#3 - Love Letters from You to Me with Marina K Ishmel

"Salam sis,
Sorry for this surprise email. Jus curious do you wear tudung during working hrs. :)
How is the response from the management? ... Hope this won't disturb ya.."

Yes, it is true that you see pictures of me with the hijab and then without the hijab flying around on Facebook and the blog.
This is really a long story and I hope I did not bore her!

*lol*

Salam sis,

Truth is I do not. I always start going to a new company without wearing the hijab and then I will evaluate the situation.
Previously in my IBM days, I wore the hijab after 1 year in the industry.

This time around in Microsoft, I have not put on the hijab after almost 2 years in my department. Maybe it is because of the situation I am feeling in the office and the nature of people I have to work with. So its really a situation of 'masuk kandang kambing mengembek and masuk kandang lembu menguak'

My outside life is also very private with a lot of people in the office, unless they read my blog. None of my colleagues, except my Director is on my personal Facebook.

There is constantly a part of me that tries to avoid the hiring management discounting me of my credibility in the workforce despite the qualifications. So for me, my priority jobscope and salary scale. The least I can do for my parents who have educated me is to get a good job with good salary.

There are some people who insists that they should wear the hijab and stand by that principle that rezeki di tangan Tuhan. I respect those who view it that way. However, at the end of the day, they need to bear in mind that there are mouths to feed and bills to pay. But truthfully each is it to its own.

If you are planning to wear the hijab to work, you may want to consider 2 things:
1. Whether it is an MNC or SME. SMEs are more flexible with outlooks
2. Whether you will have to go out and see clients, work with events and so on because there are indeed some HR which do not prefer hijab ladies to be fronting occassions as such.

Some ladies i know will speak to their bosses first before they wear the hijab into office.
I did try once but was rejected. So things like this happen.

My pre-pregnancy office days are dressed in pants, long sleeve shirts (sometimes folded up) but the hijab will be in the handbag for after office hours, though there are times it is left at home.
My husband does not emphasize on hijab. To him, akhlak first then hijab.

So in that sense I am lucky to have the huband's blessings and he leaves the decision in my hands.

xoxo