When I landed a job in a media firm, I didn’t know I would face a terrifying moment. It felt good holding my appointment letter in my hands. I beamed with joy as I read through its content. The take home pay was perfect. While it was gratifying something inside of me that felt I didn’t negotiate very well. I had to focus on the positive side. At least the figures were much better than that of my former workplace. Besides I was excited to join the organisation. The thought of venturing into a new industry was enough motivation.
It was not so rosy. The entire application process was tedious. It was from one oral interview stage to another with written assessments. To celebrate my feat, I poured a glass of wine and made merry. It was difficult to have been selected from an enormous pool of candidates. I think the strategy that worked for me was being prepared. I did my homework well on the organisation and the job role.
Still basking in the euphoria, I carved some time to do more research, on people who have held that job position before and what made them succeed. I also did some courses related to my fresh job. All these I did before resumption date. The organisation had made it official that I start in two weeks’ time; I used that period to ‘sharpen my saw’.
My first day at work was a little clumsy. I was getting acclimatize to the unfamiliar work environment. It was great to meet other coworkers. By the first week, I already put them in their various places. I knew who was approachable, the workaholic, the socialite, the talkative and the foodie. And who was I? I was more of the observer and learner.
Within a brief time, it was easy to pick up fast and meet my deliverables. Like I mentioned earlier, it was a new industry, so it was an eye-opener. I liked the fact that I got exposed to a new experience and unfamiliar people. It was another way of doing things. Work went smoothly. I made adjustments on my routine for optimal output.
Even though my boss was easygoing, I played safe and drew a margin between work and pleasure. On this fateful day, I saw the other side of him I wanted to avoid. There was an error in a press release I wrote. It was an improper job designation of the client. The client was a high paying one. We couldn’t afford to lose her.
Before we knew it, the press release had spread accross all the media outlets without the correction. It was a crisis. The minor error caused so much havoc. It had to be amended to appease the client. On the day of the havoc, my boss was away in a meeting. When he got a grip of what happened, he called my phone number and was shouting. I tried to pacify him to no avail. That day, I worked late. I had to stay back in the office to send emails to media outlets to retract the publication while I send an updated one.
It was a terrifying moment when he summoned me to his office to the next day. My heart was beating fast as I knocked on his door. What would I say? What was he going to say? I heaved a sigh of relief after the encounter. To my utmost surprise, he advised me to be more careful next time because careless mistakes could be costly.