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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?
Packaging or Content?
May 27th
Imagine this for a moment:
I go to the supermarket and buy a box of fish fingers. Upon
getting home and, being hungry, I quickly stuff the fish fingers
together with the box into the oven. I turn up the heat and wait 20
minutes.
Once that’s done, I take the fish fingers (still in the box) out
from the oven, open the box, throw away the fish fingers and eat
the … box!
I hear you shouting,”No, No, Ethan, eat the fish fingers. Not the
box!”
Oops! If I really ate the box instead of the fish fingers, you’d
think that I’m crazy.
But guess what? That’s what most of us do on a daily basis! We
value our packaging more than what the packaging is carrying.
You see, we spent incredible amounts of time and effort looking
after our packaging, i.e. our bodies. We dress it up and get very
concerned with how it looks. We groom it. We take supplements and
medication to keep it young. Some of us even use surgery to change
the parts we don’t like.
Everyday we are concerned whether our body and outer appearance,
i.e. our packaging, looks good or not, young or old, handsome or
not, pretty or not, fat or thin, tall or short, tidy or not,
muscular or trim, with hair or bald, long hair or short hair, big
hips or small hips, large breasts or small breasts…just take a
minute to observe what a person does when he/she walks pass a mirror.
We far too often put too much emphasis on how other people will see
us.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we should not look after
our bodies and appearances. Our “packaging” does serve a purpose
and we should maintain it well such that our “contents” are well
contained.
What I’m saying is that our “packaging” is fading away day by day
and it should not be something that is more important than the
“contents” that our body holds.
What, then, are the contents?
Our mind and spirit made up by our personality, character,
emotions, beliefs, and values. These are the”things” that make up
who we really are.
How well our body operates and how “good” we look on the outside is
often a reflection of how well we are faring inside emotionally.
Our body will remain young if our mind remains young. We will look
happy if our spirit is at peace with ourselves and the world around
us.
I am saying that we should be giving priority to our real self
(i.e. who we really are) instead of what we appear to be on the
outside.
When our mind is at peace, healthy and strong, our lives will
follow suit.
Ahead of the competition?
May 15th
A friend with 3 very young children related this incident the other
day:
During breakfast one day, while his children were eating their
breakfast cereal, he poured orange juice for all 3 of them.
However, he did not pour for them a full glass each. Instead, he
gave them only half a glass each.
The children looked at the glasses and continued with their
breakfast without any words.
Then, after a brief moment, my friend began to top up their glasses
with more orange juice. For the first child, he filled the glass
fully. For the second child, he topped up the glass to 3/4 full.
And for the 3rd child, he gave just a little bit more than the
half-a-glass.
This time, his children did not remain silent. In fact, the second
and third child stopped eating and protested, “Why does he get
more?? I want more!”
Now, note that ALL of them were given MORE orange juice. They were
ALL given MORE orange juice than they originally had, which was
half a glass.
So, what invited the protest?
Comparison and competition.
Although they were each given more, the quality was different for
each child. And each child started comparing what they received
with that of another child and decided that it was not fair that
someone else received more than them.
I observed the same mentality with some university students. When a
team received their score of 7/10 after their presentation, they
were quite satisfied with the mark.
However, when they realised that there were other teams who scored
8/10, 9/10, and even 10/10, they started asking me why they
received only 7/10 and insisted that they should redo their
presentation. It was interesting that they did not consider the
fact that there were also other teams who scored less than 7/10.
Here’s something to note: The original meaning of the word
“competition” is “to fulfill your potential.”
“To compete” would mean that you are embarking on an activity that
will enable you to fulfill your potential.
The purpose of competition, as such, is not to be better than
someone else. It is to be better than yourself.
It is closed
Apr 15th
Staying at a mainland hotel can be quite interesting. Here are two episodes I experienced recently:
1. Coffee Cup
After lunch at the hotel’s (rather empty) western restaurant, I ordered a coffee. It was served in 5 minutes but the coffee cup was stained (as in not cleaned properly) along the rim of the cup as well as the sides.
So, I signalled the waitress and informed her of the situation and asked for the cup to be replaced.
Another 5 minutes later, the waitress came back to me with what I thought was a replaced cup of coffee. Much to my amazement, the cup was still stained and didn’t look like anything was changed.
Puzzled, I looked at the cup for a moment and then, thought to myself, “Hmm.. which part of my description of the problem and which part of my request that they change the cup did they not understand?”
So, in order that I can get to drink my coffee sooner, I brought the cup with its content to the restaurant drinks counter where they prepared the coffee. I pointed out, in Putonghua and I am native to Putoghua, that I would like the cup changed as it was dirty.
The response I received was this:
The waiter went to the stack of cups on the shelf, looked at every cup there, and mumbled to himself, “They are all like that…”
An onlooking waitress suggested to him, “Why don’t get the cup from the sanitising machine?”
The waiter did so, poured my coffee into the “clean” cup and placed it in front of me.
I looked at the cup. And I think the cup looked at me. It is still as dirty as before. I returned to my table, took out a piece of tissue paper and wiped off the stain myself.
It took more than 20 minutes to have this little problem resolved. I should have just cleaned the cup myself in the first place.
2. Fitness Centre
I had some time after work one day and had wanted to go to the hotel fitness centre to get some exercise. I changed into my exercise gear, put on my shoes, grabbed my towel and headed for where the fitness centre was supposedly located (as indicated in the hotel directory and keycard envelope).
When I got there, I found myself in a billiard room filled with people and shrouded in smoke. I didn’t see anyone exercising except for some who were “exercising” their arms with the billiard cue. I asked around and no one knew where the fitness centre was located.
So, I strutted to the hotel front office reception and asked for directions. The receptionist gave me the directions and I promptly thanked her for her help and off I went to get myself an exercise.
When I arrived where the fitness centre was supposed to be, it was locked and it complete darkness. I thought it strange because the hotel directory stated that it closed only at 11pm and the time then was only 9pm.
So, I walked back to the hotel reception, walked up to the same receptionist who gave me the directions, and asked if someone could open up the fitness centre as I would like to use it.
She replied, “Oh, it is already closed for the day. It is not operated by the hotel but it is outsourced to a private company to run.”
At that moment, many thoughts raced through my mind, many of which are not flattering.
Why did she not tell me in the first instance that the fitness centre was already closed? Why did she have to direct me to the centre just so that I will find it closed and then waste the time coming back to her just for her to tell me that it is closed?? I doubt I will find satisfactory answers to these questions anytime soon.
Have or Not?
Apr 11th
Two Tuesdays ago, I had two separate conversations with two persons
on the same day which I thought were quite interesting. Here’s how
each one went:
1. A student of mine who is in her early 20s
Over lunch, she was relating to me how the current market situation
sounds very daunting and that coming from a not-so-well-known
university will post certain challenges in her job-hunt in the near
future.
She spoke of how most of her graduating friends in the university
are planning to avoid the current downturn by opting to sign up for
a Master’s degree program once they get their undergraduate degree.
Even so, she feels a calling in her heart that she should start her
professional career upon graduation instead of continuing to study.
She knows the exact field she wishes to be in and is focused on
uncovering all the opportunities in the field wherever they may be.
At the same time, she understands the challenges ahead and instead
of finding ways to avoid them, she is making plans to prepare to
overcome them.
She’s scheduling time to build her network, attend recruitment
talks, job-fairs, keep fit, eat well, craft and refine her resume
and cover-letter.
I was particularly impressed with her enthusiasm and passion.
Throughout our conversation, I could feel that she already has the
job and career that she wants very clearly in her mind. And she’s
taking steps each day to move towards her goals.
2. A good friend of mine who is in his late 30s
While catching up over the phone, he spoke about how the people
around have achieved the level of “success” that he aspires to
achieve. Yet, although having tried very hard and strived for many
years now, he is disappointed that his goals have eluded him.
He also found that while he tries to be happy for the people and
friends around him who have “succeeded,” such news only brings
further disappointment to him and reminds him that he “does not
have.”
And when I suggested that keeping such an attitude will only
continue to bring him disappointment, he argued that “it is only
human” for him to be unhappy with his current situation.
When I suggested options which he can take, he presented the
challenges and difficulties of those options. He sounded very
convinced that it is simply impossible to achieve what he wants,
especially after having tried “every avenue.” He sounded resigned
to his “fate.”
There is an interesting chapter in the Bible that says that those
who have will be given more, and those who do not have, even what
he has will be taken away [Matthew 2:29]. What it means to say is
that that those who make use of the talents that they have fully
will be rewarded with abundance while those who do not will lose
even those talents they have.
If your starting point is lack (i.e. I don’t have happiness, I
don’t have wealth, I don’t have success, etc.), then you are
focused on lack (“have-not”). Guess what? You will receive what you
focus on.
On the other hand, if you starting point is abundance and act AS IF
you already possess what you wish to achieve, then you are focused
on abundance (“have”). And guess what? The law of the universe is
neutral and you will receive what you focus on.
Are you a “P” or an “S”?
Mar 30th
Take a walk to Central (IFC, Exchange Square area) during a busy
weekday and observe the people walking around on the streets. What
types of people would you see?
Well, there’ll be tall people, short people, fat people, thin
people, well-dressed people, not-so-well-dressed people, smiling
people, grouchy people, talkative people, quiet people, people who
smells nice, people who smells… not so nice.
The list goes on.
But to the employer, there are only two types of people – a “P” or
an “S”.
“P” type people are Problems. And they create Problems for their
companies.
“P” type people usually don’t know how they should do their job and
don’t know what they should be doing day-to-day. They don’t know
how to handle the projects assigned to them (but will pretend that
they do). They don’t manage their time well and don’t know how to
prioritize their tasks. They are unable to keep to deadlines. They
need to be “spoon-fed” and “led by the hand” on how things should
be done. They are afraid of their bosses thinking poorly of them
yet are unable to produce tangible results. They have no fresh and
innovative ideas to suggest and are very good at spotting what’s
wrong with other people, other people’s ideas and the current way
of doing things. They don’t put in extra time and effort to
complete tasks but expects to be paid on time each month. They
spend time surfing the web, take long lunches or coffee breaks and
spend time chit-chatting with colleagues or friends on the phone (or MSN).
They usually complain about problems rather than discuss solutions.
In others word, “P” type people are problems and they are high
costs to businesses. They drain organisational resources without
contributing significantly nor adding value on a daily basis.
“S” type people are Solutions. These are the people who solve
problems and get things done.
“S” type people know what they are doing. Even if they don’t know
how to do something, they’ll spare no effort to find out exactly
how a task or project can be accomplished. They will read books,
search the web and library for answers. They will ask their bosses,
their friends, their colleagues, their friends’ friends just so
that they get the information and resources they need to get the
job done. They will put in extra time after working hours and
during weekends just to meet deadlines. They do not wait for their
bosses to ask them about their progress. They will update their
team regularly so that everyone knows their status. They plan their
work carefully and prioritize their tasks meticulously. They
constantly think of new ideas and new ways to make their work
better and, at the same time, make their company better. They don’t
need to be reminded of their deadlines and they always make sure
that all the information needed for decisions are gathered. They
never go to their bosses with a problem unless they have thought
through it with possible solutions. Sometimes, their bosses don’t
even know there was any problem! They are focused, motivated and
hardly complain. They can spot problems before they appear and are
always thinking of solutions.
In other words, “S” type people are solutions and they are assets
to businesses. They are a significant resource to companies and
they generate more and more value everyday making themselves
indispensible.
So, are you a “P” or an “S”?
No Extra Time
Mar 28th
From young, we have always known that the way to get ourselves
“educated” is to go to school. Especially during the current
economic downturn, increasing numbers are turning to schools and
universities to upgrade, reskill, and retool themselves in the hope
of changing profession or getting a better position. Others do it
for the sake of sheltering themselves from the current market doom
and gloom.
Getting back to school for classes require that we set aside time
for lessons, study, projects, group work, examinations and
assignments. Not much of a problem with full-time students but may
be quite a challenge for people who are still working on a
full-time job.
Is it possible to upgrade our knowledge and skills without having
to spend extra time and effort? Even for students studying on a
full-time basis, is it possible to gain more knowledge on specific
areas, and thus getting an “upgrade” without spending extra time?
Think about it this way: What are some of the activities you
undertake each day that will allow you to listen to a book, speech
or seminar?
Here are my suggestions of such activities:
1. Exercising: walking, jogging, cycling (in the gym);
2. Exercising in the gym;
3. Walking from home to the bus-stop or MTR station;
4. Waiting for the bus/MTR;
5. Travelling on the bus/MTR;
6. Eating a meal alone;
7. Driving;
8. Travelling on a ferry;
9. Travelling on a plane;
10. etc.
Let’s say you spend 1.5 hour on travelling to/from work/school each
day. That’s 7.5 hours a week and 30 hours a month. While some
people prefer to sleep during such periods of time, I’d like to
suggest that such times can be better made use of! And since you
must spend such times each day, doing something more productive
during such periods results in upgrading yourself with NO EXTRA
TIME (NET)!
The way to upgrade yourself is simple:
1. Go get yourself an MP3 player (or iPod, iPhone, and many of your
mobile phones have this function).
2. Instead of loading the MP3 player with music and songs, load it
with AUDIOBOOKS (these are books not in the paper format but in the
audio format – i.e. the books are read to you through the MP3). Not
just books, there are also speeches, seminars, magazines, and
journals (like Harvard Business Review) in the MP3 audio format.
3. Listen to the audiobooks during your waiting or commuting time
(i.e. during your No Extra Time).
Many of the books available in the bookstores are available in the
audio format and they are much cheaper than the paper books
themselves.
Typically, an audiobook lasts between 2 hours to 8 hours. So, if
your NET a month is 30 hours, you can easily estimate the number of
(audio)books you can finish “reading” each month!
Now, how’s that for a quick and easy upgrade!
The State of Your Mind
Mar 14th
I was on the MTR making my way home after a class last Friday night
and found myself packed into a very crowded train car even at 10pm.
The person in front of me was standing so close, I think he will
smell my KFC dinner if I burped!
Still, it amazes me how some fellow passengers still manage to read
their newspapers under such crowded conditions. Understandably,
train rides can be boring activities during each day and every
person has his/her own way of better using the travelling time;
some will sleep, some will be playing on their PSP, some will be on
the phone, some will be daydreaming, some will be chatting with
their campanion, some will be listening to music, and some will be
reading.
I noticed three passengers around me each reading a different
chinese newspaper. All three of them were in close range and I
could see the pieces of news that each was perusing: policeman
committed suicide by burning charcoal in an enclosed room; female
pop star had an affair; unemployment rate worsening.
None of these were good news.Yet we seem to love them. Just look at
the newspapers each day and you can easily count the number of good
or positive news. Look at the magazines most people are reading and
you will find that the best selling ones are gossip magazines.
Question is: Do we need more bad news during a time as this?
Granted that readers of such bad news or gossip do so for
“entertainment” and “distraction from daily worries,” it is vital
that we focus our eyes on betters things during most of our waking
moments. Just think about it: After reading about a suicide case or
that the economy is worsening, does it make you feel optimistic
about the future? Does it give you more motivation? Does it give
you energy to take on the challenges in life? Does it make you
happier?
The answer is NO. A BIG FAT NO!
I don’t know about you but I prefer to spend my travelling time
focused on better, higher, positive things. I prefer to learn new
things through reading good books or listening to audiobooks. I
prefer to keep my eyes on what I want instead of what I don’t want.
I prefer to think of my goals and how I can achieve them.
We don’t need more bad and negative news in our lives and certainly
don’t want to spare energies and attention on them. After all, what
we focus on expands. It’s best to let those bad news take care of
themselves and look towards to better future.
What Do You Think About?
Mar 3rd
I finished a class late last Friday at 9.30pm and found most
eateries closed or closing. My stomach was growling as I made my
way through Mongkok after having left the load of class materials
back in my office. Fortunately, there is always a McDonald’s around
the corner.
At 10pm, McDonald’s was still packed with people. After buying a
fillet-o-fish meal, I found a seat at the bar table opposite 2
ladies who looked like they were in their mid 20s. I was also next
to a young couple who couldn’t be more than 30 years old.
As I chomped down on my burger and fries, their conversation became
quite apparent to me. The girls were lamenting about the service of
McDonald’s, about the situation at work, about having done their
best and not getting any appreciation. The couple was complaining
to each other about their unenjoyable day in the office and how
some individuals in the office is always playing politics where
they have to work so hard.
I looked up as I listened and saw bitter, unhappy, frowning faces.
No surprises there. After all, what we feel inside is always
reflected outside – in our voice, in our body language, in our
words. At that moment, I wondered how many other people were
“discussing” unhappy events of the day at McDonald’s and why they
choose to “torture” themselves at the end of a long day.
The fact is that the more you talk about situations that you don’t
like and don’t want, you focus more and more on them. And the more
you focus on them, the bigger they become in your mind. And the
bigger they become in your mind, the more of such similar
situations you will get in your life.
This is commonly known as the Law of Attraction. We attract what we
think about most of the time.If you are focused on what you don’t
want, you are going to get MORE of what you don’t want. This is the
reason why some people keep getting into similar situations in life.
To break the cycle, it is vital to be focused on what you want.
Yes, problems exist but instead of putting energy into the problem,
direct your energy to the solution. Think about how things can be
different and how thinks can be better.
It is not possible to stop thinking of a blue elephant. The only
way is to think of a red car (or something else instead of a blue
elephant).
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