When I was a little girl, my grandparents used to constantlydrill it into me that “Nobody's good at everything; everybody's good atsomething”. Sure I found it hard to believe…in fact I thought they were justtrying to make me feel better!
From the ripe old age of 10, I started writing—sending in mypieces to local newspapers and I was completely obsessed with slogan-writingcompetitions. While I managed to score loads of moolah and prizes during myquests, I never actually thought I was good at it.
Eventually, over the years Irealised that “Hey, not everyone can write, get published and win tons ofgoodies! Aah…so this is my talent, eh”. I guess it wouldn’t come as a surprisethat I am now Content Editor at JobsDB Malaysia and lovin’ every minute ofwhat I do!
As The Toilet Paper Entrepreneurput it: “Everyone has a talent. EVERYONE. So maybe yours is blowingmilk out your nose... it's still a talent. And most talents can bemonetized. The key is to find your talent and then turn it into ascalable business. Too bad many folks get stuck on the "finding thetalent" part.” Believe or not, Mike Michalowicz is right!
Best-selling author and broadcaster Patrick Lindsay offers apiece of advice, “Some know it from childhood. Some never find it. But we allhave special talents. Take the time to explore yours. It may be disguised. Itmay be undeveloped. But trust your instincts. Give yourself the opportunity. Itwill be there.”
With the New Year around the corner, we urge you to tap intoyour inner talents and realise your true potential—you’ll lead a happier, morefulfilling life!
Pay rise news is always good news and what better way for civil servants to start off 2012! According to The Star Online, Public Service director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the increments for the civil servants would be based on four principles: hierarchy: talent and experience; their position and subject matter expertise; and their performance.
Nothing comes easy they say, which is why Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah stressed that the increments would be performance-based, which also means that if the top civil servants do not do enough to merit bonuses, there would be no pay rise for them either.The performance of the top-level civil servants will be evaluated through their Key Performance Indicators.
If you’re wondering how exactly the pay rise would work, wonder no more: citing an example of how a top management officer would be paid, he said a doctor with a salary range of between RM4,431 and RM6,439 is now eligible for a salary of between RM4,520 and RM8,840. However, the doctor will not immediately move to the new maximum rate if he is currently earning RM6,439.He will instead earn a similar salary and continue to enjoy increments of up to RM8,840 (37% higher than the previous ceiling) even before he is promoted to the next grade.
Giving an example for the lower category staff, he said: “If a driver earns between RM1,222.51 and RM1,882 under the current scheme, he can earn between RM1,245 and RM2,965 under the new scheme.”
The government has increased retirement age from 58 to 60. But that’s for the civil servants. The private sector still has to keep 55 as its retirement age.
Like most of us, our Human Resources Minister, Datuk. Dr. S. Subramaniam feels the retirement age should be raised in private sector too.
He was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying that the current retirement age of 55 was set many years ago when the life expectancy of Malaysians was around 55.
“Now, it is around 75, so we can’t keep the retirement age at 55,” said Dr Subramaniam at a press conference after launching the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) national conference 2011.
Earlier in his speech, he said Malaysia was “lagging behind” in terms of its retirement age requirement compared with other countries in the region such as Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.
He said representatives of employers, employees and the Government were currently in discussion to decide on a new retirement age for the private sector.
He added that the MEF had agreed in principle to the proposed rise in the retirement age, but had some reservations that needed to be addressed.
“The Private Sector Retirement Age Bill is currently being drafted. The Act will give us the power to stipulate the retirement age for the private sector,” said Dr Subramaniam.
He said that currently, the Em- ployment Act only stipulated the retirement age for the government sector.
“Now that the retirement age for government workers has been extended, people will expect the private sector to follow suit,” he said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the retirement age for the civil service would be raised from 58 to 60 years when announcing Budget 2012 last week.
It’s the increase of wage, not the unemployment which is the issue that we should be concerned about, says Minister of Human Resources Malaysia, Datuk. Dr. S. Subramaniam.
According to him, the unemployment rate in Malaysia is at 3.1%, which is as good as 100% employment, so the focus now is on the increase of wages.
“There are around 150,000 Malaysians who commute daily to Singapore to work there,” he said, adding that including those who live in Singapore, there could be around 200,000 Malaysians working in Singapore,” he said.
He noted that employment in Malaysia is good enough, and even quipped that there are enough opportunities for even foreigners.
Earlier in his speech, Dr. S. Subramaniam added that the current Economic Transformation Program embarked by the government is focussed on transforming Malaysia into a high income nation by 2020, whereby the country’s gross national income per capita will increase from RM23,700 in 2009 to more than RM48,000.
He was speaking to reporters after the launch of The People’s Edge Magazine.
Meanwhile, the minister lauded the magazine, published by Job Hunt Group, as it was devoted to the development of the nation’s human capital management. “I have had a quick look at the magazine and I can see that it is full of interesting information on the field of HR and human capital development where the latest trends, information, views and efforts in these fields taken by the government and its agencies and the private sector are showcased, discussed and analysed,” he said during the speech.
Job Hung’s Group Executive Director, Dato’ (Dr) Michael C.H. Wong, in his speech, noted that as a specialist in human capital solutions, the publisher saw a gap for a publication that addresses Human Capital management from a wholly Malaysian perspective.
“So, we took a proactive approach and invested in this direction to broaden our commitment, in ‘Developing Malaysia’s Human Capital’, which is our tagline for our Human Capital magazine, People’s Edge,” he said.
Not many knows this, but Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributors are also covered outside working hours. This is where they can apply for aid under the Mishap Pension Scheme (Skim Pencen Ilat) for accidents, mishaps or illnesses that occur outside working hours.
A recent report from The Star Newspaper quoted social worker Chong Sin Wooi, 36, as saying that that not many people were aware that Socso provided aid for such cases.
“The common perception is that claims can only be made for mishaps for work related injuries. So long as one is a Socso contributor for at least one-third of his career and is below the retirement age of 55, one is able to apply for such aid,” he said.
He said that this scheme included illnesses such as cancer, asthma, and heart attacks certified by doctors.
He added that Socso also provided aid for those undergoing kidney dialysis.
“Those undergoing dialysis treatment do so at least twice a week, with a charge of up to RM150 for each treatment. They can apply to have their treatments subsidised by Socso,” said Choong.
He said this at a workshop held at the Tanjung Bunga Community Development and Security Committee (JKKK) office that about 20 members took part in.
So, know your rights. Your contributions should not go to waste.
Yikes, the month June passed by and not many realised that the unemployment rate for that month actually rose.
This was after remaining steady in the previous month, data released by the Department of Statistics showed recently.
A report from a global financial news-wire, quoted the statistics, saying that the unemployment rate increased to 3.2 percent in June from 3 percent in May, which was unchanged from the figure for April. In June 2010, the jobless rate was 3.6 percent.
The number of unemployed persons in the country advanced to 400,100 in June from 380,300 in the previous month. Year-on-year, the number of unemployed dropped 8.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of employed persons remained unchanged at 12.11 million during the month. Compared to last year, employment was up by 2.9 percent.
The number of labor force edged up to 12.51 million in June from 12.49 million in the previous month. The labor force participation rate for the month was steady at 63.9 percent.
Apparently engineering haven is here, according to an excellent article by Ron Schneiderman for IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.
He noted that the Asia-Pacific region, or APAC, is home to more than 60 percent of the world's population and many of its largest and most successful high-tech companies. So it's not surprising that the region is a hotbed of recruiting for technical professionals--especially engineers.
“Intel announced in February that it planned to hire 1000 software engineers this year, many of whom will be in Asia,” he wrote, quoting Lori Weber, Intel's global hiring director who said that the company had already hired around 50 percent of its initial goal by recruiting a combination of experienced and college graduate candidates.
Without giving any numbers, Webersaid some of the newly-hired software engineers will be based in Shanghai and India. "We will continue hiring outside the United States as needed to support our presence in the overseas markets, which generate approximately three-fourths of Intel's revenues."
Shneiderman also noted that Microsoft likewise has more than 100 openings for mostly software engineers in China and almost that many slots for engineers in India.
“Apparently in response to an increasingly competitive environment in recruiting and retaining top technical talent (Google gave out 10 percent pay raises this year), Microsoft says that beginning in September it will offer raises in salary and stock awards to attract and retain staff. As CEO Steve Balmer wrote in an internal e-mail to Microsoft employees, "... the changes we're rolling out will help ensure Microsoft continues to be the place that top talent comes to change the world."
Check out more of the article at the magazine’s online site.
Is Gen-Y known as a group of employees that tires bosses and managers because of their unpleasant working attitude?
Is Gen-Y is a group of more frequent job-hoppers compared to older generation?
Is Gen-Y has too much over-confident to request for high-pay without experience / skills and are contributing unrealistic ideas?
Well, there are too many stereotyped perceptions have placed into Gen-Y, but how true is it? Should we really look deep inside and analyse what the actual truth is?
8TV has come to JobsDB to do an interview on how employers perceive Gen-Y as far as employment and hunting for jobs is concerned; and why Gen-Y has been reflected negatively. Let's discover more from Gen-Y and employers in this coming Sunday (7 August 2011), 12pm on 8TV channel Eyes On You (凡事两极话) programme. Stay tuned!
Being amidst banking industry can be exciting but at the same time, brushing shoulders with so many smart and intelligent executives and officers, you could ultimately suffer from low-self esteem.
Confidence is a vital aspect of our day-to-day lives and is especially important in the banking jobs. After all, you would not be appreciative of a colleague who fumbles and trips over his words while doing a presentation. Unfortunately, not everyone was born with "built-in" self confidence. In fact, many of us had to work hard to achieve some semblance of confidence.
People with low confidence and self-esteem often feel unappreciated and find it hard to succeed. The good thing is that it can be achieved with time and effort. Rome was not built in a day, and as for banking job is concerned, so don't expect the same for yourself and do not push yourself to the limit.
You can easily distinguish a self-confident person from others. They stand tall and proud with their head held high and answer questions clearly but calmly. You will feel instinctively drawn to them because they inspire others around them. This automatically concludes that a self-confident person is often more successful than those who are not.
How confident are you to your colleagues? Take a breather and answer some of these questions to see if you need a crash course in building your confidence.
Pride in what you have achieved
Keep a log book or a diary and jot down all the achievements you have made. Perhaps you have closed a successful sales deal or have been recently promoted. Take note of praises and words of encouragement from your superior. For days when you feel down and demoted, flip through the pages and re-read some of your successes. They are a constant reminder that you can do it and are able to achieve more if you set your heart to it in your banking job.
A go-getter
Set realistic goals for yourself and stick to it. Say "I will complete this project in a fortnight" and not "I think I can complete it in a fortnight". If you make a strong reinforcement to the statement, chances are your brain will register and you will be able to meet the deadline. Also, try to set goals that will highlight your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
Receive a compliment graciously
It is a natural instinct for Asians to be overly humble when someone compliments them. Look around with those with banking related jobs. Don't be. Acknowledge that you deserve the compliment because you have worked hard for it. Smile and say "Thank you. It was really nice of you to notice my work. I'm very proud of it as well" and not "Oh, it was nothing. Anyone could have done it." The former shows that you are capable of handling tough projects while the latter says that you are a pessimist, plus it also gives the impression that your job is an easy-peasy one! Positive self-talk
Last but not least, celebrate to rejoice in the fact you have worked diligently to bring your self- confidence to another level. Allow yourself some fun. After this, stretch yourself a little bit more. Make your goals bigger and challenge yourself more. Take it one step at a time at a pace that's comfortable to you. Some people take three months; others may take up to six months or more. You will slowly notice a difference in yourself, and able to strive forward with your rewarding bankingcareer.
Have you ever been in a middle of an pitch or even in a conversation in that matter, when the person you are talking to just gets up and walks away? Or fiddles in the chair? Or even looks everywhere but at you? How does this make you feel? Most people feel hurt. The listener acts as though he or she is absolutely not interest in what the speaker has to say or already said. And yet, when it is their turn to talk, they expect, if not demand, attention especially when you are doing sales job in Malaysia.
Have you ever been in a heated conversation and realize that your partner has no idea what you have been saying? It could very well be the manner that you are delivering the argument or speech, or it may even be that your partner is a poor listener. Poor listening skills seem to be the majority and not the minority of fresh graduates. Since Malaysia, in particular those in the sales category is so used to being fast paced in all matters, we often forget how to slow down and just listen.
So how can one learn to be a good listener? Below are some common tips that can help poor listeners work wonders in all situations not only during interviews.
Learn to listen by using lots of eye contact: Let the speaker know that you are interested in what is being said
Be slow to speak: Sometimes, people speak to think out loud. Sometimes, all they really want is a shoulder to lean on and a willing ear to listen. By being slow to speak, you are allowing the speaker to work out or solve problems themselves. Also, one must think before he/she speaks
Keep the secret: People trust you with information because they believe that you will not gossip and spread slander. Keep their trust by keeping things private; between the two of you
Be Attentive: Learn to actively listen. Let the speaker know that you are actually listening, although you are not speaking, by saying things like, "yeah, hmmm, I know, that's true, okay, that makes sense," and so forth. This shows that you are in tune with what they are saying and also following what they are saying
Show Gratitude: Let the speaker know that you feel honored that they were able to open up to you. If nothing personal was said, than let the speaker know that you had a great time listening and that you learned a lot. In a society that forgets to show gratitude, a simple use of kind words, can make someone's day a little brighter. Showing kindness and appreciation will also help you with the interviewer
Stay in Tune: Do not simply disappear in the middle of any conversation because your mind wandered. Whether you actually get up and walk away or let your mind wander elsewhere, it is just being plain rude. If you find that your attention span is small, actively repeat what is being said to you as the speaker is speaking. That makes you one step ahead as someone doing sales job in Malaysia.
Looks like we are going to, or already are, get(ting) more females in the workforce if we were to judge from the entries in our universities.
The Star newspaper reported that more girls are getting places in universities than boys and this is worrying the Higher Education Ministry.
“It is not that the ministry is against female dominance at the local universities. But it is important to ensure a balanced growth for both genders,” the report quoted the minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin as saying.
He said male students made up just 35% of the overall intake at the local universities this year.
“This problem needs to be immediately addressed,” he said adding that however, there was a “healthy balance” of male and female students for technical-based courses.
“But we need to work on encouraging male students to enroll for other courses, too,” he said.
“Other than that, we have a shortage of students enrolling for science and technological based courses this year,” Mohamed Khaled said, adding that 5% of available seats for such courses were not taken.
“We will try and fix these problems at the secondary school level and hopefully, we will be able to achieve our target in future,” he said.
Selling is not all about talking, persuading and garnering commitments. It goes beyond knocking the doors, getting appointments and convincing the potential customer till one runs out of saliva. This applies so, no matter where, whether it's sales job in Malaysia or elsewhere.
In the knowledge era, one should eradicate the nostalgic, but thoroughly reviled memory of door-to-door salesman whose qualification is that he's desperate for the job and can talk till the cow comes home.
Note that salesperson of the days of yore are referred to as "he". The job has become sophisticated and requires nuances of a chic personality that ladies are neck to neck in competition with the old school gentleman with feminine charm, female wit and womanly power of persuasion. Sales personnel doing the job in Malaysia are just that.
Sales job has come to a point where one needs more than a selling skill, or marketing ability to get the products or services paid for and used by clients. It's not surprising that the most successful have become a sort of a psychologist themselves.
"When you use psychological (techniques), you glide ever so smoothly over people's natural predispositions that it's practically effortless for you to generate sales," says Kevin Wilke Founder, NitroMarketing.com This spells the greatest difference between the ethical form of mind control used in marketing, versus its evil stepbrother – the kind involving covert behavior modification techniques especially so for such jobs in Malaysia.
Wilke said the latter concept of "mind control” probably conjures up intrusive devices reminiscent of the "Manchurian Candidate," that coerce or manipulate people to do things against their will, or even introduce electrical impulses that affect the cerebral cortex and produce robotic behavior in human beings. Needless to say, this is not the context of mind control that I am referring to – and neither is it the kind I would advocate nor promote in the field of sales.
Pssssst... Want to know the secret to quick sales success? You make your time count.
Sure there are time management sheets, activity sheets, goal setting sessions and electronic tools that help you make your time count, but they are boring. These tools don't excite you to sell more. Who wants to spend their time filling out activity sheets? The more exciting way to make your time count is...
To STOP selling just one to one. If you meet 5 customers a day for 366 days, never take a break, turn all your hair white and then end up losing your hair, you will get to meet 1825 customers a year. And by the time you get to customer 1825, you'll be crawling your way to your meeting, your customer will be so aghast with this ragged bald man trying to sell them something they will run for their lives.
What if you can sell to thousands instead of one to one? Meet more than 1825 customers in one fell swoop and do it once a month. This is a surefire way to become a legend in your industry, increasing your sales to the stratosphere. In case you’re interested, here are some tips to use the stage to your advantage.
Firstly use structure. Nothing's worse than a person with a mic rambling off anything that comes to his mind. Definite turn off and if you're a turn off in front of thousands, you are better off staying at home. Using structure is easy, at the most basic level, even for a speech 2 minutes long or 2 hours long. Have an introduction, point 1, point 2, point 3 and a close. A 2 minute speech will have less stories than a 2 hour long speech but the structure must still be evident. If you want people to remember what you say, then the speech must be structured so it can be stored efficiently in their brain.
Secondly evoke emotion. To do this, you can do it two ways, you can be yourself or you can be a very talented actress. If you're not a talented actress, then learn to be transparent, learn to be yourself and learn to stop being prohibitive on stage. If you sound boring on stage, then I can assure you, everyone else on the floor will be 10 times more bored. To do this it's simple, tell stories, lots of stories. Remember the time you were a kid, listening intently to a story your uncle was telling you? Even though we are adults, we are still the same. Stories put us into another world, stories paint a picture for us, stories makes us feel and understand the characters in the story you're telling. So, learn to tell stories.
Thirdly use your body and vocals. Variety is the spice of life and the same can be said about variety on stage. When you'e animated and you're varied, your audience becomes glued to you. There's a truth to be said about effective speaking being an entertainer first and a speaker second. So try to never use the rostrum if you can help it, try to vary your voice and try to move your body and be expressive with it.
If you use these 3 tips, you are well on your way to speaking effectively and selling effectively to a large crowd and like a wise man once said "wife one enough, audience one not enough".
All because of extended maternity leave for women, especially teachers.
The Star newspaper reported that the Education Ministry needs more substitute teachers following the decision to increase the maternity leave for women.
At the last Budget session, the Government announced that women teachers are eligible to take maternity leave of up to 90 days, compared to 60 days previously.
“The number of days has increased. This means we need more substitute teachers, or an increase of at least 50%,” the report quoted Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong as saying.
He added, however, that the ministry was looking into ways to solve the problem.
He was speaking at a press conference after opening the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC)-Teacher Education Division (TED) Conference 2011 here yesterday.
Dr Wee said substitute teachers were needed because teachers sometimes took maternity leave simultaneously.
“It is not easy to find substitute teachers,” he said, adding that although there were back-up teachers it requires careful planning and an increase in allocation.
Are you from Johore or would you like to work there. Well, good news as there would be more than 44,800 vacancies for critical and high-skilled workers in Iskandar Malaysia from now until 2015.
A report from the New Straits Times newspaper noted that employers at the development corridor area had created 193,198 such vacancies through the JobsMalaysia work portal between 2009 until now.
State Human Resources, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman M. Asojan was quoted as saying that the vacancies were in the manufacturing sector, the services sector and others.
"Based on the statistics, the development of Iskandar Malaysia had created more than 200,000 job opportunities.
"With the opening of Johor Premium Outlets, a shopping outlet selling branded items in Kulaijaya, and the Legoland International theme park in the near future, more than 2,000 job opportunities will be created," he said to a question by Datuk Tee Siew Kiong (BN-Pulai Sebatang).
Asojan also said the state government, through Iskandar Regional Development Authority, had come up with a comprehensive masterplan on the feasibility study of the development of Iskandar Malaysia.
"We have come up with an action plan to gauge the supply and demand of the local community in tandem with its human resources. It involves three main strategies -- human resource and talent development as well as building and preserving human resources."
According to the masterplan, there would be 850,000 work opportunities until 2025.
When Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp) was announced, the buzz words were, “luring Malaysians from foreign country back to Malaysia”. Actually it’s more thant that.
According to The Sun newspaper report quoting TalentCorp’s chief executive officer (CEO) Johan Mahmood Merican, TalentCorp is poised to work towards optimising foreign talent and up-scaling Malaysian talent, instead of merely focusing on bringing Malaysians home to work.
Speaking to the media after participating in a panel discussion at the Government Linked Companies (GLC) open day, he said the corporation is also looking at ways how Malaysians abroad can contribute to the country from wherever they are.
"In looking at talent needs (in the country) it cannot just be (focused on) Malaysians abroad," he said.
"We need to also be aware of the opportunities (available) to utilise foreign talent and up-scale Malaysian talent," he was quoted as saying, adding that the organisation was looking into optimising foreign talent within Malaysia.
"We are working very closely with different key sectors of the economy, to find what can be done to address the critical skills gap, and how to forge public-private partnerships to address these shortages," said Johan.
Asked about an announcement in Parliament last June by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak that TalentCorp would lure about 700,000 Malaysians working abroad home, Johan said luring such a figure was impossible.
"What he articulated when he made the announcement was how many Malaysians were overseas. I do not think it was any attempt to say we'll bring everyone back. Clearly we cannot bring everyone back," said Johan.
The recent Job Alert contest saw thirty winners, 10 each winning for three weeks, ending with the ultimate winner, Mellesa Lai Mia Yun, walking away with a Netbook. But for those who subscribe to Jobsdb Job Alert option are all winners themselves.
The subscribing members will have the job of their choice in their email as they open it every morning and what they see will get them thinking. Is that the job they want? Or even better, is it time to move on?
Or is that the wrong alert? Well, then you have to log in and check your preferences. Have you clicked on the right industry? What about your key words? Get the right one.
And wait for the mails to come. Job opportunities are aplenty with the government’s Economic Transformation Program initiatives itself will see creation of 36,595 jobs by 2020.
(From right) Susan Sia, Sales & Business Development manager representing JobsDB to give the Netbook to Mellesa Lai, the winner for Job Alert Subscription Contest
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak has announced nine new initiatives in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), which include Malaysia's first private teaching hospital and the establishment of two new specialists hospitals, The Sun newspaper reported.
He was quoted as saying the new initiatives are expected to bring in RM2.77 billion in investment and create 36,595 jobs by 2020.
Speaking at the 6th ETP Progress Update here, Najib said the nine new initiatives (see below for list), along with the six previously announced ones, are expected to generate RM63.88 billion in investments, contribute RM66.13 billion in Gross National Income (GNI) and 63,531 new jobs.
This development will see an investment of RM850 million by 2012, which will in turn generate RM1.3 billion in GNI and 2,000 jobs by 2020.
"In the Healthcare NKEA, two specialists hospitals will be established,” Najib said.
"The first will be a 220-bed hospital dedicated to heart, brain, spine and joint diseases while the second is a 300-bed hospital to provide comprehensive children and women's healthcare," said Najib, who is also the Finance Minister.
The report also noted that these two hospitals, undertaken by Sime Darby Healthcare group, will cost RM240 million and RM40 million respectively and will create 1,539 new jobs by 2020.
Specifically, the Maintenance, Repairing and Overhaul (MRO) service industry, which is part of the whole big Aviation sector that needs lots of skilled worker, according to Bernama news agency.
In its report, it noted that the global Maintainence, Repairing and Overhaul (MRO) services industry is forecast to worth US$65 billion (RM195.3 billion) by 2020.
And the industry was identified by the government as a profitable industry and could be one of the “black horses to steer the nation into achieving a high-income nation status”.
The report also said that the Economic Transformation Programme Laboratories expects the Entry Point Projects, listed under the MRO section, to create 21,000 extra jobs and contribute an additional US$4.2 billion (RM12.62 billion) by 2020.
It also quoted Malaysian Aviation Training Academy’s Chief Executive Officer Sulaiman Dahlan, in an interview with Bernama recently, as saying that a Ministry of Human Resources survey revealed that Malaysia needed over 16,000 aircraft engineers a year, but in the last 15 years, only 3,000 licensed engineers were churned out.
He said the vocation was not being promoted efficiently, thus, causing alack of awareness from the public on how important the requirement needs to be fulfilled.
Time to reconsider which industry you want to be in.
Is your university capable enough to enable you to get a job once you graduate? Well, there will be a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to figure that out.
In fact, graduate employability has been included as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for all vice-chancellors of public universities.
The Star newspaper quoted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as saying that the move was part of the long-term goal to raise the quality and marketability of local graduates.
“Others include introducing entrepreneurship curriculum, implementing soft skills programmes and student internship programmes in public and private corporations before the students graduate.
“Continuous dialogue between the universities and industry is being held to raise the quality of the graduates, an approach which is expected to reduce the mismatch between supply and demand for skilled manpower,” he said when launching the 1Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1M).
Najib said the Government was also implementing special programmes as a short-term measure to raise graduate employability and that included the training programmes carried out by the Higher Education Ministry, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Khazanah and the Skills Development Fund Corporation involving 12,000 graduates.
He said this meant that out of the 20,000 unemployed graduates, 8,000 did not have the opportunity to undergo additional training to improve their marketability.
“Some of them come from the rural and interior areas as well as from low-income families.
“This background influences their character and self-confidence and affects their ability to secure employment
“Thus, by carrying out a last mile intervention in the form of finishing schools, I believe they will become more confident, and they are the target group of the SL1M,” he said, adding that the initiative was also for those who failed to be employed six months after graduating.
We need skilled workers and soon, according to the Human Resources Ministry. Bernama agency recently quoted its minister Datuk. Dr. S. Subramaniam as saying that.
We need skilled workers to compete with high-income Asian nations like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore.
He said since about 3.3 million new jobs would be created under the Economic Transformation Programme (of which 60% would be in the high-skill category), there was an urgent need for skilled workers.
"Unfortunately, of the 9.8 million total workforce in the country, only 28% are employed in high-skilled jobs. Achieving the status of a developed nation requires the support of highly skilled and a competent workforce," he was quoted as saying in that report.
Dr Subramaniam said as an incentive for employers to send their employees for training under the 1Malaysia Training programme, the Government would reimburse 20% of the course fee into employers' levy accounts after completion of their training.
He said the Government had allocated RM500mil for upgrading skills of workers under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015).
On the same note, he said the National Minimum Wage Consultative Council Act would be tabled at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting.
The council would be able to coordinate the salary of workers in the private sector once the Act comes into force.
Here you are, in this social function, lots of people around, they’re all mingling, chatting, making small talk, business talk and the occasional golf talk. Suddenly at the corner of your eye, you see this sharp looking gentleman but you weren’t looking at him because he’s smart or good looking, you’re looking at him because “GASP!” His woo ying (“fly” in Cantonese) is open.
You’re just next to him. What do you do? Should you tell him and be the one who embarrasses him? Should you say something? How do say it to him? Do you pull him aside now? But he’s busy talking with the president of Tanzania.
It’s easier not to say anything isn’t it? So silence is golden, or is it?
It’s always difficult to talk to people when something goes wrong, when something is embarrassing or when someone has screwed up. This happens because we don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, we don’t want to embarrass someone, we don’t want to be the one to be the one who upsets people. It’s always easy to talk to people when things are going really well, when things are smooth or when there is good news. But when challenges happen or when bad news is present, it is exactly then that a conversation becomes vitally important. So we talk well when things are good when talking is not vital and we talk badly when things turn sour when talk is vital.
It can be difficult to deal with the employee who’s always late, it can be difficult to deal with the boss who keeps saying something and doing another and it can be difficult to give candid performance feedback. So the question becomes, how do we tell people that their fly is open without causing too much embarrassment? Three tips
1.Be discreet, tell him and only him. Don’t loudly proclaim to the whole room that his fly is open, pull him aside and away from the president of Tanzania, then whisper into his ear “Pssst, your fly is open”. It’s the same in the office, deal with ugly matters only with the person involved, help him save face. He will be grateful.
2.Be quick. If my fly is open, please tell me now before I introduce myself to the whole room on stage during my speech. It will save me a lot of blushes. So like in the office, when you see behavior that may be a problem, deal with it quickly when it happens. You’ll have a much higher chance in affecting change and preventing more problems in the future.
3.Say it nicely. Don’t go “hey, didn’t your father teach you how to zip up your pants?” It sounds absolutely unlikely that anyone would do this, but have you witnessed a bad boss say “didn’t you learn anything in university?” I have and it is very demotivating. Instead, your colleagues need to know that you’re saying these things because you truly have their well-being in mind. For a late colleague, don’t say “you’re late again” say “Patrick, you seem to be coming late a lot recently and I’m concerned”.
Edmond just wants to make a difference. He runs Education Republic as a way to make lasting social impact via public training, corporate skills training and business development coaching. He has insane amounts of fun in the process.
International Labour Organization prepared a report on gender equality in Asia
Asian countries have a window of opportunity to tackle gender inequality in their labour markets and support sustainable crisis recovery, according to a new report prepared jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The report, Women and Labour Markets in Asia: Rebalancing for Gender Equality, says that although Asia is helping to lead the global economy, recovery of the labour market from the recent global economic and financial crisis has not kept pace. In some developing countries, particularly in East Asia, job growth is back, but the quality of jobs being created is a major concern. In particular, 45 per cent of the vast productive potential of Asian women remains untapped, compared to just 19 per cent for Asian men.
Even before the crisis, Asia was estimated to be losing US$42-$47 billion a year because of limits on women’s access to employment opportunities and another US$16-$30 billion a year as a result of gender gaps in education, according to estimates by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Although the region’s economic growth of 6.2 per cent in 2000-2007 greatly exceeded the global average of 4.2 per cent, average growth in women’s employment was just 1.7 per cent- below the world average of 2 per cent.
These deficits are likely to have increased during the crisis, the report says, because women disproportionately shouldered the impact due to pre-existing gender inequalities. They include discrimination throughout the region’s labour markets, inequality rooted in social-cultural norms and national policy and institutional frameworks that shape the employment opportunities of Asia’s 734 million female workers.
The report says that “there is now a window of opportunity to address systematic gender inequalities as well as the symptoms thrown up by the crisis, and achieve full labour market recovery and successful rebalancing.” It adds that “the policy goal should not be to return to the ‘normal’ pre-crisis situation…but to re-balance towards a new development trajectory that is job-rich, just, sustainable and inclusive”.
“Asia faces both old and new challenges and it needs to address both if it is to reap the social and economic benefits of gender equality,” said Sachiko Yamamoto, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. “The drive to rebalance towards more sustainable, fairer development must not distract policy-makers from dealing with ingrained gender inequalities. One cannot succeed without the other and the social and economic costs of missing this opportunity will be felt for decades. The ILO stands ready to help with this, an important step towards the goal of decent work for all”.
The report points out that poor quality jobs are a greater labour market challenge for women than unemployment. A large proportion of women in Asia toils in low-productivity, vulnerable and low-paid informal work. In addition, female youth unemployment is high and women remain largely perceived as a buffer workforce or secondary earners next to men.
Suggested policies include support for women entrepreneurs; assisting women working in agriculture to boost productivity; reducing Asia’s over-reliance on the informal sector; promoting equal access to quality education and training; gender-responsive social protection; ensuring equality in representation and decision-making; and following a rights-based approach.
Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, ADB’s Vice President of Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, said that “ADB is firmly committed to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through our operations. We believe that ADB has a responsibility to set a positive example for the region in tackling gender inequality. This timely report sheds further light on the negative impacts of gender discrimination in the labour force, and provides a new chance for governments and societies to increase quality employment options for women”.
The report is a joint undertaking by the ADB and the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, reflecting the high-level commitment of both organizations to gender equality as an economic and social investment that will generate enormous dividends for sustainable development in the region.
The ILO is the UN specialized agency concerned with work and workplace issues and related rights and standards. Its overarching goal is to achieve decent work for all so everyone benefits from working conditions that offer freedom, equity, security and human dignity. It has 33 member states in Asia Pacific and more than 180 worldwide.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2010, ADB approvals, including co-financing, totaled $17.51 billion. In addition, ADB's ongoing Trade Finance Program supported $2.8 billion in trade.
Have you heard of the 'Halo Effect'? The Halo Effect is the assumption that because a person is good at a technical skill e.g. designing, he will be good as a project manager. Many of you may already be 'accidental project managers' who perform tasks such as planning, scheduling, budgeting but view it as simply 'getting things done' whilst recognizing that you also rely heavily on luck, perseverance and strength of will.
While there is no magic formula for ensuring that a project is successful, most of project management is common sense. One should not feel daunted at taking on their first project - project management is not a 'black art', nor does it need to be a minefield of jargon and bureaucracy but there is a set of skills that every project manager should aim to master.
So what is the project management skill set?
1. Be a Leader and a Manager When leaders share and communicate a common vision, they gain consensus for strategic goals, establish direction and inspire and motivate the team. Managers are results driven and focus on getting work done against agreed requirements. A good project manager will constantly switch from a leader to a manager as the situation requires.
2. Be a Team Builder and a Team Leader In many projects, team members may not have worked together before. Therefore, it is up to the project manager to set the "tone" of the team, and to lead them through the various team development phases to the point where they perform as a team. Often the team members have their own line manager, and so the project manager has no implied authority - yet still needs to motivate the individual.
3. Be a Problem Solver This is a skill that can be learned, it just needs a little "detective" work up-front! You will want to first identify the possible "causes" that lead to the problem "symptoms." Now, causes can come from a variety of sources, some are:
Interpersonal problems
Internal sources
External sources
Technical sources
Management sources
Communication
Opinions or perceptions
...and so on. The next step after having found the root causes is to analyze possible options and alternatives, and determine the best course of action to take. Make sure all your stakeholders agree on what "best" really means here!
4. Be a Negotiator and Influencer Negotiation skills are essential as the project manager needs to negotiate various aspects like scope of the project, the schedule, cost, team structure that is needed to complete the project successfully. Influencing skills go hand in hand with negotiation skills. Influencing is convincing the other party on the choice that project manager thinks is better than the other. For example, getting the team to work late on Friday to meet a deadline when they would prefer to meet their friends at the nearest ‘mamak’ stall. Influencing requires an understanding of the formal and informal structure of all organization involved in the project.
5. Be an Excellent Communicator Project managers spend up to 90% of their time communicating. You will have to deal with both written and oral communications in the form of documents, meetings, reviews, reports, and assessments. A good mental guideline is "who needs this information, who gathers and delivers it, when or how often do they need it, and in what form will I give it to them." To summarize, all communications on your project should be timely, relevant, clear and complete.
6. Be a Good Organizer Project managers have project documentation, minutes of meetings, project reports etc. They need to organize information well, organize meetings, put together teams and at times also organize media release schedules depending on the project. It's almost impossible to stay organized without having time management skills, so add this to your list!
7. Be a Competent and Consistent Planner If you fail to plan, then plan to fail! The skill of planning can't be underestimated, and neither can estimating! As a project manager you will certainly own the project plan, but there may be others depending upon the project. Two aspects need to be mentioned here: a. Plans are always documents, don't fall into the trap of thinking that, for example, a Gantt chart is a plan - it’s only a schedule diagram. b. Successful projects are delivered by successful teams. Always use the team to help create the plan unless, rarely, there is a good reason why not, such as commercial confidentiality, or contractual conditions.
8. Set-up and Manage Budgets At the heart of this is the skill of estimating, particularly cost estimates. The project manager will need knowledge of financial techniques and systems along with accounting principles. Normally accounting and project management tools will help, but remember the garbage in = garbage out rule! Well, that just about summarizes the main areas. If you are new to project management, don't be too confused by all this. There are well understood methodologies, tools, guidelines, and procedures to help you on your way to developing the important life-skill of project management.
Keep an eye on the job portals, with seven new projects announced by the government, we can expect 74,000 new jobs.
The Star newspaper reported that Malaysia has attracted RM11.16bil in investments from seven new and five existing projects under the country's Economic Transformation Programme.
The report noted that in announcing the new projects, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said this was expected to generate 74,457 jobs and RM16.62bil in gross national income.
The entire programme has so far garnered RM106.40bil in investments, RM153.83bil in gross national income and created 300,000 new jobs.
Najib was also quoted as saying said all Malaysians aged 18 years and above would be given an official e-mail account for “direct and secure” communication with the Government, allowing them to receive bills, notices and statements.
Promise of job in foreign countries, especially alluring ones like Australia, may be very enticing, but beware, it could be a scam.
A report in The Star newspaper reported how a 26 year old man from Batu Gajah was cheated of his money for a promise of RM 9,000 monthly job in Australia.
The man, who only wanted to be known as Heng, said he was introduced to two women who promised him a job as a sheep wool collector in Australia last month.
“One of the them, known as Ann, told me that I only had to pay RM1,650 as deposit for the airfare and they would find me a job there,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
“As they were introduced to me by a friend, I trusted them and paid the money,” he told reporters after lodging a police report on Sunday.
Heng said that Ann later confirmed his flight on April 30.
However, she subsequently informed Heng that his flight had been postponed to another date and he was told to wait.
Heng, a renovation worker, said he was later contacted by Ann, saying that the deal was off and his money would be refunded.
“I tried calling her again to enquire when I could get back my money but the calls went unanswered,” he said.
Heng was among six people, accompanied by Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan, who lodged a report.
Fong said she believed there could be more people who had fallen victim to the two women.
“I was told that 13 others had lodged similar reports earlier this month,” she said, adding that the two women had swindled about RM25,350 from the 19 victims.
“Most of them were promised jobs to work in factories, orchards and farms in Australia.”
There are very few things in the world that is worse than being stuck, 9-5 in a job that you hate. Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning, going through a day filled with MSN and Facebook, going back tired, late, hungry, lonely. If this sounds familiar, maybe here's why: -
No.5: You're bored
The opposite of happiness is not sadness, they're just opposite sides of the same coin. The opposite of happiness is boredom. It's ok if you're bored 10% of the time, it happens in every kind of work, even the most exciting ones. It's not ok if you're bored 90% of the time, with boredom occasionally relieved with lunchtime or trips to the water cooler.
What can you do?
Ask to be challenged, volunteer to do what no one else wants to do, put yourself in a position where you can contribute. If this all sounds like too much work, look at reason no.3.
No.4: Your work violates your values
If you're an honest sales person and you know you're helping your company sell a lousy product, you will hate your job. If you're an accountant with integrity and you're working for a shady accounting firm who cooks up their books, you will hate your job. If you're a truthful engineer but your company asks you to cover up their illegal cost cutting measures on your latest construction project, you will hate your job.
What can you do?
If a company violates your core values, leave. There's nothing that you can do with this organization that will make you truly happy.
No.3: You feel like you're supposed to be doing something else in life
This is a long term sinking feeling. It's like being in quick sand, slowly sinking into this muddy hole without any idea how to get out and not having anyone who can help pull you out. Sure you can continue working on what you're doing right now, but you'll never achieve your best.
What can you do?
Start doing what you enjoy doing. If you don't know what it is you need to search for it. Volunteer for a cause, indulge in hobbies, talk to lots of people in other professions. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot make money doing what you enjoy, there's always a way to monetize your passion, even stamp collecting has created millionaires.
No.2: You're not making a difference at work
One of our basic human needs is to make a difference to people around us, if we stop making a difference, we start thinking "what's the point of all this?" and then we start thinking "what am I even doing here?" then you realize that "I'm here to pay the bill", then you feel trapped in a high paying job that you hate.
What can you do?
Actively look for ways to make a difference inside and outside of work. Making a difference is not a passive event, people who make a real difference look for ways to do so, they drive through thick and thin, through rejection and idiots to triumph at the end of their efforts. You cannot steer a parked car, similarly, you cannot make a difference by just waiting.
No.1: You've got a boss from hell
If this is truly the boss from hell, and it's not just you in your entire company thinking that this is the boss from hell, then what are you still doing working for him?
What can you do?
Work for someone else. If your past 10 bosses are bosses from hell, then something's wrong with you. Break your patterns for choosing to work for bad bosses or grow your people skills.
Remember that you always have the power to take action to make your life better. A better career begins with hope, starts materializing with a plan and becomes a reality with action.
Hope, plan, and make it happen, it's the 3 ways you can do to begin to enjoy your work.
