A Search for Perfection

Meet Tony, a job seeker with bachelor degree in civil engineering. It's been a while since he resigned from his old job and looking for a new one. Tony had worked for several construction companies before, but none met his expectation. Tony is an idealist; he loves healthy environment, and ever since he was a student, he's been aspired to build a eco-friendly buildings in an eco-friendly empire. But most companies these days never applied the eco-friendly concept thoroughly, it has always been an accessory or a gimmick--you know, like how they put a green roof on top of their 3D building models, when in reality they never intended to do so--which is disappointing for Tony. So mostly, Tony quits when things got too sour and he's not passionate anymore. People would cringe at his picky-ness and suggested that he lower his standard or else he would end up unemployed forever, but he still believes that there is gotta be one place that he feels comfortable to work at. However, after days and days of going through numerous job vacancies and interviews, Tony's search for a suitable job still hasn't come to fruition.

But one day, Tony met a turning point in his search, thanks to a card. A card? Yes. Tony prefer to call it "fate", though.
It was Saturday afternoon, and Tony had promised to meet Daniel, his old colleague, for a coffee. Daniel and Tony were discussing over the importance of self-branding when Daniel reached out to his wallet to show Daniel his own business card. He handed it to Tony, just to realized that he had pulled the wrong card; it's a company business card. Tony raised his eyebrows at the card that was in his hand. It's sleek and white. Printed there was the company's logo, address, contact, and slogan; all colored in blue and green, which is eye-catchy and kind of unusual for mostly formal, rigid business card. This caught his attention. Daniel said that it's a relatively new startup company that was applying for joint cooperation for a project not too long ago. What kind of company? Tony asked. It's striving in eco-friendly architecture and design I believe, replied Daniel. Tony's eyes widened hearing his old colleague's words. Then he mumbled to himself, I haven't applied for this one.

So, there he goes. Curriculum vitae in one hand and a job application letter in another. His heart was pounding in excitement as he stepped into the small, minimalist office. Lucky for Tony, the growing company was recruiting some extra hands. Seeing Tony's past experiences and current capabilities, it wasn't so hard getting the job. Although many times, people asked him things like, are you sure you want to work there? It just started and you never know if it's going to be big or giving you debts, or, are you sure you want to work here? Our paying is obviously not as high as your previous workplaces. With that CV, you can work somewhere better. But all the time, Tony just smiled and shook his head. No, I want to work in this company and let me decide for myself if it's worth it or not, he thought.

Just for the record, Tony's longest period to work in one place is one year and 7 months. It was quite satisfying, until he realized that the company has strayed too much from Tony's preferable pace and track. Now, he has already been working for this new eco-company for 3 years, which is a good news, since Tony enjoying his work there. There, he found love (yes, Tony got himself a girlfriend), joy, new lessons and experiences. The company has been growing ever since Tony got to work in it, much to Tony's favor, and so does Tony.

Tony, who graduated from a top-notch university and worked for few top companies, had experienced the feeling of having privilege. But in his current job, he's not a prestigious college student nor an high-paying engineer; he started off as just an ordinary staff in a small, new company. Sure there must be some ups and downs; competing as a startup company in construction field is not easy after all, and Tony had to do the hard work. He remembered his parents' dissatisfied expression when they heard that Tony is now working for a low-profile company. But Tony is already committed, he was willing to take the risk, believing that someday, all his hard work will be paid off. He believes that this company is going to be big, thus mutually improved him and his coworkers. I finally found a perfect place to settle in, he thought.

(To be continued)