: : So tell me about... : :
Friday, August 13, 2004
"And now some questions from Kezza..."
>>Honestly, you trainees sound like all you do is party, drink, eat, smoke and sleep.
Well I have to admit there is a lot of fun to be had...I am with a very diverse group of trainees, some who were AIESEC members before; some who come from professional AIESEC countries like The Netherlands, where the EB takes a year out from study, receive a govt. student subsidy and work full time for AIESEC; some who know what the @XP is all about and some who couldn't give a rat's arse and have just come to make some cash, travel and party during the summer...
So to answer that, after that long winded diatribe - (From Lean Cuisine) "Yes Mum, I am looking after myself"...
I try and balance the partying with trying to take up some development opportunities...I started an e-learning project management assessment at work...I have assumed most of the day to day running of the project that I am working on - which means that a training and support role has turned into managing the intranet for the global marketing group of an MNC - very cool and great experience, but has meant that I have had to spend a lot of time learning the background, upgrading my IS understanding and generally start the meet and greet game with a lot of the important characters in the company...So far the opposition from I.S. dept. is proving to be the most educational as the office politics evolve...
>> Tell me the truth- are you FULLY loving your trainee experience, much more than your MC experience? Why/why not?
FULLY Loving it - absolutely. I am learning a lot; am surrounded with a great deal of experience in my area of career focus; have made a great network of similar minded trainees to party with and learn from; and I have enough cash to have a little fun and travel too! As for more than the MC experience? That's not really a question I can answer. They are two completely different experiences...Obviously, I can liken the experience of living in different countries, the learnings and shocks - but I cannot really compare much else as the living day to day is so different.
You know that when you do the MC, you will be living and working with a small team (7 in Ausl, 6 in France) every day, all day and very long hours...You love them, you hate them, your team mates are family...In my traineeship, I have been very fortunate to establish a very close mentor relationship with one of my bosses - (infact, he wants me and Laura to join him with his partner sometime during the summer time at his summer house), and also am mates with my predeccessor, but that is about it...I work in a huge company, and have single serving colleague relationships (blatant Fight Club rip off here). I meet new people every day, and email strangers all the time, but I do not have a close relationship with any of them...I spend most lunch hours with other trainees, we just have more in common.
Obviously the money thing - I knew before getting into the MC that I would be living the povo life, but even knowing it in advance does not fully prepare you for living in a foreign country with no cash, no credit and no sometimes no real food...Here I have a trainee income, and an over-draft facility (found that out last weekend )
Its two different experiences and am learning different things from both. I could not say do one over the other, as what I get out of one, feeds into the other and vice versa. Do both I say, but do it younger than me Although, I think I have been able to do other things and have different perspective than those who walk into MC young, so everyone is different I guess...Sorry rambling now aren't I , back to the questions...
>> If you could have your MC experience again, what would you have done differently?
Hmm, good one...Well I don't know if I would have done Ausl MC and International...Doing the same position twice didn't allow much for learning more...I think in @ you generally spend a year learning how to do your job, become an expert and then leave....Staying on after that year means that you know what to do, know what to expect, there is not enough challenge. So definitely (for me anyways), I would have chosen a different role for my 2nd MC term...Especially going from a country with good finances, to one with not so good - I went from being a company director managing a decent budget, to being a book keeper worried if there would be cash in the back account from one week to the next.
Having said that, I was lucky that I could apply a lot of Aussie experience to France and can say that I contributed to moving the country forward a lot quicker than it would have done without me there - of course, not taking anything away from my team mates, we all pushed it forward. My contribution was my Australian @ background and @ knowledge.
What else? I think I would have worked my arse off in my external jobs (bar work etc) and saved a lot more cash before I went to the MC. "smiley" It sucks, but the money does play a big part of it. Being on the MC and having to avoid trainees or members social outings because you cannot afford to go financially is really shit.
And I guess the other one would be wishing that I could have planned my personal life better. I have the best girl anyone could ever be with, and in pursuing my @ path, its meant having to leave her back home...I am really lucky that she has been incredibly supportive...Effectively, I got to know her, fell for her then left the country! So I would say I wish I had better timing?
