Jun 25, 2010

One year later

It has been a little bit over year since I got back to Jordan, I can definitely say that I love being here more than anything, I would have said the same thing before I left as well, but once you try being abroad you have a different understanding to what I'm saying.
Anyway, the highlight of this year is me getting a job, I want to talk about that because I think there's a good message in it, if you want to see it and believe it, cuz after all, it is all about preceptive, how you see and perceive things, everything can be looked at from more than one angle.
I spent 5 months looking for a job, I got to admit that I didn't know what the hell was I supposed to do now after my little project in Thailand failed, it was supposed to be my bold big break through and I tried as hard as I could but it just didn't work out, and I had no back up plan, I was that determined it will work out, it didn't break me it just made much "wiser". I asked friends for vacancies, I looked up jobs online, subscribed to couple of well known recruitment websites, I eventually paid one of them to rewrite my CV, I applied to 10s of jobs, what I didn't apply for though is what my university certificate qualifies me for; working in Insurance, Finance or Banking! sounds stupid ha? of course I was telling everyone that I'm applying to those too, but I wasn't, I didn't know what I wanted at the time, I was sure about what I didn't want though! I thought I'd die sitting behind a desk doing a "boring" job.
5 months later, a friend calls me up and tell me they have a vacancy for a "copy writer" at her company, she said she'd read a note or couple on my facebook and she thinks I can write nicely. I said yea of course I'll send the CV! I had no clue what copywriting was, I immediately thought of this symbol © ! I thought alright... a boring job still.... I thought I'll be writing legal Copy Rights stuff! I was so not expecting anything that i traveled to Palestine over the weekend and delayed the interview two days! I googled "copy righting"! and there was it "did you mean copywriting?", OH! copywriting.. what the fuck is that? I litteraly jumped off my chair when I started reading that wiki page, went the next day to the interview all hyped and excited, they liked me too, turns out there was a place for all my silliness and craziness, ALL of it in one place, my "job" needs "creativity" or as I like to call it "tkoon ahbal w faged", it needs you to be good in English and Arabic, which I happen to love (at 5th grade I made my own dictionary :D, I still have the original copy), it needs u to be able to translate, which I used to do FOR FREE just for the fun of it (and ppl always told me that I shouldn't be wasting my time like that for free!), and to get this job you should know for a fact that you can write, and I very strongly believe if it wasn't for this blog I wouldn't have known, It always surprise(d) me when people like(d) something I write.

I love my "job" -for the lack of a better word-, It's the best thing that happened to me yet, I'm getting better at it and will continue to do so, I get paid fairly well, moved to a new house, my life seems to be in order. Ofcourse there's still the loan i took to start my Thailand experiment and a lot of shit to deal with, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now to battle with those. piece of cake.

I forgot why I started writing this whole post, I was thinking about "luck" when a friend told me that I'm lucky to be doing something I love and passionate about, and I figured I wasn't lucky, there's no luck in what happened, I chose to do everything that helped me be qualified for my job, I chose not to work as a teller (with all my respect to tellers, my father started as a teller and finished big.. so), and I chose not to settle for "just anything". Do that.
http://naserz.blogspot.com

8 comments:

hamede said...

Good post.

Palestinian Princess said...

first of all.. good for you that you found what you love and passionate about o mabrook new job :)

Copywriting is really nice.. you must be working with designers and other fellow creative ppl which really exciting.. I can see your excitement and happiness clearly in your writing

good luck in your job

Shaheen said...

I still remember our meeting just after your returned to Jordan, it was my first encounter with the creature with a wired name..and it was true, you were faged o 6afi o wala 7abh, what I wanted to tell you is even you dont like banks job be sure that there is no stupid bank manager who would risk his money and give you the control over the teller disk :p

It was an interesting experience to see your growing high in your job, to listen to you while you are talking with full excitement about your career.

good luck in the future challenges,

Omar said...

You reminded me of me back in college, I also was looking for any part time job and a friend of mine called me up and offered me a copywriter position at a prestigious company, I had no idea what that was, but when I figured it out I was all excited and started off immediately, soon over, I was nothing but frustrated by stupid clients, and how they kill your talent by their weird demands, their understatements and complete ignorance while still interfering with every single letter you write.

I honestly hope that you get better clients than the ones I had, though mine were of the biggest in the Middle East, but they were extremely frustrating, keep it up, and never turn your writing into a job like I did, this is when you lose your talent and start looking at the clock every 30 min. :) good luck dude.

sheeshany said...

Gr8 post Naser.
All the best in/at yr new "toy" :)

H.

NasEr said...

@hamede Thanks man.

@Palestinian Princess Thanks, and yes Its great to be working in this environment, I'm used to be in that atmosphere from when I did theater and TV, it always fascinates me when someone add a little touch on your idea and make it even better,or when I do so. good luck to u too.

@Shaheen LOL..the creature with the weird name? Inta wain rje3et 3ala 3amman? 5alleena nshoofak and thx, same to u.

@Omar 1st of all welcome to my blog, fellow copywriter :D, well we have the biggest clients in Jordan, and I understand what you mean when you talk about clients, I'm not that frustrated yet, it gets to you at times but I'm starting to enjoy the whole process, not only the outcome. each brief is a challenge on its own AND the client behind it is another one. I don't know how long have u been in this field, there's a good book I'm reading called "hey Whipple, Squeeze this", It's a good read have a look at it.

@Haitham sho toy ma toy bala gafyeh :D.. thanks man.

Em Ommar said...

همه اهل تايلاند,, هجو منها
بتتوقع ضل فيها بشر هاليومين\


حمدلله ع سلامتك ( بالنسه للعوده للمدونه) عليك حفله تعزيل كبيره
ترا في كم شعشبون وكم عمبكوت معششين ع الحفه فوق

يعطيك العافيه مان

لبنــــــــــى said...

كيفك يا عمي وين هالغيبة

I love my "job

نفسي احكي هاي الكلمة
بس للاسف ما في فرصة كويسة
بتمنالك التوفيق
و تعمل كل اشي بتحبو

Post a Comment