First Career: MNC or SME? I would like to hear from you!
This was the toughest decision I had to make in 2019, when I first embarked on my career right after graduation. As most of you are probably looking for a job right now, I thought it will be nice to summarize some of my readings and experience, which I hoped someone would have shared with me back then. Of course, these are just some of the insights I discovered after reading online, speaking to a few, and based on my own experience. Feel free to share your own opinions too!
1.Salary, Welfare, and Prestige
These were probably the initial considerations that came into my mind. MNCs do pay better for the same role; in terms of welfare like leaves, insurance, claims, and other luxurious benefits, MNCs do have a higher budget to spare as compared to SMEs. And for prestige, most would go for MNCs due to high competition and the brands are more recognizable. But with the help of the government support, there are SMEs that do match their remuneration to the market rate, sometimes even higher depending on your role. Working for reputable SMEs also adds plus points on your resume.
2.Culture and environment
With hierarchy comes bureaucracy; this is evident in MNCs and that also means that information flow and decision making will take more time, and juniors are more distant from the top management. In comparison, most SMEs have a flat hierarchy where many report to the same person, and employees are in close contact with the bosses; SMEs are also more flexible and quicker in terms of adapting to changes. SMEs also have more family-like culture as everyone works closely with one another. For exposure to global opportunities, business travels, and diverse culture, MNCs fared better, but there are also some SMEs with regional presence that allow you to travel or work with people of different nationalities too. MNCs will have more bonding events like family day, sports day, etc. due to higher budget, and some even have compulsory work-from-home days, compared to SMEs. Teamwork is super important in SMEs due to limited manpower, unlike MNCs with specialized roles.
3.Roles, Responsibilities, and Growth
In MNCs, your role is mostly specialized and after some time, you will be very skilled in your field. This is good for people who have already figured out what they want to achieve in their career and want to be experts in it. Mentorship is always a plus as there are many experienced people to guide you in your function. Entry-level employees may be less involved in strategic or leadership roles, but with good pay and benefits, many plan to stay long-term in MNCs and slowly make their way up the corporate ladder. In comparison, you often find yourself holding multiple roles in SMEs where you see direct impact of your actions. Problem solving and critical thinking is a norm, and sometimes you may even find yourself heading a project or taking on leadership roles while impacting change. If you want to experience different functions, discover your interests and skillsets, or jump to leadership roles in a short time, SMEs seem to provide more of such opportunities. But with the lack of mentorship, that means most of the time you are on your own, and you must learn and execute things simultaneously.
At the end of the day, it depends on what you want to achieve, and what is your personal career goal. Both choices have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I dare say, any experience is definitely value-adding to your own career!
Adrian and I wanted to catch the Tulips really badly, so we found a good time to travel to Amsterdam! It was a 4 days 3 nights trip to Amsterdam and Lisse.
Unfortunately, due to flight prices, I would have to be there one day earlier than Adrian, and since accommodations are pretty expensive in Ams, I decided to try couch surfing.
Being Homeless
I had two bookings just in case one of them bail on me, but I failed to realise that I am staying over on a Friday evening, and the week after is King's Day... so guess what? In the end at the very last minute, BOTH couch hosts bailed on me because they "had plans". And being a stingy Asian on exchange, I refuse to pay 70 euros a night for a shared dormitory, hence I decided to go homeless for a night.
Luckily I was able to hang out with Donovan on the first day before he traveled to Belgium, and he brought me to Chinatown where I spotted a Temple (super random, and the only one that I saw in Europe LOL). So I paid my respects, which I am glad I did, because the superstitious me felt that on the hindsight, it kept me safe and sound when I was homeless HAHA.
Back to being homeless - you need a game plan. What I first did was to mark where is Primark, since it opens till 10PM, and it has seats and free charging pods, plus I will definitely shop for more than three hours there. After that, I marked out all the neighbouring hotels near Primark and tried my best to stay as long as possible in their lobbies. Of course, I got chased out at 2AM from NH Grand Hotel (but I had to admit it that it was my life saviour from 10PM - 2AM) and then this was where my nightmare began.
Thankfully, there is a 24-hour MacDonald's operating just about a 2-min walk away. I made my way there, and I had to walk past the National Monument, where homeless and stoned people are hobo-ing there. As I walked, I realised that there were NO females at all, let alone a small Asian backpacker like me, and of course, all eyes were on me when I emerged from the hotel lobby and walked pass the monument. Really gave me the shivers.
I reached Macdonald's, bought a cheeseburger, and picked a corner seat right in front of the counter so that if I needed help, the staff can rush to me right away. Jokes - I forgot that it was a Friday night and 2AM is the first wave where the party kids arrive for supper (the next wave is 5AM). So even if I needed help, the staff will be too busy serving the queues of customers ._.
Nevertheless, I settled down, and I never felt so high on alert and awake before, I held my phone so tightly in case someone tries to snatch it away from me. I put my Primark bag on the table, so I can block my vision of people around me and just stay put at a corner. Then from somewhere I heard a bunch of guys saying "hello". I thought they were trying to hit on the bunch of girls sitting beside my table, so I ignored them. When the girls left, this bunch of guys shifted to that table right beside me, and they kinda "cornered" me, and one guy even sat right opposite me. I was super scared, and I never prayed so hard in my life. The guy pushed my Primark bag away, and kept saying "hello", "你好 ni hao" but I completely ignored them and put on my Resting Bitch Face (though my heart was thumping really loudly and I was praying so hard for them to F off). After sometime, they got bored because I barely budged, and they then moved upstairs to chill. Phew.
Sunrise is at 6:30AM, and at that time, it was only 4AM. My phone battery was at 30%, and I never counted down to daylight so badly before. I took out my book to read since I didn't want my phone to be completely dead.
And finally at 5:30AM, Starbucks opened its doors. I quickly rushed over since it is right beside Macs, but as I exited, I saw that outside Macs there are still so many guys smoking weed and looking at me like "what's this creature doing here".
I swear, I have never felt sooooooo thankful and safe the moment I settled down in Starbucks. I bought a cake (which I ate for three hours until Adrian arrived), charged my phone, and started reading my book. THANK GOD FOR STARBUCKS like, omg, words cannot express how grateful you open at such an ungodly hour.
So what is the moral of the story? Don't save on safety. The next time Imma just pay any amount to have a safe shelter over my head omg. I told my parents and they scolded me, duh.
ACCOMMODATION
Found this accommodation at Hotelboat for 80 Euros per night for two, with shared facilities but a sumptuous free buffet breakfast. Even though it was already end of April but at night it was rather chilly, and we invited Adrian's colleague - Judy, and her family - over for some snacks and beer. We loved the sunset.
After settling down, we went to check out the streets of Amsterdam. I really love those rustic buildings.
My favourite snack from Netherlands - STROOP WAFFLES - thin waffle biscuits with caramel sauce in the middle. I bought around 8 packets of it and almost exceeded my baggage limit. Adrian taught me an interesting way to eat stroop waffles - put one on top of a warm cup of coffee and let it soften before you eat it yum yum.
Checked out Alber Cuyp Market and had our lunch there - the food was splendid! Queued for the famous freshly baked gigantic stroop waffles, had the most delicious kebab for 3 euros, tried raw herring with raw onion and garlic IT WAS AMAZING. According to the locals, it is very nutritious.
As a huge fan of cheese, I loved the idea of walking around and feeding on free samples I think Holland is the land of cheese or something, there were many cheese factories and museums we just tried the cheese from every single one of them till we were full. My favourite was this 1000 (or was it 100) year old cheese IT WAS AMAZEBALLS like there was this slight aged wine kind of aftertaste. And I caught my eye on this small wheel of Truffle Cheese at only 8 Euros ( I am pretty sure I can eat it for months) but because it expires rather early so I didn't buy. YIKES.
Fries fries fries, yet another favourite food of mine. We queued up at the recommended fries shop - apparently in Amsterdam they are famous for big fries bouquet topped with sauces. We chose tartar (or was it mayonnaise) and some bbq sauce I think, and it was guuuuud. But too heaty la, I feel like I got ulcer after that LOL.
We then checked out this ice cream shop recommended by some of our friends ( apparently it's the best ice cream ever) and we chose PEACH, vanilla, and chocolate. WOOHOO.
IJscuypje, Eerste van der Helststraat 27, 1073 AC Amsterdam, Netherlands
Checked out the sausage buns at HEMA - something like their IKEA.
Sometimes we have unhealthy food for dinner too - fried chicken and fries with beer WEW. Each set was 6 Euros I think? I guess you can call it one of the cheaper eats in Amsterdam (the place is rather expensive I would say). We went to this shop near the red light district and the uncle gave us extra chicken hahaha.
And sometimes when we miss Asian food we will check out places like Wok to Walk or any wok shop for the cheap but big portion steals.
Caught some pizza on the way to Heineken Experience.
And and and, one of the BEST authentic Asian food we had in Europe was this 烧腊 (roast meat) restaurant that Serena (Yiqing) recommended, IT WAS FANTASTIC. The shop was opened by a hong kong family, in the middle of Chinatown. We ordered a bowl of dumplings (6.50 Euros) and triple-roast (Char Siew, Roast Duck, Roast Pork) rice 12 Euros to share hahaha (Asian scrubs).
Nam Kee
Zeedijk 111/113 | Chinatown, 1012 AV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
One of my favourite pastime in Europe is to check out all their churches. Of course, we didn't miss it out in Amsterdam too!
Begijnhof Chapel
Begijnhof 48, 1012 WV Amsterdam, Netherlands
So in Amsterdam, there are some canal trips you can take FOR FREE to check out some attractions across the canal. We chose the one that brings us to NDSM - a super hipster and urban place full of containers warehouses and graffiti art.
One thing I really like about Amsterdam is their abundance of parks and gardens, each and every one is such a nice place to chill, especially during spring/summer season. Here are some of the parks we went, all withing walking distance to each other, including the famous Iamsterdam sign!
Besides Tulips, one of the most memorable things about Amsterdam is actually the Heineken Experience at 18 Euros per ticket - we got to try their free beer, check out their brewery, had some 3D rides, and see horses that were named after VIPs. Adrian even took part in the beer-pouring competition and BROKE A GLASS. I bought three bottles of beer with customised names for my family at 6 Euros each.
Met up with Judy and her family to check out the famous must-go red light district in Amsterdam to experience their "red-light" culture! We were "forced" to watch the peepshow - 1 Euro 1 minute - and personally I don't watch, so watching it LIVE is even worse for me.
It was quite a funny experience, we shared a spot and put in two coins = 2 minutes of peepshow. When we entered the entire cubicle smelled like pee and cum, the walls were super dirty - I guess the males do their acts right on the spot. And then what happens is right after you insert the coin, the curtains will unfold and you can see the actors instantly. The funny thing is that, since the stage is a circle and the peep cubicles are surrounding it, when the curtain unfolds you can actually see the other tourists in their own cubicles showing a shocked face each time.
So the worst part is that me and Adrian went shopping at Primark before that; we carried a lot of stuff, but even though it was rather bulky, we can't put it on the floor or rest against the walls because it's JUST SO DIRTY... so we struggled a while and left after like a minute or so. HAHAHA #FAIL.
Judy's husband also treated us to the Prostitution Museum at 10 Euros a ticket to read and understand more about the prostitution culture in Netherlands.
It's quite sad to read that some of the girls were scammed into prostitution, thinking that it was an audition for being a star. Some were actually Law students, but they wanted to find quick money to pay off their debts, so they turned to this, where each week they can easily earn 2000 - 3000 Euros.
We also tried Space Cake for the first time... honestly speaking I don't really like the smell of weed? Till today if someone is smoking it I can totally pick it up. It's like this plastic-y mushroom-y smell that is just not pleasant to me.
We asked the Coffee Shop guy to recommend what's a good trial for first-timers, he recommended the edibles, and asked if we prefer the relaxing on or the high and happy one. I told Adrian we should choose the relaxing one because we stay on a boat what if we become too happy and jump into the water. The guy recommended half each for us to try - it was the size of a muffin.
So we went back, and I was a little hungry, the muffin looks appetizing to me. But being a pussy, I broke my half into quarters, and I ate one. It tasted HORRIBLE - just like the smell I described - plastic-y mushroom-y. And then as Adrian was chatting with me, I slowly started only hearing white noise and I can't seem to control my consciousness. And the next moment I knocked out. But I suddenly spoke again and Adrian got a shock because he was doing work and he thought I had something to say. But then I went back to sleep instantly. HAHAHA.
Not sure if it's because I didn't sleep for the past 48 hours (remember I was homeless) but yeah not a nice experience. Yucks.
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LISSE
The main highlight of the trip was actually to check out this Keukenhof exhibition, where the Tulips bloom during the spring season annually. We got our tickets at 25 Euros each, inclusive of the bus ride from Ams to Lisse and back. Because food there was expensive, being cheapskates, we packed sandwiches from our accommodation and brought there hahaha. Bumped into Judy and her family again when queuing for the bus.
Honestly, I thought it was quite disappointing as I was expecting this park to have fields and fields of Tulips, just like those desktop wallpaper. We went there just to find out it's just a tourist spot, super crowded, hard to find nice photo spots, and most of the Tulips are fenced so it's not what we imagined. But the flower exhibition is still nice, and we could climb up to the windmill! I guess we were also lucky enough to walk past Selina from the girl group S.H.E. Starstruck indeed.
SUGGESTION: The real deal - massive Tulip fields - are just right outside the Keukenhof garden. So what you can do is SAVE ON THE TICKETS, just get the bus ticket to Keukenhof, rent a bicycle, and then cycle around the area!
Met up with Adrian's friends: Eleanor and Matthias, and we all rent bicycles together. I mean, have you really been to Netherlands if you didn't ride a bicycle?
As Asian srcrubs, the four of us only rented two bicycles because one rental is 10 Euros - even though the person told us umpteen times NO you CANNOT have two people on the bicycle. We thought they just wanted to make money. But the truth is, my butt really hurt and yes, the bicycle is not for two. Adrian asked me to shut up because I was being a naggy grandmother asking him if he is all right every second HAHAHA. I mean I felt bad because I am not that light?
Anyways even though the ride was cool, we really enjoyed ourselves by blasting Jay Chou music as we cycled around the area. Shiok indeed. We crashed quite a few Tulip farms and omg, the fields of Tulips in varying shades are just eyegasm.
Thanks to the Tulips, the following picture was also featured on SGSMU hahahah. And somehow the Tulips reminded me of this tissue box brand.
That's one eventful trip to Netherlands. I think in total I spent about less than 500 Euros for this trip, inclusive of Airfare, Accommodations, and everything else. WORTH IT. Will definitely go back again, but NOT HOMELESS this time.
