In China

20 years ago, I admired people who were living a life exciting; they were bold enough to quit a secure job in a state-run company.

From their resumes, they have worked with at least 3 or 4 companies.

I was too ashamed to tell someone that I had only stayed in one company the whole of my life.

I could see into the future; ten years is the same as 30 years until the day I get retired.

The same colleagues, the same work, the same topics day in and day out, everyone knows each other, there was no personal space, and there was no privacy.

And I couldn’t do anything different from my workmates, which means I had to tell a white lie to hide my real feeling. 

It was like in the jail except I could go home at night.

I did not have enough courage to leave the environment as everybody told me that was a secure job; if I left, I would have no future.

Please don’t trust them; they are the conservative people, they are afraid of change, they only accept the fate.

You have to be the master of yourself. Please don’t let your boss, a colleague, a friend, your husband or your parents design your life.

You have to be decisive. Otherwise, you will miss out the brilliant time of your life.

Barack Obama said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

For me, my life has been dramatically altered the time I passed the resignation letter to the company though it took me ten years to make a decision.

Indeed, that was a very hard choice.

In Australia

Now I have to use four pages for my resume; I have been working with seven Australian owned companies since 2004. From small, medium to the ASX listed companies.

a small business compare with a big corporate 

They have pros and cons.

A small business

In a small company, you do different types of work. However, it’s just work and home; you don’t see many colleagues.

If people are kind, then it's easy to make lifetime friends with them.

A big corporate

In a corporate, most colleagues dress stylishly; they are friendly, young and active, which gives you an impression warm and friendly.

On the other hand, to start with, you have to do very particular work, there’s not much variety.

If people do not cooperate very well, then there will be lots of problems, you have to wait until issues are fixed, that could drive you mental.

A small business 

For an accounting position, in a small business, you do everything from invoicing to reconciling and making payment, etc., it’s nice and easy, as long as you are doing a good job.

A big corporate 

In a big company, that’s the different case, when I worked in a non-profit one, the organization is massive all over Australia.

I didn’t feel happy at all, my job was completely stuck, and I couldn’t do anything further as 70% of purchase orders were processed wrong.

After I had sent five emails, no one replied, then I had to make phone calls, luckily, someone might answer the phone, but it couldn’t guarantee.

Someone told me: “Sorry, I am new here, and I don’t know how to do it, could you please teach me?” 

The other one said: “Sorry, I am so busy at the moment, I will get back to you very soon.”

What’s was “very soon”? I waited for 1 or 2 days, no one called me back, I had to pick up the phone again.

How could that be so difficult? In the end, I spent half time in chasing up those guys fixing up errors they’ve made.

What a waste of time? I was frustrated as it would show in the computer system how much work I’ve done in a day, I couldn’t make progress.

And I asked other colleagues, they were facing the same problems and were used to it as they have been working there for many years.

A medium-sized company

Compared to a medium-sized company I worked with previously, how sweet, I am my boss and can arrange the time, do whatever I like, and the financial controller is a very experienced one, she knows how to handle the issues.

A big corporate

The organization structure for a non-profit is complicated, managers and team leaders, they are very nice people, but some are new, and they have never done the basic accounting in the company, they’ve got no idea what’s wrong with the system.

Even if they are senior ones, changing the organization structure is beyond their limit.

Conclusion 

So now I am no longer curious about a big company, I’ve got too much headache from it.

But only after I have experienced life, I know which fits me the most.

Then I will be satisfied if I work in a small family business, I won’t be jealous someone who is well-dressed working in a big corporate with a fancy job title.