To All the Fresh Graduates out there - Managing Your Career

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This is an article I wrote for a local daily some 5 - 6 years ago.
Was rummaging my hard disk and stumbled upon this.

If you have a relative whom you think, this article is helpful, do forward it to them.

Enjoy!!!

MANAGING YOUR CAREER

Graduates! Are you unemployed? Or, are you employed, but not doing what you studied? Or, do you feel you can do better?

Unemployment or lack of proper employment among graduates is an interesting issue that has struck nerves on all fronts in Malaysia and especially the unemployed graduates. Currently there are about 60,000 unemployed graduates. This number has not dwindled for the past 5 – 6 years and will undoubtedly grow bigger.

Why is there such a lingering problem in this country? Bad management on the education industry? Bad choices by students? Bad choices by parents for their children? What?

There is no simple answer, but what I hope to bring is putting things in perspective so that we as graduates, can help ourselves. Also, there are no magical answers that easily transform you and alleviate all your problems, but, as the saying goes “the journey of a thousand mile, begins with the first step”.

Myth One: “I must get a job.”

Are we looking for employment or are we looking for income? Robert Kiyosaki, a prominent writer in personal finances and wealth creation, in one of his books asks a simple question “Which is more important, having a job or having an income?”

If we focus on employment, the choices are limited. But that does not mean we should avoid it completely. However, if we focus on income, there are many jobs and many things we can do to earn an income.

Myth Two: “I must work in the area I studied. If not I wasted those years of studying.”

When I first entered university in the US, I met a fellow Malaysian there. He was majoring in Civil Engineering. He was a bit older than I was at that time, thus more mature. I asked him, what area of civil engineering he would like to work in. Guess what he told me? He said he is not going into civil engineering, but into photography. Back then like you, I believed that “you did what you studied”. Now here comes a guy who told me a completely different thing.

I asked him “Why?” He told me that he is very interested in photography. And he likes to take picture of structures – like buildings and bridges. So, according to him, by studying civil engineering he can appreciate how it is designed and constructed and take better pictures. Gee – what was I thinking? That was back in 1982. What really got me was when he said “Going to school is just an exercise of the mind.” The purpose of any exercise is to stay healthy. Going to school is one way to exercise the mind. I think he was already ahead of his time.

Myth Three: “You do not have to love what you do. It’s just a job”

Many young graduates, in their effort to seek employment to have an income, forget that you are only as good as you are happy doing it. I once read this caption in a magazine “Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it” – Katherine Whitehorn.

Malaysia’s ever popular chef, Chef Wan, started as an accountant, but found his calling as a Chef. In fact, I admire his way of teaching. I think he is a natural. I am sure if he were to stick to accounting, he would have been a mediocre accountant and a miserable one too. Today, he is a celebrated chef. And laughing to the bank!

There are more myths, and in the upcoming articles, we will work with each one and see how we can find solutions to overcome them.

Knowing the problem is half the solution.

Will be seeing you…


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