I wrote this entry more than a year ago: "Don’t Go To University For The Sake Of It".
Till today, I still get feedback from students who agree with my piece, show my blog to their parents, and then make me kena abuse from their parents because they think what I wrote was too controversial.
Of course lah, I wasn’t saying don’t go to University and just lepak lepak scratch your balls do nothing.
I was simply saying that if you haven’t found your passion, don’t spend too much time and money on higher education.
Rather than spending 3 years in University doing engineering, another 3 years doing Masters, then after 6 years realizing that wasn’t what you love to do for the rest of your life… why not just spend more time discovering where your passion lies in the first place?
I wanna write this piece as a follow up to that blog entry.
Some students say, after finishing SPM, they still have no idea where their love lies. To that I say, start doing research lah!
Most Gen Y-er are clueless about what they expect out of a job. A good way to learn how to marry your career with your passion is to start reading up on anecdotes written by those who have already done it. The myStarjob.com Career Guide (available both online and in print every Saturday) is a good place to start.
I feel every student, out there gotta be doing this as early as possible. Find out as much and as early as possible about what your future job might entail, because what you imagine your job to be and what it actually is might be very different.
Don’t say you want to study to become an Oil & Gas Engineer because of you "heard" people say the money is good, then later regret when you discover you don’t actually wanna live on an oil rig with seagulls as friends!
But hey, if taking a helicopter to work everyday sounds exciting to you, then by all means – chase your dreams!
Once you got a target career to work towards (even vaguely), start educating yourself. Not just in terms of completing your assignments and University degree, but also by attending seminars, workshops and talks by industry leaders.
From my experience, many industry people are very frank with students about the realities of the working world. I don’t mind walking to a seminar full of fresh college graduates and tell them straight that they can’t go into a job interview, expect to get a senior management position and a fat pay cheque that comes with it!
Next, start applying for your dream job!
I get tons of application from graduates every we advertise for it. One thing I always enjoy doing is reading resumes written by those who put an extra effort onto it.
Nowadays, pretty much the only acceptable way to apply for a job is via the Internet. And please, don’t just send a one-line e-mail with an attachment of your resume. Always write a cover letter.
Here’s how not to write a cover letter:
And this is one of the best, perfectly-blunt and brutally-honest cover letters I have seen:
Gotta love an honest job applicant sometimes.
Nowadays, you can even send in VIDEOS instead of your cover letter. myStarjob.com called it a Visume.
I love it.
It’s so much more enjoyable to watch videos of potential candidates than to read boring resumes that almost all sounds the same!
When you upload your resume to MyStarJob.com, you have the option of uploading a video of yourself too so your potential employer have a chance to see how you’re really like. Perfect for those applying for positions like model, actor or Old Town Kopitiam waiters who like to pretend customers don’t exist.
But there’s more! From now until mid-March, you stand a chance to win a weekly prize worth RM100 if you do the following:
- Register as a myStarjob.com member (registered members can proceed to Step 3).
- Upload your resume (Word or PDF format).
- Answer 1 question correctly.
- Click submit!
If you’re lucky, you might even with the overall grand prize – an awesome car!
Not bad eh?
So once you got your dream job, you too can join the rest of us working crowd and get stuck in a traffic jam every morning to work!