My years in a foreign trade company (1)

I officially graduated from a second-rate university in 2006, majoring in international trade. The city I live in is an old port city + a popular tourist destination.

I went to the foreign trade company as a matter of course and without any difficulty, because there are thousands of companies of this type here. Of course, there are very few companies like Big Mac. Haier Not everyone can go to Hisense’s overseas business department. Most of them are mom-and-pop shops or self-employed businesses.

The first company I graduated from was a mom-and-pop shop. Looking back, the first company was really important because it laid the foundation for me to continue working in a mom-and-pop shop for the next three to five years.

My boss has an elementary school education and my boss’s wife has a junior high school education, but this did not affect them at all in becoming entrepreneurs who can support more than a dozen people.

My boss’s fortune history is very simple. He started working as a worker in a factory at the age of 15. Because he was young, diligent and studious, he later became a skilled worker. Later, he moved to a company as a quality inspector, and later passed I seized some factory and customer resources through various channels and went out to work alone.

The boss’s wife was a salesperson in a special store when she married the boss.

By the way, the English of the boss and the landlady was stuck at the "what's your name?" stage. By that time, they could already do 10 million a year.

When I first came here, my boss told me that your job is to recruit foreign customers. It is very simple here. We have various types of software here, such as Alibaba, such as Suzhou. Qitong, bala bala, and another one is to teach the boss English every Thursday afternoon, using the textbook "New Concepts Volume 1".

I thought to myself, holy shit, it’s so exciting for such a young, reliable and motivated young man to be my boss and to be my teacher.

On the first day of work, I started with training. The boss lady threw me a thick vocabulary book, professional terms in this industry and some basic industry standards. At that time, we were in the furniture industry. of customers are IKEA suppliers.

In the first week, I went through a lot of professional vocabulary, and finally learned that there are hundreds of kinds of trees in the world, and that a bench really cannot be nailed up with just two hammers.

The second week, wipe the furniture, you read that right, yes. The boss rented a 500-square-meter space below the office building specifically to store furniture. What I mean below is the underground garage. It is dark and closed to prevent thieves from entering, and it is guarded by a heavy iron door. The types of furniture range from small shoe stools and display racks to large wardrobes and double beds.

My job is to carry a bucket of water, a bunch of rags and waxing tools in my hand, start wiping the first small item at the door, and then move everything. Go outside your garage, next to a garden beneath an office building, and let your home bask in the sun to prevent hair growth.

This job lasted a week, and my arms were sore when I came home every day.

I still remember that after the first day of work, I was too tired to move. When I returned to my work station, I heard my boss saying to the boss’s wife in the room: I just came here and I have no work, so I can’t be idle anyway.

My tears fell down unsatisfactorily.

It was my first lesson after graduation to put down my posture and accept the reality. Although I felt terribly wronged at the time, I had no talents. As long as I had the opportunity to train myself, I must cherish it. In this process, tempering your own heart and character, doing this first, is the first step to self-strengthening.

In fact, after graduation, 90% of us will not be able to enter central enterprises or big companies. Most people can only enter very ordinary micro or small enterprises, which have no system, no corporate culture, and no benefits. How to judge the company's development under such circumstances?

To talk about myself, the first month after graduation was spent very quickly memorizing vocabulary, cleaning and waxing furniture, and learning to pack.

In the second month, before we left for the Shanghai Exhibition, our boss suddenly said, this is our first time to attend a large-scale exhibition. You salesmen should dress nicely. You can think about it yourself. Let’s do some uniform clothing.

Oh, my god, I was leaving in three days, so I said I wanted to do some clothing shopping. At that time, online shopping was not as crazy as it is now. Another colleague and I were running around in major shopping malls, and we could see A fancy uniform costs 400 to 500 yuan, and at that time my basic salary was only 800 yuan. Later, we found a tailor shop, chose very cheap fabrics, and spent extra money, but no one made a suit and skirt.

The day before the exhibition started, we arrived in Shanghai and our company started to set up the exhibition. Other companies simply brought some representative furniture. We went there in a whole truck and brought 120 large pieces. Our strengths in furniture, large and small, are footstools, folding chairs, display racks, and the like, with a total of forty or fifty. All the furniture was assembled bit by bit by a few of us little girls at the exhibition site.

Now that I think about it, everyone in the exhibition hall has no place to stay. They are all crowded with large and small footstools. How do you feel?

Set up a street stall.

Later I realized that the boss’s structure basically determines the tone of the company. Such a boss, even when he has a turnover of millions, will always only look at the immediate future when it comes to dealing with employees and customers.

On the day of the conference, I immediately discovered that the CET-6 I had studied and even the TOEFL I had taken were all bullshit on the day I went to the battlefield. Although I could understand VOA at a regular speaking speed, But when I introduce an electric massage chair, I just want to die. How should you express "With the electric remote control, you can adjust the angle of the massage chair, so that our professionally configured imported Thai latex pads can fit your cervical spine perfectly." "There is a curve of the lumbar spine"

My tongue and my thoughts are as chaotic as knots

At the exhibition site, I was spitting, but I often couldn't express my words. Or I don’t know how to say it at all. The most terrifying thing is that people come from all over the world with different accents. I often listen to it in confusion. In the end, I can only hand over our product introduction in a nonchalant manner.

At the end of the first day, I was scolded mercilessly by my boss, and I felt deeply aggrieved.

The situation was similar on the second and third days. Every night I was so tired that I had to quickly sort out the business cards in my hand and rely on my memory during the day to write down what products these customers wanted.

Because of my poor performance on site, a week after returning from the exhibition, I still went to the cellar to clean the furniture every day. Not only that, I also started doing a lot of errands for the boss lady. For example, taking their only son home.

For the first time in my life, I understand that the workplace is not easy and moving forward is difficult.

I finally understood how impetuous I had been.

When the furniture company was not doing well, an opportunity came.

In my hometown, my relatives are all somewhat powerful because I am the eldest daughter of the family. They think that I should not submit to the self-employed, so they all come to help me.

I got an interview opportunity as an assistant to the general manager of a listed company. It was not so much an interview, but an appointment because the chairman was a comrade of my uncle's.

I didn’t really want to leave the island city, but I thought this was an opportunity. Without hesitation, I returned to my hometown to meet the chairman.

It was a high temperature of 38 degrees that day, and all my meticulous makeup was completely gone. I was sitting in the chairman’s office of Nuo University, and the gray-haired old man was sitting behind the big desk ten meters away. Looking at me, he asked me a random question: Why do you want to work in our company?

Because I always felt in my bones that the relationship was predetermined, it can be said that I was almost unprepared. I don’t quite remember how I answered. In short, after I finished speaking, I lowered my head in shame and felt that I had messed up everything, and I was terrified.

Later I returned to the furniture company and kept convincing myself that it was strange that people would like you because of your bear look. More than half a month later, they came back and said they could let me go to work. Logically speaking, I should be elated, but because I had never done well in this small company before, and my performance in the interview that day was very poor, I was very hesitant and didn’t do it immediately. promise.

The HR department noticed my hesitation and stopped without mercy.

After all, most people can't even ask for such a good job, so why are you still hesitating?

This is me, at the age of 23, I couldn’t see clearly or understand.

Every step is a stumble. In the chaotic process, I don’t dare to make any choices. I don’t believe in myself or others.

I finally understand: If you can’t seize the opportunity, you can only blame yourself for not being strong enough.

After three months in the furniture company, my desire to leave became stronger day by day, mainly due to money issues. The company gave me a six-month internship period, which means that I only have Income of 800 yuan.

I already feel that I am too poor.

At that time, my classmates had already begun to go to Europe, the United States, and Dubai to participate in exhibitions. Their incomes were already four or five times that of mine.

Every time I talk about it, they say that your company’s starting point is too low.

After setting up a stall at the exhibition, I also clearly understood that the boss only wanted a permanent employee with an academic degree. I had no platform, and he was the only one standing on that platform.

I started looking for a job, trying to find a horse by riding a donkey.

I also attended a few interviews secretly, but I couldn’t tell people happily every time? HR, as long as you can use me, I can report it tomorrow.

There is also a little selfishness, because at that time there were several customers who contacted me from the exhibition, and they were trying hard to contact them. Some of them, foreigners, always said: I remember you, and I will contact you when I have an order. .

For these commitments, subconsciously I will not give up my current job first.

Time passed with hesitation. Six months later, I finally became a full-time employee. I applied for the registration certificate, moved in, and handed over the files. This also paved the way for the cumbersome procedures for my resignation. A foreshadowing was made.

Later, I missed the annual talent recruitment activities for the Golden Nine and Silver Ten. At that time, I already had some work experience and was still very young. It should be very easy to change jobs. Unfortunately, I missed it too.

Talking about another aspect, I finally found a new owner in December.

My former colleague told me a month after I left my job that on the second day after you officially resigned, your Irish customer placed an order for a container.

When I heard the truth, I shed tears.

Therefore, the mentality of newly graduated college students is really important. If you are wavering on your own, it is true that even the gods will not be able to help you.