T: 03 7966 8388 F: 03 7955 3355 matching talent to jobS · our career guide reflect the concerted effort by employers, teaching institutions, organisations like TalentCorp and graduates

Saturday 9 auguSt 2014

T: 03 7966 8388 F: 03 7955 3355

Do what you love

YOUR ULTIMATE CAREER& TALENT RESOURCE

Pg 14

cherished momentsAn intern’s story of her enriching journey

Pg 05

not monkeying aroundLeadership lessons from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

brain drainA tale of diminishing cognitive capacity

Pg 15

Over and beyondHow your 90% can perform like your top 10%

Pg 03

matching talent to jobS

ready to graduate - ready for workPageS 5-12

mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014�

Want practical tips for success on your way home from work? We’re on

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in the Klang Valley

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The opinions expressed in this career guide are those of the writers or the people they quoted and not necessarily those of Leaderonomics.

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By SARAH [email protected]

FAST forward from your graduation. You’ve applied tirelessly for jobs, and finally got a response out of the many applications you sent. After the excitement of getting a reply wears off, the panic sets in. How are you going to prepare for the interview?

Fret not. Here are a few interview tips shared by career experts, handpicked from an article by Robert Farrington on Forbes, titled 15 Career Experts Share The Best Interview Tips For College Graduates.

The ReveRse InTeRvIew

Brian Fino, the CEO of Fino Consulting, personally enjoys seeing a genuine interest in his interviews.

Candidates who ‘interviewed’ in return gave the impression of being sincerely interested, thus gaining favour in their interviews.

There is a limit to how many questions we should ask in an interview, as you want to avoid irritating the interviewer. Keep well informed about the company, and ask questions at appropriate times.

The 30/2 Rule

Kim Seeling Smith, human resources (HR) expert and CEO of Ignite Global, says that a great rule to have is to keep to a specific time limit in answering your ques-tions.

Provide your answers within 30 seconds to two minutes, as less than that would appear too rushed, and interviewers may not be able to pay attention for more than that.

Don’T self-DepRecaTeNick Salbatera, talent advocate of Hired,

advises us not to attempt to be too hum-ble, as we may sound as though we lack confidence instead.

If you do not seem to have confidence in yourself, your interviewer will definitely not have any either.

Don’t sing about your accomplish-ments, but don’t talk down your abilities. If you are asked about an achievement, explain clearly and honestly how you have achieved it and how you feel about it.

Be passIonaTe

Eric Beecher, sales director for Hatch Staffing Services, looks for passion in his interviews. Nobody wants a skilled worker who has no interest in his/her job.

Feel free to speak about the things that you are passionate about, be it a hobby or a job. As a fresh graduate, your passion will definitely make up for your lack of experi-ence, therefore attracting your interviewer.

Keep these tips in mind before going to your next interview. Remember: be confi-dent, prepared, and passionate.

All the best!

iNtErviEw tipSIT was hard to suppress a smile as I worked on our pages this week. The brevity of the articles that describe a multitude of programmes, campaigns and efforts that have been put in place to answer the many questions a young high school or university graduate may have, belie the depth of research and analysis that has been done to develop them.

Like working adults seeking to understand our career paths and opportunities, I believe the enthusiasm ignited by education needs to be kept ablaze by first having a good understanding of the strengths, capabilities and passion of young people, and then providing them the right tools and information to choose their next steps wisely.

People are sometimes led by divine guidance, and many a time this is through family, friends, teachers, coaches, professors and even resources on the interweb.

The programmes described throughout this instalment of our career guide reflect the concerted effort by employers, teaching institutions, organisations like TalentCorp and graduates themselves, to seek an efficient and effective way of matching the right talent with the right career (in the shortest time possible).

I applaud all efforts to get someone speedily to a career they are passionate with and aligned with their purpose.

It was a bit of a struggle for teenage-me to chart my destiny. My brother Ken knew engineering was for him, and my sister Kathy knew she was to be a doctor from very young. All I fervently knew was that I wanted to champion the underdog (human) and rescue all stray dogs, housing them in an animal sanctuary (to be called Neoh’s Ark!).

A good friend and I were chatting yesterday about how we were the young ones the first time we worked together (yes, more than a decade ago!), all ready to change the world.

As we stood on the grass in the Leaderonomics office (you read that right) we were still charged with that zeal to transform the world, and with us, a legion of Leaderonomers on the same path.

No matter where you are (in your career path, on a beach) do enjoy this week’s extra-long pullout with valuable information for family and friends, as well as leadership lessons from movies (one of our favourite columns! Just email me [email protected] for more!) and the experiences shared by several young graduates. For the readers asking for Brain Bulletin, it is also back this week!

Have a fantastic weekend all!

KAREN NEOHEditorleaderonomics.com

FUtUrE So BriGht

“You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.” – Tom Brokaw

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognise them.” – Ann Landers

“The trouble with learning from experience is that you never graduate.” – Doug Larson

“Identifying your life’s purpose and values is not like wearing a wig or a jacket that someone else hands to you. It is more like open-heart surgery.” – Alvin Ung, Barefoot Leadership

“Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that.” – Ellen Degeneres

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3

4

5

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mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014 �

By DAVID [email protected]

“JIA you, jia you ( play harder, play harder),” rang out loudly in the tiered seating of the Olimpijsky Sports Complex. The 2010

World Women’s Table Tennis finals between China and Singapore

were being played out on a chilly spring evening

in Moscow.Ding Ning of

China captured

the first game against Feng Tianwei of Singapore.

After winning the first game, she won the next six points of the second game before Feng could even respond. Ding went on to clinch it 11-3 − a whitewash!

Ding was on the brink of captur-ing the set that would ensure China’s 19-year reign as the most dominant women’s table tennis team. The Chinese supporters were delirious. The Singaporean fans subdued.

Table tennis fans around the world can tell you what happened next. Feng got back in the game. She edged out the next two sets by the thinnest of margins, ending up the victor with the scores 11-8 and 11-9.

In the final game of the match, Feng managed to pull through and beat Ding, much to the delight of Singaporean fans.

Hours later Feng played against Liu Shiwen – the world No. 1 women’s table tennis player. Liu had beaten Feng in all three previous meetings, and she expected more of the same.

Against the odds, Feng outplayed Liu in another thrilling match.

With that victory, she and the Singapore team

were crowned world champions.

journey to greatnessFeng Tianwei was born in Harbin,

Heilongjiang, China. She was the only daughter of Feng Qingzhi, a granary worker, and his wife Li Chunping, an employee of a department store.

Feng’s love affair with table tennis started from a tender age.

“I was only five when I picked up table tennis as a sport. I was so into it that I would paddle after school and even on weekends. My passion for the sport is what keeps me going from victory to victory.”

Feng’s parents knew she had pas-sion and natural ability in table ten-nis. They also knew that without the opportunity to access the right coach-ing, Feng would never realise her full potential.

Thus, they lived frugally for years so that their daughter could be coached to play in competitive matches.

Feng’s father suffered from multiple sclerosis and died in 2002, just weeks before Feng tried out for China’s National B squad.

Although Feng topped the qualify-ing matches and was called up for the national team in 2003, it was said that she suffered from a long illness “because she missed her father too much”.

She was never quite the same player after the episode and was later told she was not good enough to be in the China team.

Feng left China in 2005 to play in the Japanese professional league where she was spotted by Liu Guodong, then a coach with the Singapore Table Tennis Association.

In 2007, Feng was invited to train in Singapore under the Foreign

Sports Talent Scheme. She became a Singaporean citizen

in January 2008.Feng continued to

win various international titles. In 2010, she led the

Singapore team to the famous victory in Moscow. By

the end of 2010, she was ranked No. 2 in the world.

Most recently, Feng was crowned champion at the Philippine and Australia ITTF Open and placed third at the China Open.

During her journey, Feng faced many obstacles but managed to over-come all because she had the primary ingredients for success: passion, abil-ity, and most importantly, the oppor-tunity to realise them.

Both the China and Singapore team offered Feng the opportunity to be coached by the best. However, the Singapore team offered an intangible gift that its Chinese counterpart could not match: their unwavering belief

that Feng would become world cham-pion.

Because it believed that she would be a world champion, the Singapore team treated her like one. And Feng began to think and perform like one.

There are many lessons we can glean from Feng’s journey:

Lesson 1: Harness passion

When people love what they are doing, they go to work knowing that every day brings opportunities to fulfil their passion.

They yearn to learn and do better because they want to be great at what they love. These individuals benefit immensely.

Companies also benefit as this drives higher productivity and results in delighted customers and business results.

Imagine this scenario. People are in jobs they are dispassionate about, resulting in poor performance.

They don’t like what they do and their bosses remind them that they are bad at doing it. Their morale dips and their belief that they can do bet-ter gets chipped away.

This brings productivity down, caus-ing negative energy to permeate the workplace.

To stir up your people, allocate work

that would evoke their passion. People are passionate about work when they:l desire and enjoy doing itl are motivated by what they do and

hence work hard to do it betterl believe they can accomplish it.

In summary, passion is about one’s

desire, motivation and self-belief. When we understand this, then help-ing people find the right job that harnesses their passion becomes easier.

Lesson 2: grow abiLityA powerful way of growing ability

is to use a combination of training, learning by doing, and feedback, also known as the 70-20-10 developmen-tal approach.

Why integrate these three develop-mental approaches?

1 Training impacts skills and knowledge needed to accom-

plish a task

2 Learning by doing provides practice and experience of

mastering the skill

3 Feedback ensures that the skill is practised correctly.

All this results in mastery, whereby you can apply the skill consistently and correctly.

Passion, ability and oPPortunityGettinG 90% of your workforce to Perform like the toP 10%

Feng in action during the Women’s Singles Table

Tennis gold medal match at the 2014

Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014�

The 70-20-10 approach to develop-ment is not new. Some 50 years ago, Robert Wood Johnson (ex-chairman and co-founder of Johnson & Johnson) wrote:

“As valuable and necessary as this is (executive training), it is also true that a working executive seems to develop best when supervised and followed by a senior executive. This senior execu-tive must see to it that he is given responsibility at a proper time and place; that he is occasionally, repeat occasionally, moved about so as not to develop a one-track mind; that he is criticised when criticism is due...”

There is a lot of research that vali-dates Johnson’s thinking about the power of 70-20-10 development.

In practice, many companies spend most of their development dollars on training programmes. Why?

A key reason is that they have mud-dled learning key performance indica-tors (KPIs) for example ‘All employees will go through a minimum of five training days a year’.

Training departments scramble to add more programmes to meet this KPI. Their goal is to get people into the class, whether they need training or not because that’s what a five-day training per employee KPI demanded.

Companies which reward efforts in training solutions will get exactly what they ask for − a learning organi-sation that channels the majority of its time and money in an incomplete way of developing people.

The good news is that the solution is clear − use the 70-20-10 approach.

Lesson 3: provide opportunities to rise to tHe top

There are a few reasons why companies should fill positions from within.

Firstly, a 2012 Corporate Executive Board Asia survey indicates that the majority of executives are not confi-dent their recent hires are a great fit for the job or company. In other words, there is no guarantee that an external talent will perform better than an internal candidate.

Secondly, companies assess their people for potential and performance. The chosen ones become members of a high-potential talent pool.

The selection process for the talent pool works when the assessment is accurate. Employees believe they have a fair shot at being chosen, and those not selected continue to be engaged, and get other opportunities to join the pool.

However, not many companies get this right. Challenges, which include differentiating charisma from sub-stance, accounting for bias, and fore-casting the type of talent needed in an unpredictable operating landscape, mean that the selection process is not flawless.

Neither is it without cost – as dra-matically highlighted by Feng’s move to the Singapore team.

So before you make a bet on an external hire, look within first. Recognise that internal candidates have certain advantages:

1 Internal candidates know what they are getting into − not just

the job, but also the culture and envi-ronment of the company

2 Selecting from within sends positive messages to your

people

3 You know the candidates’ pas-sion and ability.

Thus, you can harness these by giv-

ing them the right job opportunities. One way is by providing platforms that offer all employees the opportu-nity to showcase their talent to senior leaders.

In this way, everyone has a chance to rise to the top. While not every employee will or want to seize the opportunity to stand out, those who are especially ambitious, smart and driven are the ones most likely to take advantage of these opportunities. They are also likely to be the best.

a finaL Lesson: adopt 90-10 taLent management

Feng is a star. Her performance was the difference between getting a gold or silver medal for her team. However, without the right team, her efforts would have been futile.

The team includes Feng’s team-mates and the backroom staff com-prising the team manager, coaches and physical therapists. Feng was only

as good as her team.Here is a corporate world example

that reinforces this point. In 1971, Robert Nardelli joined General Electric (GE) as an entry-level hire. He rose through the ranks quickly by produc-ing sterling performances year after year.

In 1995, he was appointed presi-dent and CEO of GE Power System and was one of three candidates short-listed to succeed Jack Welch. However, he came up short in the race and sub-sequently left GE.

In December 2000, he took over the reins of Home Depot. Some years later, he resigned after the home improve-ment retailer struggled with slowing financial performance and complaints about his heavy-handed management style.

Why did he fail? There are many reasons but the one offered by Daryll Allen, ex-chairman and CEO of Aeroquip-Vickers, makes a lot of sense.

“In my experience, former GE guys consistently underestimate how good the infrastructure was at GE and just assume it exists at the same quality in their new company,” said Allen.

In other words, as good as Nardelli was, he needed the right team, culture and processes behind him.

While I am not advocating that stars are unimportant (because they are), the point is that for great people to perform, other factors like culture, people and processes are required.

Hence companies must move away from the idea that only a handful of people have the talent which deter-mines organisational success.

Instead, we need to embrace the belief that everyone has passion and ability that can be channelled for pro-ductive application.

I call this approach 90-10 talent management because it is about get-ting 90% of the workforce to perform like the top 10%.

Companies like GE, Toyota and

many others have achieved this. These companies share the common belief that people are at their greatest when three things happen:l Passion. They love what they are doing.l Ability. They are great at what they do.

l Opportunity. They are in jobs that allow them to do what they love.

These companies do three things

to bring together passion, ability and opportunity:

l Demand the best from people. Their performance standards are typi-cally the highest in class.

l Excel in development. Their people meet the demand for top per-formance because they go through the world-class 70-20-10 development process.

l Provide opportunities to perform. Toyota’s lean production system provides all employees the empower-ment and skills they need to make a difference to the workplace every single day.

in summaryThe unfortunate mathematical fact

is that only 10% of your people are going to be in the top 10%. So, compa-nies have a choice. They can chase the rare talent or they can do something more useful.

Build a company that makes it pos-sible for 90% of employees to perform as if they were in the top 10%.

Hence, these companies provide work that brings together this happy confluence of passion and ability. Their people are energised, they are curious, and they can’t wait to get to work because it is so much fun.

This energy charges across the entire company and is translated into positive employee engagement scores and sustainable business results.

Now isn’t this something really worth chasing after?

“when we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is. when we treat him as if he already were what he Poten-tially could be; we make him what he should be.” – Johann wolf-GanG von Goethe

n David Wee is a HR director currently based in Indonesia who has lived, worked and travelled all over the world. To send your feedback, email [email protected]


1 Main driver of graduate unemployment is skills

mismatches between recent graduates and employers’ demands

Employers cite soft skills as key factors in hiring entry-level graduates, and graduates from Malaysian universities seem to be lacking in these areas. From Figure 1, 81% of respondents identified communication skills as the major deficit, followed by creative/critical thinking (56%), analytical (51%) and problem-solving competencies (49%).

MATCHING TALENT TO JOBSTrENdS IN GrAduATE EMpLOyABILITy

IN OrdEr TO ALIGN THE

SkILLS IMpArTEd IN uNIvErSITIES wITH THOSE rEquIrEd By EMpLOyErS, THErE MuST BE GrEATEr COLLABOrATION BETwEEN uNIvErSITIES ANd fIrMS TO IMprOvE THE quALITy ANd CONTENT Of uNIvErSITy EduCATION” – MALAySIA ECONOMIC MONITOr

2 Even at the recruitment stage, companies and universities do

not always cooperate in matching graduating students with entry-level opportunities

Thirty-four percent of respondents have never approached universities to recruit candidates, nor been approached by universities to place their graduates into entry-level positions (see Figure 2).

� Companies seem to be willing to pay for talent

– when they find itWhile pay levels could be relevant

in specific sectors, many companies say they do pay premium wages for graduates with the right skills.

About 75% of respondents have introduced premium graduate

programmes to recruit top entry-level talent, in addition to their existing general graduate programmes.

According to the survey, 43% of companies paid “premium” entry-level graduates between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month (see Figure 4).

6 Malaysia has a number of programmes to support

recent graduates who cannot find a job

The Government has implemented several training programmes to boost the chances of graduates in finding employment, with some success.

The Graduate Employment Management Scheme (GEMS) has placed 12,000 unemployed graduates into the workforce since its inception in 2009.

7 Universities cannot produce graduates who are

ready for the workforce unless they develop a clear, accurate understanding of what firms are looking for in entry-level employees and incorporate these requirements into the course curricula, teaching and assessment methods, or other means

The skills mismatch is exacerbated by the lack of communication between universities and firms on how to develop employable graduates.

Less than 10% of employers surveyed have had experience developing curricula or joint programmes with universities.

An example of industry-academia collaboration is between Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA).

As a result of joint curriculum development, UniMAP is now one of the leading universities in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microfabrication and design research activities in Malaysia.

TALENTCORP, in collaboration with the World Bank, conducted a survey with Malaysian

employers in 2014 to identify areas of focus in relation to graduate employability.

The objectives of the survey were to better understand the trends in graduate employability in Malaysia, the perceived quality of Malaysian graduates by top employers, as well as the efficacy of career services in universities and government-funded graduate employability programmes.

The survey covered 200 companies (employing approximately 245,000 workers) which represented a wide cross-section of National Key Economic Areas.

... nor do they alwayscollaborate to recruit/place graduates into theworkplaceShare of respondents, percent

Source: TalentCorp/ World Bank 2014

Recruit/ place their graduates

Curriculum design

None of the above

55%

34%

11%

Fresh graduates from localuniversities lack soft skillsShare of respondents citing skill deficits in fresh graduates, percent


None ofthe above

Others

Numeracyskills

Literacyskills

Teamworking

Foreignlanguage skills

Timemanagement

Ability to workindependently

Problemsolving

Analyticalskills

Creative/criticalthinking

Communicationskills 81%

56%

51%

49%

47%

27%

23%

20%

20%

13%

9%

3%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Employers are willing to pay a premium for soft skillsShare of respondents according to salary, percent


Other generalgraduate programme

Premium graduateprogramme

RM1,000-RM2,000 RM2,001-RM3,000

RM3,001-RM4,000 RM4,001-RM5,000

50%7%

4%

73%

1%16%

39%

10%

With the exception of MNCs, half of all companiesdo not engage with career services centres...Share of respondents who have/have not engaged with university career services, percent

SME


NFPE

MNC

Other

Large domesticenterprises

Have not engaged Have engaged

77%

45% 55%

33%67%

60%40%

50%50%

23%

3 Career services centres are underutilised and do not fully

understand companies’ needsIn Malaysia, 53% of respondents said

that they do not work with these centres. Engagement with career services centres is lowest among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at 23%, followed by non-financial public enterprises (NFPEs) at 33% (see Figure 3).

“At Taylor’s University, we understand that it is the onus of the education institution to ensure that their students are able to meet the needs of industry. We bridge this by incorporating ‘Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities’ into our curriculum which includes sharpening students’ lifelong skills such as interpersonal, communication, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.” – YBhg Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan Said, vice chancellor and president, Taylor’s University

4 Greater involvement of the private sector in training and

producing high-quality graduates is likely to have significant payoffs

According to the TalentCorp-World Bank survey, only half of the companies that responded to the questionnaire offer structured internship programmes, which can help expose university students to a variety of career paths and help them develop requisite soft skills for any position.

“At Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), we have in place the Student Industrial Internship Programme (SIIP), Student Mobility Programme (SMP) and the Adjunct Lecturer Programme which integrates industry experience and practices into the university curriculum to produce well-rounded and industry-ready graduates. The SIIP is a 28-week internship programme comprising 14 weeks of Student Industrial Training (SIT) focusing on soft skill competencies and work performance and 14 weeks of Student Industrial Project (SIP)” – YBhg Datuk Ir (Dr) Abdul Rahim Hashim, vice chancellor, UTP

For the full survey findings, please refer to Matching Talent to Jobs pages 22–31 of the Malaysia Economic Monitor, World Bank June 2014

World BankJune 2014

n Brought to you by TalentCorp

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Mini SFCF Accounting (TM Convention Centre)Kuala LumpurAccounting & TaxAug 23, 2014

Universiti Sains Malaysia (SFCF USM)PenangEngineeringNov 20, 2014

Universiti Tenaga Nasional (SFCF UNITEN)SelangorEngineering; IT and BusinessAug 26–27, 2014

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (SFCF UTeM)MelakaEngineering; Oil, Gas & Energy; ITSep 30–Oct 1, 2014

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (SFCF UTM)JohorEngineeringOct 14–15, 2014

Universiti Malaysia Sabah - Kampus Antarabangsa Labuan (SFCF UMS-KAL)LabuanFinance; Business Services; Shared Services & Outsourcing (SSO)Nov 4–5, 2014

myStarjob.com, Saturday 9 August 2014�

DUE to the limited opportunities for undergraduates to get to know their potential employers as highlighted in the TalentCorp-WorldBank survey, students are not always aware of their career options.

To address this, TalentCorp and local universities initiated a collaborative effort called the Sector Focused Career Fair (SFCF) in 2012.

Today, SFCF focuses on key sectors namely oil and gas, electrical and elec-tronics, ICT (information and communi-cation technology), telecommunications, biotechnology, finance, accounting, healthcare, tourism, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and education.

Why SFCF?Both participating companies and

universities gain from SFCF as it provides the opportunity for employers to reach out to undergraduates from specific sec-tors across various campuses.

The career fair also serves as an ave-nue for graduates to explore possibilities of internship or employment through direct engagement with employers. In return, companies have direct access to interviewing prospective talent, and to collate a database of student resumes.

The greatest beneficiaries would be the undergraduates themselves who are part of the organising team for these events on campus.

Student leader Satra Nur Izman from Universiti Malaysia Sabah: “Being an organiser of SFCF was useful in preparing me for employment. I also built my self-confidence and soft skills through this experience.”

Jude Leonard of Nilai University on SFCF: “I have improved my leadership capa-bilities, people management, delegation and communica-tions skills – vital qualities that enable me to be successful in my future career.”

BASED on the 2014 survey conducted by TalentCorp in collaboration with the World Bank, career serv-ices centres are underu-

tilised and do not fully understand companies’ needs.

As a result, graduating students may not be aware of the full range of opportunities available to them, or fully understand the require-ments from employers to position themselves competitively in the application process.

One of the ways to address this is to reach out to students through an online portal, Ready4Work.my web-site (www.ready4work.my).

With content from leading gradu-ate employers, Ready4Work.my reaches out to graduating students through Gen Y driven articles, vid-eos, infographics and podcasts.

What makes Ready4Work.my different is the collaborations with leading employers to produce insightful content with the objec-tive of increasing employability and demand of graduates in Malaysia.

ViSit Ready4WoRk.my FoR: l Tips from HR practitioners

from leading employers such

as Accenture, Axiata, Maxis, EY and PwC on job interviews and resume-building

l Updates on relevant events like Sector Focused Career Fairs, Semester Break Programmes and Competitions

l Internship optionsl Career advice from senior corpo-

rate leadersl Information on graduate pro-

grammes from leading employ-ers

l Insights into key eco-nomic sectors including Telecommunications, ICT and Shared Services

l Personality and Career Assessment Tests

l A Job Profiling Tool to learn more about job roles suited for you

Practical advice shared through video collaborations with major companies such as “How to build a good engineering CV” (with Motorola Solutions Malaysia), “Marketing Yourself” (with EY), “Career Opportunities in Stock Trading” (with CIMB), “Executive Talk Series” (by Sridharan Nair of PwC, Dato’ Sri Shazalli of Celcom and other corporate captains) as well as “Speak English” to improve

your command of English (with Accenture Malaysia) have been well received.

Through this collaboration, employers are not only benefiting from access to a larger graduate pool, but are also taking the lead in helping to nurture and develop leadership among the younger gen-eration.

Overall, our country is able to gain from a rising generation of leaders poised to bring a positive impact to Malaysia.

employeRS Who CollaboRate With Ready4WoRk.my aRe able to: l reach out to a wide graduate

pooll enhance their branding through

graduate programmes and com-petitions

l raise awareness of career options and internships

l provide industry-related content to improve graduate employabil-ity skills

Visit www.ready4work.my to find interesting content from leading employers.

Ready4woRk.my woRking togetheR with employeRs to incRease gRaduate employability

oppoRtunity to expand caReeR options

C-TALKS are initiated by TalentCorp to create greater career awareness among stu-dents and provide a platform for them to engage with chief executive officers (CEOs), human resource (HR) repre-sentatives and well-known industry icons.

l Chill out WednesdayHeld every alternate Wednesday on campuses, this is a great opportunity for stu-dents to get firsthand insights on experiences and words of wisdom from industry experts, to equip them for employment. Students take part in activi-ties to prepare themselves for employment such as CV Review Clinics, mock interviews and many more.

l FAME Friday Held every last Friday of the month outside campuses, at public areas or even at compa-nies, FAME (which stands for “Featured Admirable Marvelous Employer”) Friday features top personnel from different indus-tries sharing their knowledge on certain topics, as well as their work experiences.

To a certain extent, the up-close and personal approach by corporate leaders during C-Talks inspire undergraduates to take the proactive step in exploring vast career possibili-ties.

Early exposure to the various career choices in the Malaysian context helps to broaden their horizons.

awaReness thRough c-talks

Various types of content in collaboration

with employers

For more information on C-Talks, visit www.facebook.com/SectorFocusedCareerFairSFCF To find out more, check out the upcoming SFCFs above, or visit www.facebook.com/SectorFocusedCareerFairSFCF

YB Khairy Jamaluddin speaking to Celcom Axiata recruiters at SFCF Nilai



Structured InternShIp programmeCOLLABORATING with the Ministry of Education (MOE), TalentCorp launched the Structured Internship Programme or SIP with the aim to make the internship experience for Malaysian undergraduates relevant to industry needs and thus making them more employable to fill in the current talent shortage in corporate Malaysia.

In 2013, this programme success-fully placed 10,000 interns in many leading organisations, helping both students to achieve meaningful work-place experience and employers to access quality hires.

According to Datuk Narendra Kumar Jasani, country managing partner, Grant Thornton Malaysia, structured internship pro-grammes have the power to prepare students for success-ful and fulfilling careers.

He adds that a meaningful internship experience pro-motes critical self-reflection – which drive them to dis-cover gaps in their practical knowledge and identify their future career goals.

Grant thornton Joining Grant Thornton as an intern will stretch a student’s analytical ability, while gaining an overview of a career in public accounting.

Students work with seniors on multiple assignments thereby gaining significant experience and exposure of the range of activities throughout the audit life cycle.

Interns are paired with a mentor who will facilitate their professional development and help acquaint them to the culture of the firm. Interns have the opportunity to interact with leaders and staff through:

1 Grant Thornton onboarding induction programme2 Grant Thornton sponsored sports and recreational events3 Job shadow with staff4 Interactive session with client during off-site assignment

“WE are looking for SWANs – students who are Smart, Willing to work hard, Ambitious, Nice,” says Mok Wai Ling, Partner, Audit and Assurance, Crowe Horwath.

Crowe Horwath believes that through SIP’s initiative, a batch of independent-minded and skilled talent can be created. It believes that a good intern-ship experience should develop effective interpersonal skills and in-depth knowledge of the formal functional activities of a field.

Crowe howarth

Employers keen to learn more and be part of SIP, visit sip.talentcorp.com.my

Students can get a headstart and explore internship opportunities at www.ready4work.my

1st To 3rd Monthl you will have the opportunity to perform audit fieldwork in a teaml you will be supervised or mentored by a manager or at least a senior (depending on the audit size)

By The End Of 3 Monthsl you will be able to work independently on certain sections assigned to you

By The End Of 6 Monthsl you will be able to wrap up the audit of a small-sized company and prepare/review a set of the draft financial statements

Training

Mentor

Job Allocation

Monthly Feedback

Overall Evaluation

Partner & Human Resource Dept

sharing session

COMPETITIONS are organised in collabora-tion with employers to provide opportunities for young talent to engage with prominent industry leaders and to demonstrate their creative and technical ability.

For companies, competitions provide access to a highly driven and creative talent pool.

Competitions which have been supported by TalentCorp include:

Innovate MalaysIaThe Innovate Malaysia Design Competition

is a multi-discipline engineering design com-petition open to all final year undergraduate engineering or computer science students in Malaysia.

While aimed at promoting the culture to innovate among graduates, the competition also seeks to promote greater interest in engi-neering design.

Thirty-five teams from 12 local universities will be vying for the top three spots via seven tracks (Agilent Track, Altera Track, Intel Track, MathWorks Track, Microsoft Track, NI Track, Silterra/CEDEC Track) at the Innovate Malaysia 2014 Grand Finale held on Aug 28 at G-Hotel, Penang.

enaCtus MalaysIaEnactus is an international non-profit

organisation that brings together student,

academic and business leaders who are com-mitted to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for disadvantaged popula-tions.

Student leaders of Enactus create and implement community empowerment projects throughout the world, with the help of academic advisers and business experts.

With participation from 34 universities, this year’s Enactus Malaysia National Cup 2014 was bagged by UUM with its projects “Back2Bag” and “4Nature”.

ey younG tax ProfessIonal of the year

Launched by EY in nine countries in 2011, this competition is held internationally to allow students to compete in demonstrat-ing their tax-related technical skills.

Open to all Malaysian undergradu-ates—whether in local or foreign universities or colleges—the interna-tional rounds this year will be held in the Netherlands.

For more information on each competi-tion please visit Innovate at http://innovate.dreamcatcher.asia/, Enactus at http://www.enactusmalaysia.org.my/ and EY at http://ey.com/my/ytpy

honIng the competItIve edgeUniversiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Champion of Enactus Malaysia 2014

TALENTCORP has designed a series of Semester Break Programmes to give Malaysian students – both local and abroad – an inside look at key sectors. These are run in conjunction with long semester breaks, and include:1. Industry Inside: takes students to visit and interact with industry players for basic level exposure to sectors including oil, gas and energy, biotechnology, and fast-moving consumer goods.2. Industry Bootcamp: an accelerated and more intensive version of “Industry Inside”, bootcamps incorporate tasks and challenges to give participants more hands-on experience in industries including financial services and electrical and electronics. 3. Breakfast with CEO: targets those interested in getting insights from corporate and social leaders.

CollaboratIons and InCubatIon of student-led ProjeCts

Programmes conceived and developed by students with support from TalentCorp, from a coaching perspective and sponsorship:

1. Malaysian Public Policy Competition, Aug 22–24: A programme by the International Council of Malaysian Scholars and Associates, this annual competition seeks to get students involved in understanding policy issues and contributing ideas towards improving Malaysia.2. Medicine in Malaysia Conference, Aug 16–1�: An inaugural conference by Malaysian Medics International established to encourage more medical students abroad to build linkages to Malaysia and understand the needs and future of Malaysia’s healthcare industry. 3. Economic and Leadership Forum, Aug 9: A programme by Malaysian students at the London School of Economics that aims to provide some exposure to key economic issues to Malaysian students aged 16–20 years.

You can RSVP for events at https://events.myworklife.my/ or check out the StudentsMY Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/StudentsMY

SemeSter Break programmeSBreakfast with CEO at Groupon Malaysia, with country GM Rafiq Razali


mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014� mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014 �

THE Public Service Department (JPA) annually sponsors a large pool of scholars who study both locally and in renowned universities worldwide.

The ultimate goal of the Government is to make a long term investment for the nation in order to ensure access to, and the sustainability of a pool of top talent in the future.

These top performing scholars are sent to pursue disciplines that are critical to the nation’s development. With the expectation that this pool of talent can be leveraged to support the public and just as impor-tantly the private sector, the Government

launched the Scholarship Talent Attraction and Retention (STAR) initiative in August 2011. The STAR initiative focuses on opti-mising the return-on-investment of JPA scholars who graduate each year, from both local and foreign universities.

It does so by providing an option for JPA scholars who were not offered a posi-

tion in the public sector to fulfil their bond commitment while being employed in the private sector.

This joint initiative between JPA and TalentCorp has garnered the participation of about 600 top Malaysian government linked corporations and leading global com-panies (GLCs).

Benefits to companiesRegistered companies can access graduates from top foreign and local universities. The STAR initiative ensures that the nation’s long-term investment in the form of government-funded scholarships is paid off by enabling scholars not selected for public service to serve their bond in private companies in the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) emphasised in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

ScholarShip TalenT aTTracTion and

reTenTion (STar)

petronasRaiha Azni Abdul Rahman, vice-president, human resource management,

PETRONAS:“As a Fortune 500 company,

PETRONAS continuously recruits top graduate talents to meet our business needs. In building a sustainable pipeline of talent, our recruitment strategy includes partnership with TalentCorp to engage other scholars including JPA scholars where we promote PETRONAS employment value proposition (EVP) to attract the young graduates to join the company. Our EVP as a leading organisation provides opportunities for graduates to contribute and be part of the growing oil and gas industry.”

maYBanKNora Abd Manaf, group chief human capital officer, Maybank:

“As a leading financial services provider clinching top

spot in the Malaysia’s 100 (M100) Leading Graduate Employers for two years in a row, Maybank is continuously on the lookout for talents to fuel the bank’s rapid progress to achieve the bank’s aspirations. The JPA-TalentCorp STAR initiative provides us with timely access to top talents from various backgrounds who will be provided with a wholesome learning experience within the group to accelerate professional development and careers towards becoming our future leaders.”

pUBLic BanKMarlene Goh, general manager of Public Bank’s Human

Capital Management: “Public Bank is

partnering with TalentCorp on the STAR initiative as we would like to provide scholars with a career option in financial services, especially those who were not absorbed into the public sector. The JPA scholars whom we have recruited are doing well and we would like to welcome more to join us.”

aigRajat Saggar, regional director for Talent Acquisition for AIG expressed the need of global

companies to acquire quality human capital:

“AIG Shared Services is developing a global centre of excellence in insurance and financial services in Malaysia and we are in need of bright young talent to meet the hiring needs of our business. We are keen to partner with TalentCorp to recruit JPA scholars who will benefit by building a global career and at the same time, contribute to the government’s aspirations for Malaysia to emerge as an international centre for finance.”

KerrY asia pacificMahendra Dinesh Palaniappan, assistant graduate manager, Kerry Asia-Pacific:

“Kerry Asia-Pacific provides the largest, most innovative portfolio

of Taste & Nutrition Systems and Functional Ingredients & Actives for the global food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The STAR initiative is a straightforward way for MNCs like us to directly tap on a good pool of scholars, particularly those with engineering, sciences and business majors. We connect with them and offer them the opportunity to develop their careers as part of the Kerry Graduate Programme.”

Timothy TamAirAsia X

A graduate from Stanford University, Timothy started off as a technical services engineer at AirAsia X and is now a senior executive in the commercial team, focusing on driving ancillary revenue and enhancing the passenger experience: “It is amazing how the STAR initiative has not only enabled me to further pursue my interest in engineering, but allowed me to explore other opportunities I would have never imagined by being involved in both the operational and commercial aspects of a leading airline, while simultaneously contributing to the growth and development of the country.

Being able to work with one of Malaysia’s top employers has been a truly enriching and motivating experience for me to further my career in Malaysia.”

Nurul Farah Raizal Tradewinds Corp Bhd

Nurul, a graduate from Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) is an accounts executive with Tradewinds, one of the largest property and hotel owners in Malaysia, with divisions in hospitality, insurance and retail sectors: “I felt excited as this was my first step to my career in the field I love. I secured the position through the STAR Networking Session jointly organised by JPA and TalentCorp.

As this is my first job, I’m prepared to meet the challenges of a fast-changing environment.”

Nicholas Khawpursuing post-graduate studies

Upon graduation from Harvard Univeristy, Khaw began his career at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU). He contributed to several national development initiatives such as the 10th Malaysia Plan, the ETP and the Strategic Reform Initiatives, which enabled him to utilise his background in Economics.

After approximately one and a half years in the EPU, Khaw became the first STAR participant to continue serving his scholarship bond outside the civil service. He served as an economist at the research and investment strategy division, Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Khaw has since successfully completed serving his scholarship bond with the GLC through the STAR initiative. While he believes that his long-term career path lies in the realm of the public sector, he is grateful to the STAR initiative for affording him the opportunity to experience employment in Khazanah and contribute towards the ETP.

indUSTrY TalenT

Benefits to schoLars JPA scholars have an option to be considered for jobs in the private sector while serving their scholarship bond. The STAR initiative also provides certainty in their employment as once approval is given by JPA, scholars can continue to work in the private sector without worrying about being recalled by the Government, unless they choose to accept the Government’s offer of employment. This is because the approval means that the scholar is already serving their bond through STAR, just as they would in the public sector.

aLLows government to get retUrn on investment (roi) from schoLars contriBUting to maLaYsia’s economic transformation in the private sector

Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal, Director General of Public Service Malaysia

“The STAR initiative demonstrates our engagement with GLCs and the corporate sector in Malaysia in nurturing, developing and retaining our own talent to continue serving the nation. JPA will steadfastly champion the advancement of talent to fully harness the skills, expertise and energy of bright Malaysians working together to achieve the objective of a high income nation. Smart partnerships through public-private sector collaborations such as the STAR initiative show that the government is committed to optimising Malaysian talent for the benefit of the rakyat and ensuring Malaysia’s competitive edge.”


GovernmenT ScholarS conTribUTinG To naTional TranSformaTion

To find out more about the STAR initiative, visit star.talentcorp.com.my

mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 201410

GRADMALAYSIA GRADUATE RECRUITMENT AWARDS 2014B

ACK for the second year in a row, the gradmalaysia Graduate Recruitment Awards (GRA) has announced a new category

to add to its existing three categories.An initiative by GTI Media, the GRA

recognises and applauds the excel-lence of recruiters who carve a niche for themselves in attracting and hiring graduates. This initiative is carried out through four categories of awards, where each one focuses on a specific element in the recruitment process.

The mechanicsGraduate employers from all sec-

tors in Malaysia are eligible for this award. Organisations are not confined to participating in just one category. If an organisation qualifies for all four, they can submit an entry for all four categories.

All entries will be shortlisted and judged by a panel of impartial industry experts that comprises career advisors, work placement professionals and graduate recruitment media experts. Assessments will be made solely on the criteria set for each award.

how do i enTer? Organisations may enter all four

categories if they wish, by provid-ing detailed reasons and supporting material as to why it should win in that category.

The four award categories

1 Best Management Trainee/Graduate Programme

This award seeks to highlight the employer who offers the best man-agement training and personal devel-opment opportunities for graduates.

Criteria:l Must display well-designed,

well-planned and well-executed programmes beneficial to the par-ticipating individuals as well as the organisation

l Positive feedback from previous participating graduates

l Number of hours per week for “on-the-job” training and formal/pro-fessional training.

l Real business benefit and return on investment, including quantifiable results for both the business and/or graduates

2 Best Internship ExperienceIn search of the organisation

providing internship programmes that meet its objectives and contributes to its marketing and attraction of undergraduates through recruitment programmes.

Criteria:l The programmes have to be

innovative in terms of structure, implementation and execution.

l The quality of work done by stu-dents and the quality of experience gained plays a vital part.

l Testimonials from current or former interns are mandatory for this award (one intern per entry)

l Contribution of the programme to marketing and promotional cam-paigns

l Evidence of collaborations with career services, lecturers and/or work with appropriate third parties to cre-ate or evolve these programmes

3 Best Innovation On CampusRecognising marketing innova-

tion and the importance of employer brand presence on campus.

Criteria:l Emphasis is given on the original-

ity of a concept, measures taken on planning and execution as well as, if it garnered positive response from the target audience, the students.

l Evidence that the initiatives resulted in specific objectives being met (e.g. recruitment goals)

4 Best Social Media Usage (New entry for 2014)

Just as its name suggests, this award acknowledges the organisation

which has best leveraged social media to achieve its career marketing and promotion campaigns objectives.

Criteria:l Innovation and creativity in

design, planning and implementation of social media campaigns

l Demonstrate how the campaign transitions between online and offline activities, drives traffic to the job site, with clear and measurable outcomes and indicators of success

Winners of the GRA 2013 receiving their awards from Roshan Thiran, CEO of Leaderonomics

Best Management Trainee Programme:(L-R) Chen Fong Tuan (Maybank), Susan Gleave (Maxis), Lam Meng Choo (F&N)

Best Innovation on Campus:(L-R) Tan Kim Chuan (KPMG), Puan Mariani Mohd Nasir (CIMB), Hishamuddin Salleh (Maybank)

Best Internship Experience:(L-R) Mona Shafini Abu Bakar (PwC), Abdul Qayyum bin Nur Zakri (CIMB intern), Anisha Sasheendran (Groupon)

AWARd

Best Management Trainee/Graduate Programme

Best Internship Experience

Best Innovation On Campus

WINNER

Maxis

CIMB Group

CIMB Group

FINALIST

F&N

Groupon

KPMG

FINALIST

Maybank

PwC

Maybank

GRADMALAYSIA GRADUATE RECRUITMENT AWARDS 2013 WINNERS AND FINALISTS

All entries with supporting materials must be sent to GTI Media at P-7-12, Street Mall One South, Jalan OS, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor DE by Sep 15, 2014.

To obtain the entry forms and for further enquiries, please contact Nor Fatihah at [email protected]

NESTLÉNestlé is a firm believer in groom-ing and developing young talent. In fact, 40% of Nestlé’s global executive board members joined the company as graduates mainly through the Nestlé Management Trainee Programme.

The Nestlé Management Trainee Programme is a two-year comprehensive leadership and development programme for young talent positioned in strate-gic functions across the organisa-tion.

The programme aims to ensure that the organisation is equipped with high performing individuals groomed to be future leaders of Nestlé.

Nestlé offers Management Trainee (MT) positions in the following functions: l Sales and marketing l Finance l Supply chain

l Human resources l Technical and production

Once graduates are selected to be a part of the Nestlé Management Trainee Programme, their career path will be structured according to a specific function in which they applied for.

For example, if selected as a finance MT, their career path dur-ing and post the two-year MT pro-gramme will be in finance.

The two-year journey as an MT will include managing projects, people, and resources, with key learnings and objectives to achieve, as Nestlé is a firm believer in learning on-the-job and learn-ing through doing.

Graduates in the programme will be guided by experienced coaches and mentors, enabling them to acquire new skills consoli-dated through field exposure.

Trainees/talents will also have the opportunity to work alongside the industry’s top-class profession-

als and ultimately be equipped with global standards of excellence.

Selection criteria:l Masters or Degree holders with

min CGPA 3.5l Fresh graduates or graduates

with no more than two years working experience

l Active in co-curricular activitiesl Excellent communication skills:

verbal and writtenl Great interpersonal skillsl Strong leadership and analyti-

cal skills

l Ability to work well inde-pendently and as part of a team

The recruitment period for Technical Management Trainees and Corporate and Commercial Trainees is from April to July. Intake date is in September.

To learn more of the Nestlé Management Trainee pro-gramme, please log onto http://www.Nestlé .com.my/careers/graduates/manage-ment_trainee

PhASE 1Rotational attachment by functions

Sales & MarketingChannel Category Sales DevelopmentFinance & ControlSupply ChainHuman ResourceTechnical and Production

On-the-Job Projects

Leadership and Skills Development

Mentoring and Coaching

PhASE 2

Job Placement

GRADUATE PRoGRAMMES WITh LEADING EMPLoYERSIN the war for top graduate talents, the TalentCorp-World Bank survey finds that many leading graduate employers in Malaysia have introduced premium graduate programmes which pay a higher starting salary to source for fresh talent.

Forty-three per cent of companies interviewed paid “premium” entry-level graduates between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month.

These programmes aim to attract top graduate talent who can be groomed to be future leaders of the company.

This article illustrates some examples of attractive career opportunities for Malaysian graduates which provide structured programmes for high potentials to develop their skills and gain exposure in organisations with a regional and international presence.

To find out more about graduate programmes and career tips from leading employers in Malaysia, log on to www.Ready4Work.my


mystarjob.com, saturday 9 August 2014 11

STANDARD ChARTERED BANKSTANDARD Chartered Bank, with its brand promise “Here for good”, recruits graduates for two main pro-grammes:

INTERNATIONAL GRAdUATE PROGRAMME (IGP)

During the programme of between 12 and 24 months, graduates are rotated through six different functions. They are given value-added work and ownership of the projects undertaken.

Upon completion of the pro-gramme, graduates will be placed in a business unit and function that best suits their strengths and capabilities.

FAST TRACk PROGRAMMEThis is an accelerated programme

that runs for 12 months and aims to nurture graduates and develop their capabilities to become world-class bankers.

Graduates have the opportunity to learn, perform and shine in key revenue-generating positions, which

bring significant value and profit-ability to Standard Chartered clients’ businesses. In addition, graduates will be given intensive and extensive classroom and on-the-job training, and assigned a number of projects with real deadlines and account-ability.

Upon completion of the pro-gramme, graduates will be placed in a unit or division within the bank that best suits their strengths and interests.

Selection requirements for both graduate programmes:l Any academic degreel Strong interest and passion in

wanting to become a world-class banking professional

l Strong command of Englishl Having other language skills is a

strong advantagel Ability to build relationships with

people easily

The recruitment period for the IGP and Fast Track programme is from September to February. Intake date is in September.

To apply for Standard Chartered’s graduate positions, please log onto www.standardchartered.com/ExploreYou

UEM GRoUPEVERY year, the company looks for two groups of fresh graduates to join their Talent Development Programme, which comprises two tracts – the Young Engineers Programme and Young Graduates Programme.

YOUNG ENGINEERS PROGRAMME (YEP)

The YEP is a five-year programme that develops graduate engineers into project managers and construction managers, eventually leading the tal-ent to become a project director.

Once graduates have established a great career track record, they will be considered for senior management positions.

Engineering graduates’ career paths are mapped to the require-ments of the Board of Engineers in order for UEM YEPs to gain their P.E. (Professional Engineer) qualification.

YOUNG GRAdUATES PROGRAMME (YGP)

The YGP is a three-year programme which recruits fresh graduates from various fields to build a talent pipe-line for non-technical roles.

Non-technical roles are corporate affairs, human resources, finance, procurement, and information technology. As with YEP, graduates will have a structured training pro-gramme which will develop and nur-ture technical and leadership skills.

The YGP gives practical experience in the graduate’s chosen function and experienced seniors and profession-als will also mentor throughout the three years.

With the YEP and YGP, graduates can expect:l Three to four rotational assign-

ments across UEMl Formal training opportunitiesl Structured development planl Ongoing personal and professional

mentorship by experienced techni-cal leaders

l Senior management interaction and visibility

l Management and leadership skills

Selection criterial YGP – Candidates must have a rel-

evant Bachelors degreel YEP – Candidates must have an

Engineering Bachelors degree (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics). A minimum CGPA of 3.2 or equivalent

l Good command of written and spo-ken English

l International and Domestic Mobility: Comfortable working on projects that will require him/her to be based in outstation locations

l Vacancies: 40 for YEP, 20 for YGP

The UEM Group graduate pro-grammes are challenging but extremely rewarding, as what you learn forms the building blocks of your career foundation.

The recruitment period for the YEP and YGP is from April to November. Intake date is in November.

To apply for UEM’s graduate

positions, kindly log onto www.uem.com.my

CELCOM grooms and develops its young graduate talents through its CAMT – Celcom Axiata Management Trainee Programme. The programme was formerly known as the Axiata Experiential Programme or AXP.

The purpose of the programme is to identify young talented individuals who have just graduated, and who, over time, can lead and take the Celcom business to new heights.

Once selected, Celcom Management Trainees (MTs) will embark on an 18-month programme designed to give talent exposure to the core of Celcom business from their first day of work.

The CAMT is divided into three stag-es. Each stage will run for a six-month period on a rotation basis.

The stages consist of three divisions – Sales strategy, brand management/device marketing and digital technol-ogy.

During each rotation, MTs will learn more about the function whilst accom-plishing a specific role and a project. This role and project have real respon-sibilities, deadlines and KPIs.

MTs are placed in these three divi-sions in order to gain specific knowl-edge and the skills of Celcom’s core business areas.

Additionally, MTs will participate in learning workshops, CSR projects, and a mentorship programme.

As indicated above, upon completion of the full programme, MTs are given priority to be placed in the division that is best suited to their interests and career aspirations.

Celcom places huge emphasis on critical thinking, and this is just one of many learnings that Celcom wishes to enhance during the duration of the CAMT programme.

Other key learnings will be business and financial acumen, stakeholder management, skills in creating and presenting a business case, and leader-ship skills.

REQUIREMENTS:l Bachelors degreel Good command of English (written

and spoken)l Structured and creative thinking

processl Confident in presenting new

ideas and proposals to the senior management team

l Ability to adapt and change to new working environments and circumstances

The recruitment period for CAMT is from March to October. Intake date is in January.

To apply for the CAMT programme, please log onto http://axiata.com/careers/join_young.htm

PREMIUM GRADUATE

PRoGRAMMES To ATTRACT ToP

GRADUATESBASED on the Trendence

Graduate Barometer study (Malaysian edition, 2013)

which establishes the rank-ings for the Malaysian Top 100

Graduate Employers, gradu-ates who are in the “High

Potentials” category expect to earn more than RM3,000 per month and are also willing to

work longer hours.

Source: Malaysia’s 100 leading graduate employers (2013) by GTI Media

What is a High Potential?High Potentials are defined as students with:> Outstanding academic achievement (top

40% of students)> Participation in extra-curricular activities> Experience related to their course> Experience abroad (academic and/or work)> Advanced English skills

How many hours are you prepared to work in your first job?

Male

Female

Total

High Potentials

8.7 hours per day

8.5 hours per day

8.6 hours per day

8.8 hours per day

How much do you expect to earn in your first job?

Male

Female

Total

High Potentials

RM3,053 per month

RM2,775 per month

RM2,897 per month

RM3,139 per month

What makes an employer

attractive to you?

> Training and development

> Good career prospects

> Good work-life balance

> Good employer leadership style

> Personal development

CELCoM AXIATA BhD


18-month Programme

Management Trainee - Curriculum

Project + Mentorship + Evaluation

January JulyJanuary the

following year

Module 1 : Self-Preparatory

> Learning agility> Competency

> Understanding Development Areas> How to close gaps

Development Programme1) Transitional Programme

2) Functional Training

Module 2 : Business Preparatory

> Understanding Celcom Processes

Development Programme1) The Case Maker


Module 3 : Leadership Preparatory

> Being a young professional> Leadership traits

Development Programme1) Leadership Programme


Rotation 16 Months

Rotation 26 Months

Rotation 36 Months


A degree is not enough to secure an entry-level position in the corporate world. Employers look for good interpersonal skills and confidence when they speak to graduates.

GEMS attempts to address this problem by inculcating stu-dents with traits employers find desirable.

“We notice that GEMS can-didates always have better communication skills, show self confidence during the interview and most importantly, prepare for the interview” – Jamalia Ibrahim, deputy general manager of Group HR from host company, QSR Brands (M) Holdings

The company has trained many fresh graduates to man-age the operation of restaurants around Malaysia.

She said the willingness to take challenges, ability to work independently, interpersonal skills and creative thinking, in addition to the ability to adjust themselves within a team and leading the team to run a res-taurant are desirable traits of a future manager.

There is an opportunity to prove oneself.

From the graduate’s perspec-tive, GEMS offers a chance for them to prove their worth to an organisation.

“The most challenging part of being a job seeker is when there are offers for me to choose from but I have little confidence that

I can perform to their expecta-tions”, said Inani Husna, a Sports Science major who joined QSR with the help of GEMS.

Mohd Shahrizal Mohd Dom, who trained with Pawatech Sdn Bhd under the GEMS pro-gramme agreed, adding that it has become harder for gradu-ates to find jobs in fields related to their degrees due to the over-supply of graduates.

Both participants were grateful that GEMS provided a viable pathway for their tal-ents to be noticed.

A final word of advice from Inani: “Give yourself a chance to test the waters. Don’t ever make your degree a limitation that prevents you from trying and exploring something new or different”.

For more information and updates on Upskilling and GEMS, please visit www.talentcorp.com.my or www.mygemsportal.com.my

You may also email us at [email protected]

Please do follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GraduateEmployabilityManagementScheme and Twitter www.twitter.com/gemsmalaysia

aspiring accountant programme

THE Aspiring Accountant Programme (AAP) is a foundation course to pro-vide students from non-accounting disciplines the

preparatory accounting course as a first step to train and qualify as char-tered accountants.

A fully-funded six-week account-ing foundation course is followed by a training contract to complete a professional accounting qualifi-cation through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) or The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) while working in a leading professional services firm.

The participating firms include BDO, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. Applicants enjoy full-time employ-ment and time off to complete addi-tional classes and exams to obtain professional accounting qualifica-tions.

The employers’ perspecTive

Amy Chua, assistant manager, talent acquisition of KPMG says “KPMG chose to participate in the AAP in support of the Government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). We feel that the AAP is a good initiative which pro-vides opportunities for non-account-ing graduates to train and qualify as Chartered Accountants. We will provide the necessary practical work experience, monetary support and study leave to these graduates in

completing their profes-sional accounting qualifi-cation.”

With regard the quali-ties that KPMG looks for in non-accounting graduates, Chua explains, “We basically look for non-accounting graduates who are genuinely interested in business and commercial issues, highly numerate, and have the drive to succeed.

These graduates will undergo our comprehensive training and devel-opment programmes and also gain practical work experience which will provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge to complete their professional accounting quali-fication.”

Tan Gim May, Degree in Science (Computational Mathematics)KPMG, Corporate Tax

Before joining AAP, Tan Gim May, was at a loss as whether to pursue a Masters or work in a bank as a salesperson.

“Most people don’t really know what their future goals are, includ-ing me. Some people enrol in uni-versity involuntarily”, she said.

Having majored in Computational Mathematics, her passion for math-ematics spurred her on a path to become an accountant.

Nur Melissa Ismail, Degree in FinanceEY, Assurance (Energy)

Nur Melissa had completed her training in AAP and is now employed in EY, shared that the main chal-lenge was commitment. Catching up with an unfamiliar subject within six weeks was a major undertak-ing. However, with “good and competent lecturers at Sunway University”, she managed to make it.

Nur Melissa and Tan are grateful for this opportunity to train in leading professional services organisations while acquiring new skills.

Programme commencementJanuary and July/August, twice a year

Interested applicants may apply via email (including a detailed resume) to [email protected]

ALTHOUGH some may graduate with a clear goal in mind, many undergradu-ates come out to the working world unprepared, uncertain of their options or requiring career guidance.

In addition, the current job market may pose significant challenges for graduates with degrees which are not in high demand.

The main thrust of the Graduate Employability Management Scheme (GEMS) is to enhance graduate employ-ability with the aim to reduce talent shortages in the key areas of economy.

GEMS 2.0 provides graduates with sector-specific training and exposure in Oil, Gas and Energy, Electrical and Electronics, ICT, Telecommunications, Biotechnology, FMCG, Hospitality, SME-focused/Entrepreneurship

objecTives of GemsProvide unemployed graduates with career opportunities and job exposure

The programme is divided into three segments:

1 Segment 1 for those with technical degrees in

Engineering, Science and Technology

2 Segment 2 for those planning to work in the fast-moving

consumer goods (FMCG), Hospitality, or Shared/Support Services industries

3 Segment 3 for SMEs and entrepreneurships.

Applicants who are selected will be provided placement at host companies and training (lasting eight to 12 months) for employment in the host company.

professional accounting qualification for non-accounting graduates

pathway for non-accounting graduates

applicationGet in touch with or meet representatives from BDO, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC at career fairs to find out more. Send your application to [email protected] and please quote reference number *AA2014 in your cover letter.

you are selectedSelections are based on the following criteria:1. Any degree discipline excluding Accounting/Finance2. Have a minimum of 2nd upper degree result3. Leadership and active involvement in extra-

curricular activities4. A strong command of English

programme commencesYou will go through a fully-funded six-week accounting foundation course with Sunway TES which aims to provide you with the following:1. Knowledge and understanding of financial statements2. Basic auditing knowledge and skills

professional accounting qualificationUpon successful completion of the course, you will be offered a training contract with leading professional services firms such as BDO, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. You will be pursuing and completing your professional accounting qualification via ACCA or ICAEW while working.

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For graduates who do not meet market expectations, on-the-job training through GEMS allows us to support the development of young graduates.” – Shukri Razak, managing director of Metal & Metal (M) Sdn Bhd

graduate employability management scheme

Attachment at host company with periodic technical and sector-specific soft skills training

Attachment and employment at host company

Domain-specific technical training and sector-specific soft skills training


8-12 months


leadership styles of Caesar and koba

learning from

the apes

By JERMAINE [email protected]

AFTER watching the movie Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I couldn’t help pondering the debate between theology and modern science about human

evolution, a theory made famous by Charles Darwin.

In my humble opinion, humans may or may not have evolved from apes, but humans certainly do behave like them to a certain extent – at least from the psycho-logical, behavioral and emotional stand-point. Both share the ability to reflect and learn from their experiences.

Despite being a movie mainly about apes, I must say that Caesar and Koba rep-resent two possible human responses in the real world.

Koba portrays fear, mistrust and tribal-ism. Caesar, on the other hand, represents a leader of peace without compromis-ing the safety of the tribe, and working towards forgiveness and understanding even when he has been offended or mis-treated.

I must apologise in advance for there may be spoilers in this article.

Caesar helms a community of apes and exhibits much of the modern human lead-ership values. Koba, an adviser to Caesar, held on to grudges from being severely tortured by humans when he was a lab animal undergoing medical experiments.

The movie conveyed that while peace was the intention of mankind and apes, war was inevitable in determining who would emerge as Earth’s dominant spe-cies. In short, one cannot watch this movie without appreciating the beauty its lead-ership lessons.

The following is what I gathered from watching the movie:

1 Be a leader who emBraces good values

John David Rockefeller says, “Every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession a duty”.

By becoming a leader, one must realise that it is more of a calling than a personal agenda. It should be a calling to serve and lead the community, i.e. from bad to good, and good to better.

In the movie, Caesar understood that being a leader is about having the responsibility to watch over his growing nation of genetically-evolved apes and lead with great influence of good values.

Caesar holds a great philosophy of peace and love for one another. In fact, he led by the phi-losophy of “ape shall not kill ape” which proves that despite their barbaric nature, anyone of their own kind should not kill another. Instead, they should be looking out for each other.

However, it is a distressing fact that in this modern day, humans are often blinded by their misconception about leadership.

It’s also inevitable for anyone to crave power under great leadership. Koba portrayed an exam-ple of such. Despite having a great leader, Caesar, whom he admired, Koba’s hunger for power led him to shoot Caesar from afar, just so he could gain power to lead the community of apes into war with mankind.

Koba led the apes with values conflicting with that of his predecessor – he led with anger by instilling fear amongst the apes when he killed Ash, one of his kind. Truly, a great leader should instill love, not fear.

2 Be a leader who manages emotions well

In the movie, Koba being the once-trusted ape of Caesar fell into the trap of anger because of his painful past with mankind; to the extent of betraying Caesar and wrestling power away to carry out his revenge against mankind.

A true leader should not let his/her emotions take control from within. Emotion is often a vague feeling,

influenced by environ-

ment, circumstances, experience, culture and perceptions.

In my opinion, a community needs a reliable leader who has an undeviating vision. A leader should have vision but should certainly shy away from depending on his/her emotions in a deci-sion-making process.

A leader should always strive to manage his/her emotions well to ensure objectives and wise decisions are made. If all else fails, a leader should always acknowledge the overall benefit of the community and act for the greater good, beyond his/her own interests.

3 Be a leader who focuses on long-term goals

Koba: “We should go to war with humans.” Caesar: “We should not and this is our only chance to make peace for both parties.”

A great leader should always be foresighted and look at a long-term goal for the community he/she leads. Some leaders declare hostility against another community to fulfill their per-sonal ego for power.

The movie teaches us to think and behave like Caesar who embraces love and peace;

it’s definitely not due to cowardice but for the greater benefit for the communities of apes and humans. Personally, I believe it requires more

courage to give up one’s ego than to feed it.During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln

had an occasion at an official reception to refer to the Southerners as erring human beings rather than enemies to be extermi-nated. An elderly woman, a fiery patriot, rebuked him for speaking kindly of his enemies when he ought to be thinking of destroying them.

“Why, madam,” said Abraham Lincoln, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I

make them my friends?” It’s such a pow-erful quote and it truly manifests the

real wisdom of a true leader.

4 Be a leader of courageNelson Mandela once said, “I learned

that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

A true leader should always act courageously, in spite of storms ahead because a leader always has a vision beyond the storm.

Malcolm, the human counterpart to Caesar, persevered despite knowing the risks associated with repairing the dam that could potentially save mankind, and even after seeing the danger of being confronted by apes.

A true leader must always be ready to be con-fronted with failures, offences and resistance, but never give up on temporary failures or set-backs to achieve success.

5 Be a leader who forgives and moves on

As simple as this may seem, a leader should have a forgiving heart to make peace and move on for greater advancement.

A true leader must appreciate the saying by Martin Luther King that “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”.

“Humans won’t forgive,” Caesar claimed in one of the final scenes. The movie ended the same way it began.

The danger of unforgiveness is a never-ending war. Despite knowing this fact theoretically, lead-ers often indulge in prideful acts to prove a point or to dictate power.

Personally, I’ve learnt that it’s a cycle that will never end. Truly, the end always results in two parties suffering. So, when will they stop?

Let’s be leaders who will determine the out-come in a positive and harmonious way.

n Jermaine heads the learning and development team in Leaderonomics and is passionate about leadership development. For programmes on lead-ership development and application in the work-place, email [email protected]

CAEs

AR

kobA



FROM the moment I walked into the office, I was prepared for coffee-making and some menial tasks. Instead, I was greeted with warmth, hospitality and importance.

To provide some background, I finished my high school studies in the IGCSE syllabus in the middle of this year, and decided to take a friend’s advice and take a six-month period to work.

As I was having difficulty in trying to pick which college to attend, the half-year break seemed ideal.

Thanks to the friend, I was encouraged to apply for an internship in Leaderonomics, which turned out to be one of the best decisions that I have made, despite initially feeling “slower” compared with my friends who have already entered college.

If you catch a glimpse of my work day, you would see me typing out new articles on

the computer, managing a small section of the Leaderonomics website (do check out Leaderonomics.com), or nagging at my desk mate.

While my given tasks have helped in honing my skills and prepared me for my tertiary education, I have also learnt many great lessons from my work mates on accountability, love, and care – all of which are also equally important characteristics to have in life.

Moreover, the trust that I have been given to complete my work, and the sense of accomplish-ment I get when I finish it, has greatly developed my confi-dence. And as a teenager, such a boost is necessary.

Although I have only been working here for over a month, the experience that I have gained so far is com-

pletely unexpected, for which I am truly grateful. I am also fully aware that Leaderonomics is

not a run-of-the-mill company, and that not every company will treat its interns in the same way.

We should have a positive perspective in every situation that we face – there are always lessons to be learnt from every situation.

I hope that this has encouraged you to con-sider going through an internship to prepare yourself in your career. Life is not a race, and the person who finishes first doesn’t necessarily gain more.

Sometimes, stopping to smell the roses allows you to spot hidden gems along the way.

The “past” me would have never imagined that I would be where I currently am, and I am excited to bring the “future” me to places that the “current” me will never dream of, too.

n Sarah knows that most roses don’t have much smell, but she hopes that you stop to take a whiff anyway. You can tell her about the gems that you have spotted at [email protected]

Life as an intern

the trust that i have been given to compLete my work, and the sense of accompLishment i get when i finish

it, has greatLy deveLoped my confidence. and as a teenager, such a boost is necessary.

Interested to know more stories from and about the youth of today? Look out for next week’s issue!

In conjunction with International Youth Day, we will be featuring stories of inspiring youths, young geniuses with inventions which are changing the world, stories from our very own DIODE campers, and many more career and leadership lessons!

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of our career guide next Saturday and check out http://leaderonomics.com/ to access this special edition!

International Youth Day was designated by the United Nations in 1999. It serves as an awareness day which focuses on cultural and legal issues surrounding youth.

International Youth Day is celebrated annually on Aug 12.

1. Takeinitiativetoaddvaluetoyourteamandsolvepotentialwork-relatedchallenges

2. Behumbleandeagertolearnnewskillssuchaspresentationskills

3. Becommunicativethroughwrittenandverbalmeanstoconnectwithfellowco-workersandteammembers

4. Treateveryonewithrespectregardlessofstatusandposition

5. Bequicktothinkthingscreatively,andaskquestions.

tips for a good internship experience:

internationaLyouth day


By FRANCOIS [email protected]

HERE, I am not talking about mass migration of educated people from one country to another, but the cognitive capacity of

an individual brain over time. Research shows that age takes

a significant toll on our cognitive capacities in the long term. However, physical exercise, a proper diet and sustained social activities allow us to counteract those effects of time.

But, what about brain drain in the short term? Much more important than age is the daily type of “brain drain” we all experience, which is far more significant and affects all of us without being conscious of it. It’s called ego or decision depletion.

Our brains need optimal levels of glucose and oxygen resources to func-tion well cognitively – glucose being the fuel of our neurons, the funda-mental units of the brain.

Yet the brain’s ability to control or manage its use of these resources is limited, especially if we have to think hard as the day progresses.

Our cognitive skills decline as we deplete these basic resources, and if we do not refill, we lose our cognitive capacities and even our self-control.

A paper shows the troubling news that what a judge had for breakfast, or when and what he/she had for a tea break is far more likely to impact a defendant than having a good lawyer.

The study by Danziger et al (2010) surveyed 112 judicial rulings that were

collected over 50 days in a 10-month period, by eight judges (two females) who preside over two different parole boards that serve four major prisons.

The astonishing observation made by the researchers was that the percentage of favourable rulings dropped gradually from around 65% to nearly 0% within each “decision ses-sion” (defined as a period of successive rulings between two tea breaks) and returned abruptly to 65% after a break (See Figure 1).

It is a little frightening to read in the same paper that “the likelihood of a favourable ruling is greater at the very beginning of the work day or after a food break than later in the sequence of cases”.

So what, you might say? Well, think about your own working day.

Have you ever thought about how you sort your tasks in the morning, for instance?

Our natural tendency is to rush to check our emails, some of them bring-ing their lot of negative emotions that need to be managed, and others ask-ing for complex thinking, which takes away our resources.

Then, we might rush to a first meeting, around the middle of the

morning, without taking a snack. At the end of that meeting, when

our brain resources are at the mini-mum, we may have to make a critical decision.

The quality of that decision will definitely be negatively impacted, just like for the judges. What can we do about this?

Well, if we develop self-aware-ness for our emotional sensitivity, for example, we have some good indica-tors of our brain exhaustion: the more you become sensitive to external trig-gers, the more your brain is depleted.

Daily brain drain is a reality. Be aware of your personal cycle, make food/oxygen breaks and adapt your daily agenda accordingly.

n François Bogacz is a facilitator and mediator, specialised in the applica-tion of neuropsychology to leadership, diversity and conflict resolution. He helps individuals and organisations

maximise their potential by under-standing the human brain at the emo-tional, social and cognitive levels. To get in touch with Bogacz, email [email protected]

By YEOH SHU WEN CASSANDRA [email protected]

WE all love holidays! The anticipation of the holiday break would send tingles of joyful anticipation down our spine. It could be a semester break or transition to the next level of education.

Everyone will be given the same period of time; the question is whether you make use of it as a stepping stone for your career.

Few years down the road, the precious time of youth can never be brought back. To treasure your time, the following activities are highly recommended.

1 InternshIp Internship programmes are profes-

sional career hands-on training programmes which offer work experience which you just can’t get in the classroom.

Throughout your internship, you can decide if it is the right career for you. In Malaysia, a typical internship lasts from six to 12 weeks. Therefore, you can “test out” your future career without committing too much time.

Although these positions may be paid or unpaid, the benefits of doing an internship go far beyond your pay cheque.

Internships allow you to build network-ing opportunities. You get to meet people who might help you land a job and give you the contacts in the industry you’re trying to break into. As the saying goes, knowing peo-ple never hurts.

An internship can help build your confi-dence, while building your resume. During job interviews, when an interviewer asks if you have the experience of doing some-thing, your work experience, if relevant, would allow you to answer with confidence.

Statistics show that there is a high chance for interns to find permanent, paid employ-ment with the organisations they interned with.

2 Volunteer yourself

Volunteering has a mean-ingful, positive impact on your community. Apart from developing new skills, did you know volunteering also boosts your career?

A survey carried out by TimeBank of 200 leading businesses in the UK shows:

l 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without

l 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills.

By volunteering, you’re certainly giving back to society the benefits it gave you. As certain groups of communities suffer due to social injustice, what better way can you bridge the expanding gap if not through volunteering?

Although no one can solve all of the world’s problems, making your little corner of the world a little better would have a big impact towards society.

And, you know what, volunteering brings together people from all walks of life. Everyone you get to meet from differ-ent backgrounds would be a rich source of inspiration in your life.

After meeting new people and gaining new knowledge, this could change your perception of life as well as leave a lasting impact on you.

3 famIly tIes Family is where life begins and love

never ends. There is no investment wiser than spending quality time with your family.

I see my family as a gift, which lasts forever. As family stands for “Father And Mother I Love You”, holidays are definitely a good time to strengthen our bonds and renew relation-ships.

No matter how life changes, those who would love us unconditionally are our parents. As Jim Butcher puts it: “When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching – they are your family.”

Not knowing when our loved ones would depart from us, the time to build a close-knit family should be treasured most.

n Cassandra, 18, is enjoying a gap year before pursuing her passion to be a lawyer in order to help others. Before interning with The Star, she volunteered a few months to teach under-privileged children. Cassandra puts her family before everything else and is truly grateful she can now spend quality time with them. She lives by the tagline “I may find a prince, but my dad would still be my king.” She would love to hear from you via [email protected]

What to do during the holidays?

‘Brain drain’?

What is

mind your tea BreaksFigure 1: Proportion of rulings in favour of the prisoners by ordinal posi-tion. Circled points indicate the first decision in each of the three decision sessions; tick marks on x axis denote every third case; dotted line denotes food break. Because unequal session lengths resulted in a low number of cases for some of the later ordinal positions, the graph is based on the first 95% of the data from each session.

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Ordinal position


EVER play the game, “Would You Rather”? This party game is simple: everyone has to choose one out of two given options, and is not allowed to

answer “neither” or “both”.Just like the game, Larry Smith plays

a lot of interesting scenarios in our heads by putting many contrasting situations against each other.

In his 15-minute TED Talk, titled Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career, Smith starts with a bold state-ment: “I want to discuss with you this afternoon why you’re going to fail to have a great career”.

Capturing the audience’s attention, as well as their laughter, he expresses his frustration with people not follow-ing their passions.

A professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, Smith also doubles as a mentor to many of his students, giving advice on career development. Initially giving the TED Talk on the request of his students, he never expected to garner over two million views.

In a later interview on Forbes, he comments, “I’ve heard the excuses so many times I can’t stand it anymore. Since the excuses were real, I think they resonated with people watching the TED Talk because they recognise the excuses.”

A vAriety of excusesIn his talk, Smith goes through a list

of excuses he has heard throughout his career, given by those who are unwilling to do what they really need to do in order to have a great career.

it’s A mAtter of luckExcuse No. 1: “Well, great careers

are really and truly, for most people, just a matter of luck, so I’m going to stand around, I’m going to try to be lucky, and if I’m lucky, I’ll have a great career. If not, I’ll have a good career.”

Countering the excuse, Smith says, “Those trying to have good careers are going to fail, because, really, good jobs are now disappearing. There are great jobs and great careers, and then there are the high-workload, high-stress, bloodsucking, soul-destroying kinds of jobs, and practically nothing in between.”

i’m not A genius“Yes, there are special people who

pursue their passions, but they are geniuses. They are Steven J. I’m not a genius. When I was five, I thought I was a genius, but my professors have beaten that idea out of my head long since.”

Instead of claiming our title as gen-iuses, we call ourselves, “completely competent”, something that will not help us gain a great career.

not weird enough?“Well, I would do this, I would do

this, but, but, well, after all, I’m not weird. Everybody knows that people who pursue their passions are some-what obsessive.”

Commonly heard by those who are not ready to pursue their passion, people who come up with this excuse choose to substitute their pursuit with hard work instead.

Smith lets us in on a little secret: you are definitely bound to work hard. However, he doubts the choice of hard work without passion. “The world will give you the opportunity to work real-ly, really, really, really hard, but are you so sure that that’s going to give you a great career when all the evidence is to the contrary?”

only An interestMoving forward, Smith brings us

to the excuses of another kind of person – those with only an interest.

“Passion is your greatest love. Passion is the thing that will help you create the highest expression of your talent. Passion, interest – it’s not the same thing,” he states.

Using a romantic relationship as an analogy, Smith says, “Are you really going to go to your sweetie and say, ‘Marry me! You’re interesting.’ Won’t happen. Won’t happen, and you will die alone.”

“What you want, is passion. It is beyond interest. You need 20 interests, and then one of them, one of them might grab you, one of them might engage you more than anything else, and then you may have found your greatest love in comparison to all the other things that interest you, and that’s what passion is.”

An interest is not what will propel you towards your great career. Passion is.

Playing out another “Would You Rather” scenario, Smith compares

the tombstone of an engineer who invented Velcro, and the tombstone of the alternative life of that same engi-neer, saying: “Here lies the last Nobel Laureate in Physics, who formulated the Grand Unified Field Theory and demon-strated the practicality of warp drive.”

“One was a great career. One was a missed opportunity.”

either, orSmith finally brings us to the last

excuse on the list: those who make unnecessary sacrifices.

“Yes, I would pursue a great career, but I value human relationships more than accomplishment. I want to be a great friend. I want to be a great spouse. I want to be a great parent, and I will not sacrifice them on the altar of great accomplishment.”

Scoffing at this excuse, he questions his audience. Do you really want to use your children as a shield? Giving another pair of situations, Smith

paints our future. One day, when our kid comes up

to us and tells us of their dream of becoming a magician, how will we answer them? Will we be able to tell them to go for it, just like we did?

All these excuses stem from only one thing: fear.

“And that’s why you’re not going to have a great career, unless – unless, that most evocative of all English words – unless. But the ‘unless’ word is also attached to that other, most terrifying phrase, ‘If only I had...’”

I end this with a question for you: would you rather tell your future kids about the dreams that you have pur-sued, or the dreams that you have left behind?

n Sarah chose the former option as her answer, and is determined to find her passion in order to make it come true. You can tell her your choice at [email protected]


If you have any suggestions or feedback on our content, get in touch with the Leaderonomics team at [email protected] For advertising and advertorials, contact Pravin Kumar at [email protected] or +6011 2377 7850

Wisdom from Captain America

Also next week

Youth is not wasted on the young

Magicalmentalist moments

so... what’s after sPM?

“Unless…”

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