CNY gathering: Jobs, Properties and Record Year

The thing I love most about Chinese New Year would be gatherings with friends. Whatsapp or even Facebook is no substitute of actually shaking their hands or even a warm hug followed by laughters and then bidding goodbye till next year. In one of those gatherings this year, it was with a group of awesome Toastmasters. The age ranges from 20s to 60s. Haha. Yes, we are a vibrant lot. After nearly 2 hours of non-stop chit-chatting about everything under the sun, let me share three major topics that we spoke about.
Someone said, “Jobs are hard to come by, right?” I replied that I also think so but the situation at my working place is a little different. There were many resignations recently. While there are those whom I think it’s best for the company that they are leaving but many of those who were resigning were considered performers. In other words, it’s going to be hard to replace them with a similar package. Another Toastmaster then shared that she resigned 6 months ago because her company did not give her enough space to perform. WOW. “Did not give her enough space to perform!” She resigned and took up a full-time MBA course and she would be graduating in August 2017. So, are jobs hard to come by? Let us just remember that even as many jobs we have today will disappear in future, new jobs and roles are being created everyday. Keep ourselves updated yeah. Stay competitive. 
Someone said, ‘Developers love to promise a lot but always fail to deliver!’ He bought a place within Selangor where the developer promised 15km of walking pathway around the development. He said, ‘Pathway is available but every house extended their ‘territory’ with pots and other items and in the end, the 15km pathway is full of man-made barriers.’ His daughter quipped sarcastically, ‘Actually the developer did not lie. The 15km pathway actually exists. They never promised it’s fully walkable!’ I agree that this is quite common and sometimes we just have to rely on our luck. I also told them that given a choice, I would prefer a strata-titled home even for landed ones. I know very well that my artistic sense is bad but if I stay in a neighbourhood where three other neighbours are as bad and decided to paint their house with some extraordinary colours…. Choose carefully. 
Lastly, we started to talk about the state of the economy. Someone said businesses are struggling to survive. In fact everything bad looks like it will continue for 2017. A Toastmaster then shared that 2016 was a record year for him in terms of new business opportunities. He is a corporate trainer. As all of us know, when the company is not doing well, one of the very first things they cut is TRAINING allocations. Actually, this corporate trainer is someone I look up to. I think this is the difference. You can be another corporate trainer or you can be an exceptional one. Guess who would still be doing great during a slowdown? I also shared that it’s most important that ringgit stays stable and the economy to continue growing. Plus the fact that during bad times, the weaker companies would be exposed and may not survive while the stronger ones would get more businesses. Stay positive. I will look forward to another of such gathering next year. Happy Chinese New Year!
written on 31st January 2017
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