Skip to main content

Reflecting on the recent peak @ work I had to go through.....

Alright...... let me see where to start. :)

It all started when I got seconded to help another manager. At that time all I knew was he had a really, really low supply of staff. So at that time, being so junior in the firm I thought to myself, "How tough can it be?? Besides, I probably just end up doing the same ole' senior assisting stuff a.k.a. senior say do, I do kind of thing."

But.........

I was wrong. Dead wrong! Senior was maxed out with other clients to handle, so there was no senior for the early substantial part of the engagement. And I had to learn to guide a fellow new-comer, which was not easy considering I was only slightly more experienced than her (combining my experience as a vacation trainee before, and whatever experience I had accumulated since I joined in October 2006).

It was a bumpy start to the audit. Client's staff were not too friendly, and somewhat hostile. Eventually, things got better as we got to know each other better. But in terms of workload, things got pretty rough. I was still working and trying to handle the complexities of the engagement step by step. It was not easy..... believe me. 'Overwhelming' was the feeling I got deep down in my heart. But, I was still ignorant regarding what was about to come...........

.......and what came about?

Things moved from low gear to high gear when my senior informed me that I had to assist in doing a more complex task. More complex than I expected alright! It was pretty complex to the point I had to dig out my text books from my university days to help me get into the task at hand. That task, was pretty much every accounting students' worse nightmare - consolidation (if you are an accountant, or accountant-to-be I can see your grin, yeaaa, you reading this blog)!

Deadlines got really tight - at one point my senior and I worked for thirty six hours, and the whole team ended up staying over at the office. Even to the very last minutes of our deadline, amendment were still coming in. Eventually, we got it done and we all gave a huge breath of relief.

I guess, this pretty much sums up my peak period for the first half of the year 2007.

Conclusion - I learned a lot about leading, being a team player and assisting a manager in his job. It was tough, but I believe I benefited from the experience. In addition, I intend to carry along this experience in hope to improve the quality of my work as a whole and to assist other seniors and managers!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

All it takes is a little encouragement

"A Life at Work" by Thomas Moore is currently the book I am reading. I have reached about half way so far and it has really given me a lot of in sight about my destiny or at least pointers to get me on my way to figure out what my life work is (i.e. your ideal work, work that fulfills you from the inside, food-for-the-soul kind of work). It's still a work in progress thing for me; a long way from reaching the full discovery point (if I ever reach it). Your life work can be as simple as helping old folks in need in a nursing home to something as simple as being a life guard. Simplest of work can be the most rewarding to a person's hear that's deep down. Of course, there's no denying that it is different for everyone. But sometimes, if not all the time, all it takes is a little encouragement from the people around you. Sometimes it is as simple as, "a job well done chump!" or "way to go bud!" or "you hit the home run mate!" or even

one foot in the past, another in the future........ what about the present?

All of us go through a cycle, what we commonly call - the past, present and the future. It can probably be summed up by this simple phrase: " we come from the past to be in the present and look forward to the future ". Now, what I want you to do is take a step back, or just give your mind a minute or two to digest the above mentioned phrase. Ask yourself if it applies to you. Really ask yourself; and I mean REALLY ask yourself in the most honest of manner, whether it really applies to you. You may find it difficult to arrive at a 'yes' and even if you do, you probably find yourself in a paralysis state of mind trying to justify the 'yes'. If you really ponder about it, you are likely to find that most of us would find this phrase more relevant instead: " we come from the past and look forward to the future " You will find many of us either hang on to the past or look far too forward into the future, or likely for some to even be dwelling too much in

Quick update.........

Having graduated last year in August and taking a break in Australia visiting my brother for a month, I really felt good about everything. Things just got better after that, having landed a job at Ernst & Young! :) Aaaaaahhhhh.... how fast time actually goes by! Passing the 10th of January 2007, I have already been working for 3 months. The feeling of getting older and learning new things everyday at work brings about a feeling of satisfication. Although, work is generally tough and tedious (what do you expect in the auditing line?). I must admit though, when I fast started off I did feel demotivated and some what unhappy with the job having to go back home at 3am and back to work by 8am the next day. I did think about quitting at that time........ :( However, a miracle happened to me! That miracle brought along a girl named Vern Cheng. Without her support, I would have struggled a lot more. After work, just seeing her brings about a feeling of happiness and a feeling of being cont