s also why my hours have been a little crazy as well.

Anyway, onto my role definitions:

Trainee manager. I’m managing the trainees that my boss takes on board, because the company also provides work experience to a lot of students. On the other hand, my boss says he’s also training me up to be a manager, which basically means that I’m learning how to be the person who gets all the shit flung at her in his absence.

Consultant. I consult on a whole bunch of things, but mainly on the usage of social media, how to integrate it into a company’s online business strategy as well as various technologies to fit a business’s needs. I’m still quite junior in this aspect, so it’s still a learning process for me.

Project manager. Managing projects for clients. This include their social media marketing strategy, their website production, their marketing material production and whatever project that I get assigned to. It also includes liaising with clients and other colleagues and designers and programmers and whoever else we need to get the job done. This is an immensely headache-inducing role.

Social media marketing. Making social media services like Facebook and Twitter and blogs work for the client.

The experience gained from the job is great, and I suddenly have a plethora of stuff to chuck on my CV now. And when I read job ads, I can now say even more specifically how I can meet criteria and fit some roles.

If I’m having such fun at my current job, why did I apply for The West cadetship, you might ask?

That’s partly because I applied for the program before my job at this company became more full time. That and my boss is open to us staff widening our horizons.

Plus, I feel that the current skills I have on board are much more suited to Public Relations instead of Journalism, and there is massive void in my skill set, especially in media relations, that needs to be filled.

So if I don’t score this cadetship position, I will start trying to freelance more aggressively.

I like what I’m currently doing at my job very much, as it really allows me to use a lot of my net savvy skills that I’ve picked up over the years but never realised would be so relevant until now. Plus, I love having challenges thrown at me and figuring out how to solve them.

But I also love to write. I love how each word rolls off my fingers, and how they all come together to form something so crafted and so meaningful. Well, meaningful to me, at least.

I love the thrill of putting together a story. I love the rush of making something tangible in time for deadlines. I love being the first to break the news.

So come what may, you’ll be seeing me write a lot more about the topics near and dear to me right here, especially about stuff in my field.

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I didn’t want to mention it to too many people in case I jinxed my chances, but now that it’s over and done with, I don’t mind blogging about it.

Basically what happened was that a few months back I applied for the West Australian’s cadetship program, and I got a call to come in and sit the preliminary 3 hour test. There were roughly around 15 people in the room with me, although they might be testing more people on different days. And the aim of the test was to narrow the list down even further. Whoever makes it to the next stage then has to sit for an interview before landing the position.

And how did I reckon I do?

OMG. I suck. I COMPLETELY suck.

There were TWO questions asking us to name The West Australian’s editor, and my mind completely blanked out. I knew who it was! (It’s Brett McCarthy.) It was only two questions out of the entire paper, but I reckon knowing the name of your potential boss should rank quite highly, shouldn’t it?

Plus, I spent the whole weekend combing through all the papers, but the news questions all dated to the beginning of this year. This is when I am glad that my habit of perusing through my news feeds every morning has finally come in handy.

That and I completely blanked out when it came to the sports trivia questions. I wasn’t the only one, as one of the girls I spoke to also ran into that problem. Sports. Must be a non-girl thing.

Some of the people there were already quite experienced in the journalism field, with only a few candidates there being fresh out of uni. I was glad to at least have SOME experience on my belt there, or I would have felt completely out of my depth.

On the general reasoning questions, I reckon I did all right. There were a couple of math questions as well. Being Asian and being made to do lots of math as a kid, as well as handling money at my last job did help me sort through those questions quite fast.

When it came to the writing section, my papers got so messy. We were supposed to outline a potential article for part of that section, and I numbered my paragraphs and had arrows pointing in different directions because I discovered that I needed to rearrange my points. Well done, Char. The blank pieces of paper were there for a reason, although I had used up most of it with calculations and the working out of other problems.

I’m not very confident in making it through to the next stage, but if and when I apply for it the next time around, I’ll definitely be more prepared. And next time, I WILL know who the editor is right off the bat.

Until then, I won’t know for sure until I get the call sometime next week or the week after next informing me my test’s outcome…

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