Ms Chan's Story

Ling-ling's Big Ball

     "I am a university graduate. Why is it so difficult for me to find a job?" I repeatedly asked myself this question. I could not find an answer, and felt so gloomy and helpless. After all, I am an intellectual. As Hong Kong employers hadn't attached importance to my educational background, I decided to lower my requirements and applied for posts of lower rank. However, it was of no use, and I still could not find a job. At that time, not only was I at a loss, but I also started to question my own ability and my own value.

     During this period of unemployment, one day, while I was strolling in the park, I saw a little boy of about one year old playing with his mother. While toddling toward a big ball, he tripped and fell down and burst into tears. When I was about to give him a helping hand, his mother ordered, "Get up! Don't cry! Tears won't help you learn to walk!" The little boy hesitated for a while, then got up and started for the big ball with great efforts again. My first response was to disapprove of his mother's mercilessness. However, I saw the little boy succeeded finally! He had reached the ball and was looking at the booty in satisfaction. For a moment, I was taken aback. Suddenly, I realized that the teaching of this tough mother could also be applied to me. If I fell down and did not get up, I would never succeed. Therefore, I was determined to learn to open myself and keep optimistic, set my goal and start for my "big ball".

     During the entire journey of job-hunting, I was not fighting alone. My family and friends gave me great support and encouragement. Pouring out my troubles and worries to them was the best way to relieve my feelings. After being comforted by them, I understood how much the external environment could affect us; I understood that unemployment did not mean that I was incompetent.

     Despite numerous difficulties, I persisted in my efforts to find a job. With the help of the placement officer of the Labour Department, I affirmed my own ability and academic qualifications again and tried for posts of higher rank. My past failures to get a job were probably caused by the fact that my qualifications were too high. Apart from adjusting the job-hunting strategies, I also started to upgrade my English in order to better equip myself and enhance my competitiveness. Through reading English newspapers and watching the English news on television, I succeeded in improving my English.

     After numerous interviews, I still could not find a job. It was not easy to accept failures. However, I often comforted myself, "Failure is the mother of success". By accumulating experience, learning from failures, finding out my weaknesses and making improvements on them, I would have a better chance to succeed. Therefore, I mustered up my courage and persevered in my search for jobs despite repeated failures. I made evaluations after every failure and prepared myself for the next battle. Finally, I got a job in a garment company. I found both the job nature and the working environment highly satisfactory.

     Recalling the experiences in the past year, I am glad that I had my family and friends who took care of me and supported me. Thus, I had the strength to carry on and never gave up in face of repeated setbacks. Looking forward to the future, I plan to sit for the HKCEE English to assess my English standard. I also plan to study a part-time master degree or a diploma course to prepare myself for career development in Hong Kong.

"If you ask a person who is good at ice-skating how he succeeded in doing this, he will tell you, 'when you fall down, get up!' "

My Son's Assignment

A Cup of Tea with Milk