Onwards and Upwards

Don't panic - I haven't thrown myself out of our 15th floor apartment window since writing my last slightly maudlin blog!  In fact, if anything my blog and the reaction that many of you had to it made me have strong words with myself, encouraged me to stop feeling sorry for myself and kick started me into grabbing this amazing opportunity that David and I have here in Hong Kong. Thank you to all of you who sent me supportive messages, texts and phone calls which lifted me out of my gloomy mood.  It was particularly reassuring hearing from so many other expat friends who related to my frustrations and emotions and have come through the other side successfully.  

The hunt for a job has snowballed with all my networking really beginning to pay off, but it has literally filled every single day this week.  I have had numerous meetings, put together proposals for project work and talked through my CV relentlessly.  The turning point was a meeting with the Managing Director of Edelman - the world's largest PR agency.  He was a confident, sharp and very personable Australian who was so positive about my experience, claiming he would employ me in an instant if he had a vacancy to fill.  Regardless of whether he was giving me lip service, it bolstered my waning confidence and made me realise that approaching the International PR agencies is going to be a more fruitful exercise than the advertising and media planning and buying agencies where there appear to be fewer regional opportunities.  So, leaving the meeting at Edelman with a change in direction and  a fistful of other PR agency contacts to follow-up, everything started to alter for the better and very rapidly.  As a result next week I have a meeting with senior management within three further very well known PR agencies so hopefully I am a step closer to securing a job and regaining my identity!

So, I am in a much happier place now and feel positive that if I keep up the networking, an exciting opportunity will present itself soon.

Rewarding myself after a networking meeting with a McDonald's while wearing Vivienne Westwood (sorry about the strange facial expression - I was feeling a little self-conscious about taking a photo of myself)