From Seattle : Make a choice.

Sandra,


That sounds perfect – I think that email will work great due to the time difference J Also, I want let you know that there is possibility I may go back to Taiwan for a few days (vacation) this Christmas and think it would be great to meet in person! I will let you know though since I have not made any plans yet. FYI, I copied my gmail account (personal account) so that I can check during the email during the weekend too. Going forward, let’s correspond through my gmail.



Regarding your job, I think that most jobs are repetitive to a certain extent. There are certain tasks in every job that I have had, which I would absolutely dread coming to work for – don’t worry, you are not alone. I understand that it gets pretty frustrating to do the same thing over and over again… and it’s even worse when you don’t feel that your work is recognized or appreciated. Since you asked your boss for more responsibility and he didn’t seem very eager to give you any work, I encourage you to think about the following things:


1) Look for areas in your current job that you can optimize or make some process change to make work faster. Is there something that is currently done, that you think could be done differently and actually make things better? Once you have recognized this, do some work on proving why your proposal would make things better (faster, more efficient, easier, more simple etc.) and bring this forward to your boss.


2) Be on the lookout for extra work which needs to get done and be prepared to volunteer. Sometimes, you need to look for a need that matches your interests (project that manager/director needs) and be the first one to fill that need – almost like create your own jobJ


3) Finally, recognize that every job that we do is just a transition period and it helps us get to get the experience we need. Ultimately, this helps us get to where we ultimately want to get – think of it as a stepping stone which brings us one step closer to our final destination


One last word of advice – I truly believe that after you have worked with your boss for a while, I think he will have more trust in you and naturally will give you more responsibility. This takes time, so be patient and it will comeJ Just show him that you work hard and are very eager to learn and try new things.


I think that’s great that you have a plan regarding internship in a different country. Which countries are you seriously thinking about? Why did you choose those countries? I think you should start thinking about learning the local language of the country you are thinking about going to. Regarding your masters degree, what type of masters are you thinking about? Hope the above helps! Have a great week!

Thanks,


Catherine Bedeski