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Are You Dying?
Aug 17th
This is not a health question but I hear some of you saying, “Of
course not!”
Really?
Actually, we are all dying. It is only a matter of time. The
question is “when will we be dead” and not “whether we will die.”
In fact, everyday we are getting closer to our graves…not
something we like to think about much.
So, if we are all going to die one day, the next question I will
ask is this: What am I here for?
In the greater scheme of things, my life is just a parenthesis ()
in eternity. Was I born just so I will die one day? If so, it
doesn’t make any sense at all and certainly makes life meaningless.
If life is meaningless, then what does it matter whether we live or
die, successful or not, rich or not, promoted or not, healthy or
not…?
My own conclusion, after all these time of searching, is this: Life
is meaningful. It is meaningful because I have a purpose on Earth
and I am here with a mission. So are you.
What’s your life purpose? Mission?
Allow me to encourage you to seek your own unique life purpose.
When you are serving your life purpose, it’ll be like how your hand
fits into a glove perfectly.And you would have found the
motivation, life force and source of energy for the work that you
do.
There are many ways to find your life purpose. Here’s one:
1. Which two of your qualities which, when you are expressing them,
uniquely make you feel that you are most being yourself? E.g. love,
joy, justice, freedom, power, strength, peace, serenity, courage,
etc.
2. List two ways (verbs) you most enjoy expressing your unique
qualities above.
E.g. inspiring people, empowering people, playing basketball,
dancing, parenting, singing, dancing, painting, etc.
3. Assume the world is perfect now (according to the way you see it
as perfect), how would it be? E.g. The world is perfect if everyone
was pursuing their goals; if everyone will get along peacefully; if
the ecology is not being damaged; if everyone is living their
vision, if everyone is happy, etc.
4. Combine all the above into one statement and see what unfolds
from it.
E.g. If my two unique qualities are: love and joy; The two ways I
most enjoy expressing the two qualities are: inspiring and
empowering people; If the world is perfect to me, everyone will be
living their highest vision;
Then, my purpose statement is: Inspiring and empowering people to
live their highest vision in the context of love and joy.
Get it? So, what’s yours?
Are You Sure?
Aug 12th
I just got back to hot, hot Singapore for several days now and am
now writing this week’s Jobscope entry in the middle of the night.
I’m doing this because I have just ended a rather long day (days
seem so much longer when you are in the heat most of the time
sweating a way…) but wanted to capture and share with you two
conversations I had today.
I was catching up with two friends separately today and
interestingly, our conversations followed a very similar thread. To
give you a little background, both these two friends are
high-flying executives in large organizations and both have the
word “Director” in their job title. One of them is in her early 30s
and the other in her early 40s.
Over breakfast, the friend in her early 30s spoke about needing to
take time off to enjoy her life and do the things she loves,
emphasizing the importance of a balanced life and not to take her
work too seriously and risk her health doing so. She talked how she
is managing to reschedule her life so that she doesn’t work so hard
and long any longer but instead, she is spending time to pursue
hobbies and interests. She has also found herself healthier since
making the changes.
Over dinner, my other friend in her early 40s spoke of how life is
different now since changing her job a month ago. She is no longer
stressed-out and, in fact, finds life and work at a good pace now.
Her high-blood pressure has miraculously “disappeared” and she no
longer needs to take any medication. She now has time for her love
life and reckoned that even though she took a big pay-cut with the
job switch, it was well worth it.
Did you get the thread of the two conversations?
They were about the need to slow down and balance life; and that
life is meant to be lived and enjoyed and not to be “worked away.”
I must say that such conversations are rather common amongst
mid-career professionals. It is a phase that city executives go
through and some may even call in “mid-life crisis.”
For those of you who are still studying or are young professionals,
this is something that you might have heard or read about. But I
would think that it is something that is rather hard to really
understand at this point in your life.
Most of us are taught to study hard, earn a good degree, find a
good job, work hard, earn lots of money and that is when you are
successful and fulfilled. The problem is that when we finally get
to the level when we are working very hard and earning lots of
money, we actually do not have the time (and life, for some) to
enjoy our lives.
At the time, we begin to associate with our work and achievements.
Our work becomes us and we become our work. The pressure to
continue to hang on to the work, work harder and earn more gets
even greater at that time that stopping, or slowing down, is not an
option. We start to think that without the work, we are nobody and
so, we are afraid of losing that identity.
Is it necessary to go through all that trouble and years just to
realize that there is a big difference between success and
fulfillment? That life can be enjoyed NOW? That life needs to be
balanced? That it is possible to achieve without striving?
Let me say this straight: There are only two things we know for
sure in life - Death and Taxes. The rest of life is up to you to
choose.
In the long run, we are all going to be dead.
Question is “What are you going to do with your life between now
and then?”
What’s in your name?
Jul 30th
While queuing up to buy lunch at KFC today, I saw a female KFC crew
attending to the line next to mine with a name tag that read,
“Devily.”
I really shouldn’t be surprise by now, having been in this region
of Hong Kong and mainland China for more than 6 years now. As a
teacher, quite often I will encounter students with similarly
interesting English names.
Here are some examples: Moderate, Wise, Milk, Zero, Chlorophyll,
Midway, Devil, Muscle, etc. I’m sure you would have contributions
to this list.
For Hong Kong, I was told that this is part of the British legacy.
You see, early British teachers had difficulties pronouncing and
remembering Chinese names. And so, they gave their students English
names like Apple, Orange, Rainbow, etc. just so they can identify
the individual students. As such, the purpose of having an English
name became one of being different from the rest and standing out
from the crowd.
This is unfortunate.
Whichever the language, your name is your identify! It identifies
who you are as a person here on earth. While it should carry the
component that you are unique, your name should also bear your
attributes, aspirations and, perhaps, history.
In other words, your name must have meaning that is relevant to you
and, hopefully, that you can be proud of or aspire to become. It
should serve as a source of inspiration to you as well.
To choose a name that has little or no meaning (what’s worst will
be names with silly or irrelevant meanings) and use it as a label
for yourself for your whole life allowing people to address you by
that is quite simply “poor branding.”
So, what does your name mean? When you introduce yourself to
others, how would they react to your name? When employers read your
resume, how will your name make them feel towards you?
If you have not adopted an English name yet, first think about what
you stand for, what YOU mean, and what YOU are all about. Then,
look for names that have meanings that best fit who you are and
what you can be.
This, I feel, is especially important for parents when they name
their children.
HKU graduates still most coveted
Jul 28th
News reported by The Standard according to a research done and published by HKU…
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=85474&sid=24717767&con_type=1&d_str=20090728&fc=2
By Beatrice Siu
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Hong Kong University graduates continue to be the most sought after by employers, the latest survey has found.
But in a significant shift from a traditional to a more modern institution, graduates from the University of Science and Technology have overtaken those from Chinese University of Hong Kong to become the third choice.
In the annual poll, carried out by HKU’s Public Opinion Program between May 25 and June 15, the program’s research team canvassed 1,201 people in a random telephone survey, including 216 employers.
Respondents were asked about the overall performance of universities, and the most popular university head. Employers were also asked to name the university whose graduates they most preferred to hire.
HKU topped the latter list, chosen by 24 percent of employers, followed by Polytechnic University with 16 percent, HKUST with 13 and CUHK with 10.
Shi Mei-chun, chief editor of Education18.com, which commissioned the annual research, said the performance of HKUST graduates had impressed employers.
“Employers normally employ graduates of known universities, but are also influenced by the performances of graduates now in their employ,” he said.
Shi also pointed out that, with businesses now looking to expand into the mainland, more and more employers are looking for graduates from mainland universities.
Respondents said attitude to work attitude and conduct are still the main deficiencies of Hong Kong university students.
In the overall performance of institutions, HKU finished on top with an average score of 8.07 out of 10, followed by CUHK at 7.64, HKUST at 7.33 and PolyU at 6.9.
HKUST president Paul Chu Ching- wu was named most popular university head.
Locked out!
Jul 3rd
Somehow I managed to lock myself and my wife out of our bedroom last night due to a faulty door lock. Quite an adventure considering the fact that we are in our own home and had to spend the night sleeping in the living room.
One thing turned out interesting though. I learned about lock-picking!
With no locksmith to call at 11pm (well, I can call them but they’ll charge a bomb!), I decided to go on to Youtube and search for “door-lock picking” and wah-la! So many clips that shows how to pick a lock. And I spent the rest of the night bending paper-clips and looking through the small keyhole… with no success.
I slept at almost 3am but didn’t feel tired at all! The joy of learning something and putting it to use immediately is such a motivator.
The next morning I called the locksmith nearby. He came to my apartment in 15 minutes, picked and opened the lock in less than 5 minutes. From what I observed, the method I learned from Youtube is correct and with the right tools, I could have picked and opened the door lock myself. That’ll be such fun. : )
I was charged HK$150 for the job. Wow, think about it: HK$150 for 5 minutes of work. That makes HK$1,800 per hour!
This reminded me of our Summer resume-writing special offer of HK$150 per resume. It takes us at least an hour to draft a fresh resume plus adjustments after getting more details to fill in the blanks from the client. But the difference between this HK$150 is that it is an investment for a better chance of getting a job interview. Whereas the HK$150 for opening the door lock is just for opening the door lock. No return on investment whatsoever.
He made me angry!
Jul 2nd
A few months ago, I gave a class presentation assignment in which
student teams were to give a 10-minute presentation before the
class followed by an open question-and-answer session.
During one presentation, the presenter finished her 10 minutes well
and opened the floor to questions. After several straight forward
questions (which was handled with ease), one student raised his
hand and asked a series of challenging questions in a rather
agressive manner.
It was obvious to me that the questions were asked for the sake of
asking (and showing off) instead of with the intention of helping
the presenting team realize their shortcomings. There was no
intention on the part of the questioner to listen to the answer.
All he wanted to do was to throw out questions to challenge the
presenter.
Or so it seemed. At least to the presenter.
Her emotions started to boil as she responded angrily to the
provoking classmate. Her eyes then welled up with tears and at this
juncture, I decided to step in to stop the awkward situation. (If I
remember correctly, this was the first time I had a student crying
in my class!)
I spoke with her after class and told her that presentation was
actually quite well done but the way she handled the questions was
totally unprofessional. That gave her a failing score and warranted
a redo.
Her response was this, “But HE made me angry by the way he asked
his questions!”
Isn’t this how most of us respond to life?
We tend to REACT to situations rather than choose to RESPOND to
them. We think that it is other people and circumstances that are
causing us to be angry, depressed, frustrated and sad. Not just
that, we are happy only when people give us good news, or a comedy
makes us laugh, or when things go our way.
But is this true? Not so. It is so only because we chose to allow
it.
The fact is that we can CHOOSE. How we feel at the moment is a
choice.
We can CHOOSE to be happy. We can choose to focus on what we want
instead of what we don’t want. We can choose to respond in a
professional manner. We can choose not to blame others or
circumstances.We can choose to take positive and constructive
action.
Remember this: Nobody can make you upset without your permission.
So, guess what? It is up to you.
Do ME a favour
Jun 28th
About a week ago, I received an email from a student who worked
with us as an Intern a year ago. After completing her internship,
she had gone on to pursue a postgraduate degree after her
undergraduate studies.
Now that she has just graduated with her Master’s degree and
seriously looking for a job, she made it clear in her email that
she wanted a reference letter from me. And as if to add a sense of
urgency to the request, she said that she will visit my office that
very afternoon to see me… without making an appointment.
Normally, I would be more than happy to provide our interns with
reference letters. However, in this case, I had several issues:
1. She never remained in contact after completing her internship
with us and I had no idea what she did for the past year;
2. Her internship was done last summer;
3. Her internship performance was poor and I remember almost firing
her;
4. The only reason for her “reappearance” is to get a reference
letter from me. There was no thought of reciprocity.
She did visit our office that afternoon and to her credit, she
brought cookies along. I wasn’t around to see her but promptly
received another email from her thereafter, reminding me of her
request.
I’m sharing this little incident in the hope that you can see how
asking for favours can be done more professionally and with finesse.
First of all, always remain in touch. Send a simple “Hello” email
to update the person you wish to keep in touch with REGULARLY. Do
not disappear for a long time and suddenly reappear only to ask for
favours.
While keeping in touch, be a connector. Connect the person with
resources, whether it is information, news, things, ideas or
people, that will be helpful to him/her.
Be a value-giver instead of a value-taker. Always think about how
you can be helpful to the person FIRST instead of always thinking
about how you can get something from him/her. Avoid the “me, me,
me” mentality.
Whether it is an internship, temporary job, part-time job or
full-time job, always put in your best. Do not hold back. Always be
a solution instead of a problem. Be always a problem-solver.
Perform well and then ask for a reference letter. Excellent
performance will always attractive a better job offer. You will at
least get a glowing reference letter from your supervisor.
Are You Talented?
Jun 22nd
“Eventually, I learned that I was really looking for people who
were filled with passion and a desire to get things done. A resume
doesn’t tell me much about that inner hunger.”
– Jack Welch, Legendary ex-CEO of GE on hiring people
A lot of large companies organize campus recruitment drive each
year with the purpose of recruiting the cream of the crop from each
graduating batch.
You’ll realize that the companies choose only a handful of
universities to visit and not all of them. This means that they do
not think that the graduates from some universities are good enough
for them.
The issue at hand is that these companies believe in talent. Their
theory is that talents come from some universities and not others.
That’s the reason why “Talent Management” is such a buzz word
today. And these companies who value talent will go out of their
way to attract and keep “talented” employees.
I personally think that talent is over-rated.
The problem with talent is that it is something you can do nothing
with. It is supposedly something that you are born with. If you are
talented with music, obviously you were born with it. If you are
talented with language, you were born with it too. So, if you were
not born with that particular talent, you simply don’t have it.
Is this true?
Of course not! The talent that we are ALL born with is the great
ability to learn and grow. And this ability to learn is for
ANYTHING. Just think about it: You can learn anything you want to
learn and as such, you can do anything that you want to do.
Of course, as we experience, learn and grow, we develop preferences
and affinity towards a certain area or skill. And remember, it is
learning about these areas and skills that enables you to become
excellent, or “talented,” at them.
When you become excellent in a certain area or skill, people will
start to comment that, “Wow, you are so talented in this!” And for
many so-called talented people, that when the learning stops and
their “talent” comes to a stand-still.
Instead of continuing to learning, develop and grow, they turn to
defending their talent. All their decisions and actions are now
turned towards making sure that they continue to appear “talented”
in other people’s eyes.
I call such behaviour… Stupid.
According to the legendary ex-CEO of General Electric, it is
passion and inner hunger that matters. That’s why great companies
to work with are those that value passion and burning desire
instead of pedigree or talent.
Interns for Summer
Jun 22nd
We are looking for highly-motivated and resourceful Interns to help with several major projects in summer.
Check out the requirements and job description and apply by sending your cover-letter and resume to intern@careerarchitects.com by 24 June 2009.
These are full-time positions and part-time/freelance basis will be considered. The internship will run till 31 August 2009.
If you know someone who is suitable or may be interested, please forward this news to them.
Joomla Skills: Web Associate
The Career Architects websites are undergoing major changes and development this Summer.
We are looking for experienced Joomla users or administrators (website programming skills not necessary but would be advantageous) to help with setting up the website modules, layout and uploading/updating content.
It will be highly favourable if you are experienced with graphics creation and editing using Photoshop.
Translation Skills:Resource Associate
The Career Architects websites will be spotting a library of career-related articles and contents.
We are looking for competent translators to handle content translation from English to both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. You will also be vetting and verifying content that has already been translated to ensure that the translation is done accurately.
Needless to say, you must have excellent written languages skills. Those with translation experience will be highly preferred.
The Science of Cheating
Jun 2nd
I invigilated in an examination at a college in mainland China over
the past weekend and thought that invigilation is probably one of
the most boring jobs in the world for me.: )
But what turned out to be interesting was that, after the 3-hour
bored-to-tears work, I was told of cheating cases that ran rampant
throughout every exam every semester. And some perpetrators were
caught red-handed just the day before. Still, there are many others
who were not caught in the act and continue to cheat their way
through examinations.
Even the taxi driver who drove me to the ferry terminal en route
back to Hong Kong told me that cheating in China is a national
“sickness” and that the only lesson the cheats will learn is how
not to be caught next time.
The phenomenon is much like organized crime as the cheats band
together in groups with efficient division-of-labour. I’m sure many
of their teachers will wish they could put such resources to better
and more proper use in class.
Question is: Why do these students resort to cheating?
Is it the need to get ahead? Or is it simply that they want
something for nothing? As in, get on the fast track without any
effort…
While doing my doctoral studies, I came across one intriguing
theory that can perhaps explain the need to cheat and that is:
People who resort to cheating usual have very low self-esteem.
They do not think highly of themselves and yet, want others to
think highly of them. They want to APPEAR that they have achieved
something yet actually have achieved nothing.
Outwardly, some of them may appear to be very confident but
inwardly, they carry a deep fear of failure and deep fear of how
others around them will look down at them should they not do well
in their studies.
They think that intelligence is fixed and that they are either born
with it or they are not born with it. Yet, whichever the case, they
possess a pressing need to protect the image of “intelligence” that
others have of them that they’ll cheat just to continue to look good.
They think that smart people do not need to exert effort and if
they needed to exert effort, they’ll not appear to be smart. Hence,
they’ll choose to do tasks that appear to be difficult to others
but are easy to them. This is such that they’ll win praise.
They’ll choose to sabotage themselves and tend to procrastinate and
do things at the very last minute so that in the event they didn’t
do well with the tasks, they have the excuse of saying, “I didn’t
have much time anyway…”
Interestingly, these are the same people who will more likely slip
into depression and even kill themselves when things do not go well
or when they think that others do not think highly of them.
The sad fact is that these people live their lives like puppets -
constantly controlled by how other people look at them – hence,
devoid of meaning.
As they resort to cheating, they have trashed their integrity and
chosen the path of poor character. How can they be ever trusted
with anything?
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