Sometimes as we grow, our dreams may evolve along the way.
For 32-year-old Adriel Chiun, his passion and flair were always in journalism.
Even before graduating from Central Saint Martins, a university that specialises in the arts in London, Adriel was already a contributing writer for publications back home in Singapore.
Upon his return, Adriel first wrote full-time for Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore, a publication dedicated to the best of fashion, beauty, design, travel and the arts for women.
After five years, Adriel chose to branch into freelance work, continuing to write for BAZAAR while taking on projects from other fashion-based publications such as Female and the E! cable channel.
Seeking Structure and Routine
Late last year, Adriel decided that he wanted to move away from freelance fashion work.
While freelance work gave him flexibility, he yearned for the structure and routine that come with full-time employment.
He explained: “I just figured that I didn’t want to do fashion for so long … I wanted to be in a team, to be honest, and I needed a routine.”
From High Fashion to Gourmet Food
In January this year, Adriel landed a role with Wine & Dine Magazine – Singapore’s longest-running gourmet food and wine magazine – as a digital editor.
The company needed to be familiar with other aspects of publication work even though Adriel was a seasoned writer. These included an in-depth understanding behind pagination concepts, editorial budget management and business planning, to name a few.
Wine & Dine and NTUC’s e2i’s (Employment and Employability Institute) collaborated to help Adriel with that.
On-the-Job Training vs Place-and-Train
While on-the-job training is a common practice for most companies, it may not be the best approach. Especially if the new employee had no prior experience.
During his probation, Adriel benefitted from a place-and-train programme. Besides going through on-the-job training, he was also attending a training programme that was specifically curated by both Wine & Dine and e2i for his role as a digital editor.
To date, he has completed 16 modules helping to ease him into his new role.
“The place-and-train initiative has equipped me with the relevant coaching for my role in the magazine–and then some. I wouldn’t have been exposed to different facets of the magazine if not for it,” he said.
Having been with Wine & Dine for six months now, he hopes to be able meet more F&B veterans as well as dabble in multimedia.
“I want to be exposed to more icons of the industry and do more creative video content with them,” he said.