WORKSHOPS FOR EARLY CAREER PLANNING

The idea to have this program is mainly due to my personal experiences what I was seeking the right pre-university program for me upon received my result in SPM in 1991.

With internet access and other sources of information were so "difficult" to gain easily in those years, I had to put my own efforts just to seek some advice on what's next for me.I remember returned for my temporary job in Penang by bus and in the same morning I arrived in my hometown in Rembau, I took another bus ride to my school in Kuala Pilah. After asking few teachers for guides, I was finally advised to meet the Principal. Then I returned about a week after that because he was not available immediately for me to see him. After I met him, the deadline for submission was already over and I had to attach the appeal letter for each program that I submitted.

Why didn't I ask others? I couldn't because my parent did not know anything about any of the process and similar to my relatives in my home town since  none of them have reached tertiary education level. In short, I had no one to turn to and I was lucky enough to have managed to get some advice from the Principal and finally made it to a science matriculation course under University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

I still remember the late Mr. Mokhtar, my principal told me that with my result, I should be able to qualify for any science oriented pre-university course and if I pass any of them, degree programs such as in medical, engineering, applied science and pure science would be my next possible field to study for my future career.

It was a tough and painful experience for me to go through and because of the delay which as due to I had no one to advise me properly and unavailability of information to me, I was almost failed to get a place. After an appeal made with letters(appeal and support letters) and few door knocking efforts at the centralized pre-university admission office in Kuala Lumpur, I was finally accepted with delay for about two months compare to the normal admission.

Looking at those days and today, the current generations have more access to information and able to seek advice on what's next after school much easier and earlier.Even all schools have their own counselor as the source for them to seek advice and to guide them from school days which I was not able to enjoy in my school years more than 20 years ago.

Setelah mengalami pengalaman begitu, saya menjangkakan para generasi selepas generasi saya dan sekarang akan lebih beruntung  kerana dapat memanfaatkan kemudahan memperolehi maklumat yang lebih mudah dan banyak dalam merancang masa depan mereka. Selain daripada itu, pada masa ini lebih ramai ibu bapa  dan ahli keluarga dan saudara yang lebih berpelajaran dan lebih  terdedah dengan pelbagai bidang untuk membimbing mereka dalam membuat keputusan apa seterusnya untuk kerjaya mereka.

Tambahan pula dengan pelbagai program yang dianjurkan oleh pelbagai pihak sama pihak sekolah, PIBG dan  juga pihak-pihak swasta dalam motivasi dan kerjaya,pastinya akan menjadikan para pelajar lebih bermaklumat, terbimbing dan  lebih terancang langkah mereka dalam meneroka peluang-peluang kerjaya masa depan pada peringkat yang lebih awal berbanding apa yang saya sendiri dan generasi saya telah lalui dulu.

Kemudian, dalam tempoh lebih kurang 10 tahun kebelakangan ini, kita sering pula didedahkan dengan berita-berita dan pendapat-pendapat di pelbagai media cetak dan elektronik tentang keadaan pasaran graduan di Malaysia.

Keratan-keratan berita di bawah jelas sekali mencerminkan sesuatu yang tidak enak tentang kualiti para generasi muda graduan dan lepasan sekolah pada masa sekarang.

Ketika saya menaiki 'tangga' seterusnya dalam kerjaya saya, saya juga pernah berkesempatan di temuduga  untuk dipertimbangkan ke jawatan-jawatan yang saya pohon atau yang saya akan dinaikkan. Pada tempoh masa yang sama juga  saya pernah menjalankan proses temuduga calon-calon untuk mengisi kekosongan jawatan-jawatan yang ada.

Sekarang, saya sendiri seorang majikan dan ada ketikanya saya memerlukan pekerja. Saya perlu mencari sendiri calon-calon yang berpotensi dan seterusnya menilai kelayakan, kemahiran dan kebolehan untuk menentukan sama ada mereka sesuai untuk diambil bekerja atau tidak.

Namun, anggapan dan ada juga harapan saya ada yang tersasar bila melihat dan mengalami sendiri pertembungan saya dengan generasi sekarang di pelbagai peringkat daripada sekolah hingga ke universiti  dan daripada yang baru bergelar graduan dan yang telah ada  beberapa tahun pengalaman bekerja.

My personal conclusions are not that different compare to what have been highlighted in the mass media.Credentials of our young and future leaders are being questioned and that have started to put their future in more risky scenario to compete.

Below are my personal observations:

• Lack of communication skill tops the least as the main barrier for them to be competitive and to convince potential employers.
• They are unsure on what is really they want in life and that reflect in their perception towards their career.
• The trend has changed to more exam results oriented. Emphasis or priorities have been given too much on academic excellence by almost all parties surrounding them and they are parent, schools, learning institutions and overall society.This has resulted in most parties ignoring basic surviving skills that need to be instilled and nurtured at young ages which are needed to complement their academic qualifications to be more prepared to walk to the career world and become successful.
• Schools have become the battlefield only for academic excellence to get recognized by all parties especially by the policy makers where more allocations or privileges only given for those achieved KPIs where mostly academic has the lion share of the assessment.
• They are  literally not being guided despite most all of their materials needs being fulfilled the affordability of their parents. At most times, they are just being pampered that "cushioned" them from the "hunger" to acquire skills needed for their future.Some do not even realized of being told by people close to them about the importance of the those skills.

So, what is the solution?

Definitely it won't be an easy one and it needs so many parties involved to see this issue objectively and collectively find the best approach to resolve it. That will need time and require interventions of more authorized bodies  such as the ministries involved in our education system, agencies and cooperation from all parties such as parents and all Malaysians for the sake of future generations.

What can I do as a person?

I may not have all what it takes to make major changes but I do and strongly believe that I CAN PLAY MY  ROLES.

With my education background, personal experiences and exposure in career world at various capacity, I know that I have a lot to share. With the knowledge that I gained throughout my career journey until today, sharing all that with the intention to guide our younger generations in getting them to be better prepared for their career would be something I can do to play my role. I also believe, when I share more with others, I will gain more too and will make be a better person to share much better things to other as I move forward.

The program that I developed here is designed to be an eye opening tool for students to start to think seriously on their future career at earliest possible time.

I have been trying in all my programs is to  incorporate all  knowledge gained from...

• what I experienced myself 
• what I have been trained for academically and professionally
• what I have exposed locally and internationally
• what I have been dealing with over the years with locals and foreigners
• what I have been reading
• what have been shared with me by employers( I am an employer myself), friends and practitioners from various fields and industries
• what did I observe by interviewing and assessing candidates for different purposes such as employment, competencies and business propositions.

It has been more of sharing my journey with some ups and downs and later to help students to start to think what would be theirs.

In anyway possible to guide them to get to know themselves and slowly to give some thoughts on what they want in their life especially for their career.

Both the 1/2 day and 1 day workshop are designed, updated and customized progressively  to complement  in mitigating impacts from the current changes and issues with regard to our education system which is now more towards the balance in acquiring in academic and soft skills requirements.

Personal efforts-students are guided to prepare their own career plan which could be their first/preliminary one!

Here I would like to share some photos on sessions that have been conducted at schools.There is nothing can describe the feeling to "give back"  and  to see how excited these students' face when they started to realize and feel "something" about their own future. The future that is not that far from them and how much can they do to make things better from themselves from school.

To some, that will add more reasons on why they need to make use of their school years to acquire certain skills that will benefit them and to some, it may just something other than academic that they have to worry on why they are at school. It's for their life...their future.

Interactive-students will share their thoughts about career

Building confidence-encourage them to stand and speak-up

Interactive-using their inputs to get results from online software used to identify their own interests

Interactive -Gauging their interests on fields of their possible careers

Showing them the path-the schematic on career pyramid from where they are and what' next?

Presentation aids customized to suit today's school environment

Gauging their interests through two-way communication-ask and persuade them to share

Feel free to forward any query to zainiabdulwahab@yahoo.com with regard to this program or other programs related to career planning and soft skills for students, undergraduates and young executives as follows:

1. Career planning for young executives and professionals
2. Effective presentation skills for technical/engineering executives
3. Effective public speaking skills
4. Writing effective resume and application letters for undergraduates and young executives
5. Report writing skills for technical/engineering executives
6. Preparing effective presentation materials
7. Tips build confidence and overcome fears for interviews