Forty-three-year-old Joy Koh (not actual name) has worked as an account coordinator in the advertising field for more than 15 years. Working life has been good to her as she was close with her colleagues and drew a substantial monthly salary.

However, things took a turn for the worse about four years ago – her company decided to cut down on costs and there was the possibility of retrenchment of staff.

For a mother of three daughters – a 12-year-old and a pair of 6-year-old twins, this piece of news was not music to her ears.

As it turned out, Joy’s company had planned to give two batches of employees their pink slips.

When the D-day arrived, Joy found out that she was not in the first batch of employees to go. Heaving a sigh of relief, she knew she had a few more months left with the company hence she was able to prepare herself mentally for the inevitable.

Two months later, Joy was out of a job. And as a result, her husband became the sole breadwinner of the whole family for the subsequent three months.

With a growing family, Joy knew she needed another full-time job to supplement her husband’s salary. She resisted taking up part-time or temporary positions and luckily enough for her, she soon got her current full-time position as a corporate account executive through JobsDB.com.

Today, it’s been almost three and a half years that Joy has worked with her current employer. But it hasn’t been a ride in the park for her as she had to unlearn and relearn all over again.

“It hasn’t been an easy transition. This new job requires me to do sales which is not something that I’m used to. It can be quite stressful as I’m not used to the idea of meeting sales targets and quotas. Also, I had to take a cut in salary of about 30 per cent,” explained Joy. “But over time, my salary and commission increased and now I’m drawing a remuneration bigger than with my previous employer.”

Obviously, her willingness to keep on learning and adapting to her situations has helped her to improve herself tremendously. “The group dynamics in my current company is fantastic and I get along fine with my colleagues. This further encourages me to build on my confidence and motivates me to strive for my best.”

For those who are experiencing what Joy had gone through, here are some precious words from her: “Don't ever give up when the going gets tough but keep on persevering and see it through. At the end of the day, you’ll turn out to be a much more stronger and enduring person.”