When Covid-19 hit the global economy hard last year, some international students, including myself, were left with only one option, and that was to apply to jobs that were based predominately from home. When attempting to work from home, we dedicate our lives to our roles, to make sure we establish a strong foundation for our careers. At times it can be demanding, requiring the same planning as work in an in office setting, but this also enables us to become more efficient and flexible, given that we are able to save on commuting times, while also saving the energy and time the commuting requires.?

I have been working and studying at home for approximately two years, so it is actually a new normal that I have been used to for a long time. Many of my friends and peers are experiencing a similar situation and so we try to maintain close bonds online to get though this difficult time together. Some of my international classmates have returned to their home country and they can choose to work at the office and talk to either managers or clients in a face-to-face way. And the rest of us started to use online working platforms, such as Slack to continue the quality work.?

Recently, I have applied to some internships as I have just finished university and I want to explore more of the practical business world. Some of the job descriptions that happened to mark ‘can either choose to work remote or onsite’ straight bring up to my mind. However, when I passed the interview stage, I found some of the recruitment people have sort of discrimination of remote working. Their original word is when there are two same background and equal behaved candidates in front of them, one can do onsite and the other can work remote, they will always choose the onsite one. It is actually quite unfair as we think through the full job description, it did give the candidate the hope that we can compete the job, right? If we are rejected by some reasons like lack of work experiences or specific knowledge, we can definitely accept that part of failure and keep improve on that road. However, when it comes to workplace, what are other choices we have with the covid-19 situation? I feel very appreciated as I realized my past few work experiences have conducted online and my senior leaders are totally understanding and supporting us. In order to help us grow, they are being the role model or mentor out there to give a help hand whenever we need them.?

As I am still in my early twenties, sometimes I do feel stuck or going through a bottleneck time. In short, every stage of career life is not easy at all, I have to prove myself what kind of person I am when I competed with a lot of excellent new graduates. Although, I want to be independent and pay my own bills, I have to find a job that I am really passionate about and explore all the career possibilities. It is a very essential stage for recruiting team to give us the platform, showing extra care and respect for each candidate.?

Meaningful work is something that gives me the satisfaction apart from the strong connection with team members or managers. And this meaningful work does not only mean work in the office, but also remote. As long as we feel motivated and driven when we work, it is the correct direction.