ResumeWeAssist Enterprise

Adapted from NST dated 6-Sept-2009

By SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

As the labour market tightens, organizations worldwide are strengthening their employer value propositions to appeal to young talents, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU.

HUMAN resources director Cheryl Wong has more than her fair share of local and foreign graduates to assess when they apply to join British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT), a multinational corporation. “In the spirit of diversity, BAT prefers hiring a mix of foreign and locally trained Malaysians. We believe that diversity brings better solutions, which translate into better business sense. People with different experience will bring something unique to the table,” says Wong. She has come across impressive local graduates among the shortlisted candidates.

“But they are getting harder to find. We want well-rounded candidates who possess the leadership skills we look for, as well as good academic qualifications and effective communication skills. “Being a multinational company, we do need people who communicate well in English,” says Wong. She feels it is a shame when some local candidates show “impressive track record in academic and extra-curricular activities but cannot express themselves well”.

Wong is not the only employer faced with the challenge of finding suitable candidates. Despite the global recession and the weakest employment outlook in decades, employers worldwide are still finding it difficult to hire young people to fill positions which require critical skills such as leadership, teamwork and problem-solving. The United Nations states that “one of the top three socio-economic issues facing the planet is the lack of talent despite population increases”, underlining the worry that talent shortage is indeed a global concern.

In the United States, human resource experts predict a critical skills gap in organizations in the next five years. They believe that by 2014, there will be a 30 per cent decline in young workers entering the workforce and a 50 per cent growth in retirement of skilled knowledge workers. Their concern is that as the situation grows more serious, it could threaten “the engines of world economic growth and prosperity”. Governments globally are taking measures to mitigate the impending shortage such as improving educational and vocational training provisions, adopting strategic migration policies and encouraging experienced older workers to remain in employment.

Meanwhile, employers have shifted their focus on building their brands and formulating solid recruitment strategies — from simply waiting for the right individuals to come along — to attract young and talented workers. Wong believes that to lure Generation Y workers (those born between 1978 and 2000), organizations must be willing to present “market-competitive propositions”. This is open to interpretation.

NetApp, which creates innovative storage and data management solutions, offers enticing benefits — five paid days for volunteer work, on site gym and subsidized gym memberships — to woo potential staff and keep existing ones. After six years on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list, it is now on the No. 1 spot. Google, which fell to No. 4 this year from No. 1 last year, had until recently, listed afternoon teas and an annual ski trip as perks. Despite cutting back on the frills, it still pulls in 770,000 applicants a year.

As for BAT, Wong believes that graduates are drawn to its two-year Global Management Trainee program. “We have become more focused in terms of recruiting people. The Global Management Trainee scheme has enabled us to train and develop managers of the highest calibre for years,” says Wong. The scheme is open to graduates aged 25 years or younger, who possess a minimum of second-class upper degree, a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or equivalent, effective communications skills in English and is active in extra-curricular activities and leadership positions. In the 24-month scheme, management trainees spend 1½ years in a particular department within the organization such as operations, marketing, human resources, corporate and regulatory affairs, legal, finance and information technology. Upon completing the training, they would have learned about the different roles within a specific unit.

If they were recruited to human resources, they are expected to be well versed in talent development, compensation and benefits, employee relations and business partnering. The exposure would enable them to be full-fledged executives of the section that they are attached to. Management trainees also spend the last three months of their training on a cross-functional attachment to another division. Most other schemes, Wong says, focus only on cross-functional attachments, in the hope of exposing management trainees to different roles in their businesses. “While they may be familiar with how various departments work, they may also lack specialist skills,” she says. Perhaps the scheme’s main selling point is the chance for management trainees to go overseas on a three-month cross-market attachment. This is meant to equip them with international experience which will essentially accelerate the company’s growth. To ensure sustainability of the talent pipeline for the management trainee scheme, BAT also conducts a talent-spotting contest called Bring Your Difference (BYD), the second one the company has held since 2007.

The competition, which ended recently received more than 400 applications from Malaysian undergraduates, which “speaks volumes about the prestige attached to the scheme”, says Wong. Winners of BYD stand a chance to be considered for Fast Passes to the graduate management scheme. The regular route to the management training program involves a few steps. First, candidates sit for a battery of reasoning tests. “If they clear this hurdle, they can go to the second round, which involves being a part of a team to solve a business case study — similar to what the BYD contestants go through.” Participating in the BYD means that contestants have gone through a bulk of the process. “They may get a different case study but they are evaluated using the same tools and method,” says Wong, adding that the final stage of the program is an interview with the director.

The recession is not likely to stop the organization from funding the scheme. “Otherwise we would have a lot of positions to fill two years down the line,” she says. If it were up to Wong, graduate recruitment and development would be part and parcel of the business strategy of all organizations. It benefits not only the business but also students, she says. By enhancing their appeal to talented workers, organizations can position themselves to win lasting competitive advantage in the talent marketplace. Employers would also be doing young people a service (by introducing similar schemes) as most fresh school-leavers or grads cannot decide on what to do with their future. “(That could be why) you have trained engineers who don’t want to work in a factory or accountants who don’t want to do auditing or practice at all,” she says. As far as BAT is concerned, it is committed to developing local talents “so that they will have the necessary skills, competence and confidence to succeed in today’s complex business environment”. “A sustainable talent pipeline is an integral part of our success and aspiration to be the Best Employer in Malaysia,” adds Wong.

A TRICKY business case study pushed them to the edge of their creativity but thinking laterally won college students Wynlyn Chia, Tan Su Zhen, Oliver Kau and Tan Yee Leng — who make up members of Team Beige — the first prize in the recent Bring Your Difference (BYD) 2009 competition. The group overcame several challenges during the two-day contest to defeat four teams and won RM12,000, a plaque and RM800 worth of book vouchers. Second place went to Team Red which took home RM8,000, a plaque and RM600 worth of book vouchers. Team White finished third and won RM4,000 as well as a plaque. Team Black and Blue won consolation prizes which are a plaque and participation certificates.

BYD is a talent-spotting contest organized by British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT) as part of its initiative to ensure sustainability of the talent pipeline for its Global Management Trainee scheme. Open to Malaysian undergraduates from local and foreign tertiary institutions, more than 400 applicants vied for the chance to win lucrative cash prizes, apart from the Fast Pass to join the company’s two-year Global Management Trainee program. Participating in the BYD gives contestants a taste of the management trainee scheme. “You could say that BYD contestants have gone through a bulk of the process to be eligible for the traineeship scheme. In a way, it is more grueling for BYD contestants as they had to go through it in just two days,” says BAT human resources director Cheryl Wong.

Of the more than 400 candidates who applied, only 80 were invited for an assessment interview. From there, 40 were shortlisted for a workshop aimed at familiarizing the contestants with the contest format. In Round One, shortlisted students were divided into 10 teams and given about four hours to crack a given business case study — on rebranding a well-known snack line by introducing a new one or a healthier variety — by using critical skills, such as analyzing, thinking creatively and working in teams, before presenting it to the judges. The five teams with the best presentations advanced to Round Two, in which they executed their business plans, ideas and strategies at a real business setting.

Team Beige found cracking the case study the most challenging task of all. “It was the hardest part because we had to understand the case study well before we could carry out a well-laid plan,” says Kau from INTI University College. Chia, a business student from University of Malaya, deems the case study the most difficult she had come across in her many years of competing in similar competitions. “Other contests feature straightforward case studies but this one had a lot of twists,” says the 22-year-old. “We were racing against time — trying to analyze the case study within four hours — and that made it even more stressful,” says Yee Leng, 21, from Taylor’s University College. On top of that, the foursome had to work as a team despite the fact that they had just met. “Except for Chia and Yee Leng who knew each other from a previous competition, the rest of us had only met the morning of the competition. But that didn’t stop us from working well together,” says Su Zhen from Taylor’s University College. “Everyone was cooperative. We had decided from the outset to stick to any decision which we had agreed on,” says Kau. “It was important that we got along because all groups were judged based on several criteria — and good teamwork was one of them,” says 19-year-old Su Zhen.

While the first day was mentally exhausting for the teams, the second day tested their mental agility and physical endurance. Team Beige had to carefully plan how it was going to sell more products than its competitors at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall. The teams were given Japanese products — as stated in their business plans — to sell. “Instead of just selling from our booth, we decided to take orders from shoppers and deliver our products to them. We found that we were able to convince people to buy the products without the samples. “The organisers confirmed that providing delivery services was not against the rules. That set us apart from the other teams,” says Chia. The contest was made more challenging when BYD organisers threw a spanner in the works such as asking the teams to auction their products or attract customers by having a lucky draw. The team believes that combining the strengths of its members helped it secure the top prize. “It’s natural to have differing opinions and it’s not wrong to take a little bit of everyone’s input and combine them into one great idea. Apart from that, everyone was focused on their roles and that helped us to advance in the competition,” she adds. Paying close attention during the workshop also helped. “The facilitators at the workshop emphasised thinking out of the box. So we kept that in mind throughout the contest,” says Yee Leng. The team encourages Malaysian undergraduates to compete in future BYD competitions. “It was a rewarding experience for us. It was challenging and it complemented what we have learned in university,” says Yee Leng.

In Toastmasters program, the 1st level of award as a better speaker is called Competent Communicator (CC). To receive this award, a member must complete 10 speeches in the CC manual. I gave my 10th speech at Dell (Penang) Toastmasters Club last Tuesday,   8-Jun 2010.

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In my previous Vista Penang Toastmasters Club meeting, my Vice President of Education asked me if I’m interested to complete my 10th speech in another club rather then wait for our next meeting next week. I politely declined him since I’m just too lazy to complete my speech earlier. Well, today, I’m in Dell Toastmasters Club delivering my 10th speech a week earlier than plan.

So, what has made me changed?

Last weekend, I received a SMS from our Area Governor (AG), Jessica urgently need me to complete my 10th speech in this week. Well, at first I was a bit reluctant, but after thinking about it, I’m sure our AG really needs my contribution for the Distinguish Club Point so that’s why I’m standing here.

My fellow Toastmasters,

What I’m going to share in the next 8-9 minutes is my personal perspective in my CC journey on what I have learnt from my past 9 speeches. I hope my speech today will inspire all of us to continuously sharpen our communication skill to become a much better speaker.

Throughout my 9 speeches which I believed I have put some effort to prepare, deliver, learn and improve on how to become a better speaker. I know, my Toastmasters journey is still at the beginning but I felt I have done something right in my life. I’ve decided to be a Toastmaster because of 2 reasons. The first, I knew I need to improve my speaking skills and the second I need some accreditation to venture into my passion of becoming a public speaker. I wanted to start my consulting business helping anyone to effectively market their career to secure a job or for career progression. I know Toastmasters can help me and that makes me more determined to venture myself more into the world of Toastmasters.

Started in Apr 2009, I delivered my first speech about “Myself” in the Ice Breaker. Talking about myself to new friends at that time carried me away and I exceeded the allocated time given of 4-6 minutes. I’ve finished my speech at about 9 minutes and that was my first attempt without any practice. So the lesson I’ve learnt is to practice my speech within the time limit.

2 months later, I organized my speech on “How to Win in the Job Market?” The practice worked where I ended my speech at 6 minutes 30 seconds, within the allocated time of 5-7 minutes. Glad I’ve fixed that problem but I was too nervous. So another lesson learnt is practice to relax while delivering my speech.

Came Aug, it was my 3^rd speech of Get to the Point, where I talked about “Just Focus on Your Strength”. Well, I focused too much on my time, until I slightly finished my speech earlier of 5 mins and 25 secs and also forgotten my conclusion. I still need to keep practicing my speech especially on the time and end my speech with a conclusion.

In my fourth speech, How to say it, I’ve decided to talk about “Make Our Life Simple”. Overall it works with the time, 7 mins 45 secs. But the examples I’ve used according to my evaluator is irrelevant where I used the analogy of the evolution of PC to win a promotion. Anyway, lesson learnt is everyone has their own opinion, so respect it and move on.

Next, it was time to use my body language. I’ve decided to talk about “The Hidden Power of Body Language. It started fine but at the middle of my speech, my handphone rang. So, anther impotant lesson learnt is remember to put my handphone at silent or vibrate mode during a Toastmasters meeting.

I started the year 2010 with my 6^th speech about “Oh My God”. At that time, the issue of using the word Allah to reflect other religions’s God is a hot issue. As a Muslim, it is my obligation to explain the meaning of the word Allah and it is okay to use that name as long it will not mislead anyone. However, during that speech, I’ve not used much vocal variety hence another lesson learnt is continue practicing with vocal variety.

Research your topic was my next speech where I talked about a book written by a well known author, John C Maxwell; “Talent is Never Enough”. Shared some key highlights from the book but I’ve forgotten to call for action. Another lesson learnt is continue practicing to end with a call for action.

Then came the fun part, using Visual Aids. I used some visual aids to illustrate the acronym “SMART vs. VISTA” on how to set an effective goal. I was so excited during the speech until I’ve forgotten to use some pauses between the points. So, another lesson learnt is to practice with pauses between my points.

Last week, I’ve presented my 9^th speech to persuade with power. I talked about “Don’t Trust Your Amygdala” which attracted some attention with this title. Amygdala is an almond shape part of the brain which stores information from past experience. Trusting your amygdala will leads to making assumptions which may produce positive or negative results. Again, according to my evaluator, I’m not engaging my audience enough by asking questions. Another lesson learnt is practice to engage my audience.

So now I’m at the end of my 10^th speech. Overall I can summarized what I have learnt into 3 important points. The 1^st point is to deliver a good speech requires lots of practice, the 2^nd point is never ever have anything that can interfere my speech especially handphone and finally the 3^rd point is use body language, vocal variety and visual aids to engage your audience.

My fellow Toastmasters,

Ask yourself this question. What have you learn throughout your Toastamasters journey? For myself, I will never learnt those 3 important points if I have never pushed and urged myself to continue my CC journey. What really inspired me to continue this journey is the potential knowledge, experience and exposure I will gain from this program as what I have share just now. Believe me, you will learn something new every time you delivered a speech or attended a Toastmasters meeting.

I would like to end by saying this: Everyone has the ability to be successful but not everyone has the courage to be successful. Build that courage to conquer and success is just waiting for you.

With that, thank you.

“Papa, let us follow the short cut road home”. My 5 years old daughter asked me to follow the short cut road going back to our apartment. I looked at her and stopped my car at the road side and pointed to a road sign and started to spell “ J A … Ja, L A N… lan, Jalan, M A… Ma, T I… Ti, Mati…. Jalan Mati (in Malay) which means Dead End. I explained that to her. Obviously, it clearly shows that the road has been blocked and there is no need for me to drive down that road to check if it is really blocked or not. I assumed that the road is blocked based on the road sign. At that time, I believed I’ve made a fair judgement.

But after what happened last week has changed my perspective in my decision making. My 5 years old daughter still insisted me to drive down that road to see if it is really blocked or not. Since I have some time to spend, I’ve decided to follow what she wants. I drove down the road, passed the “Jalan Mati” sign and at the end of the road, I was shocked to see there is nothing blocking the road. With my mouth opened and looked at my the daughter who was smiling along the way, I’m totally speechless at that time. At that moment, it triggered me a very important lesson learnt from my 5 years old daughter; never ever assume.

I’m sure you might have gone through a similar experience back at home, in the office and maybe anywhere. Making assumption has been part of our life especially for me who studied engineering. Back in the university and also at work, I’ve been trained to make engineering judgement based on assumption. How the process works is with some engineering data, I have to make decision even though I’m not sure if the decision will be correct or not. But as an engineer, I have to make that engineering decision. Many of us have to do the same regardless in whatever field you are working. Obviously, decision making based on assumption do save time and also some are successful but there are also many catastrophic disasters happened because of poor assumption.

The focus of this article is to persuade all of us to improve our decision making based on a better assumption making process. Inside our brain, we have a almond shape part which is called amygdala. The function of the amygdala is to store information based on your experience. Your emotion and behaviour will be controlled by the information available in your amygdala. Taking myself as an example, my amygdala told me the road sign written as “Jalan Mati” means it is a dead end. But the experience I went through with my daughter that day, my amygdala is not giving me the right information. Well, my daughter’s amygdala is still empty and that is why she still insisted me to drive down that road or maybe she don’t trust me . Anyway, my first point is never trust your amygdala. Your past experience does not guarantee you in making a good assumption.

So now we know we can’t trust our amygdala. Then, what should we do? We should confirm our assumption. If you happened to encounter an experience you are familiar with, do take some precaution to think through it carefully. Stop your amygdala to influence your decision making. Bear in mind that the same experience you have gone through previously might not be the same for this round. Explore all possibilities and collect information as much as possible than only make that decision.

Finally, thank god our amygdala is rewritable. With some courage and determination, the information in our amygdala can be erased, modified and also add on. Whatever your have learnt while you are confirming your assumption must be stored into your amygdala. Based on that new experience, it will help you be more effective in making assumption for your decision making in the future.

Before I end this article, obviously you can’t escape from making assumption in your daily life. But now you know that there is an almond shape part in your brain called amygdala which can help you make a better assumption. But remember, start by not trusting it, confirm your assumption and restore what you have learnt in your amygdala.

Believe me this works and I learnt it from my 5 years old daughter.

I gave this speech during Vista Penang Toastmasters Club meeting (23-Feb,2010):

John C. Maxwell wrote a book titled “Talent is Never Enough”. For those who are wondering who John is, he is one of the leading international leadership guru who has sold more than 12 million copies of his book such as The 360 Degree Leader, Developing The Leader Within You & many more.

My fellow Toastmasters & Guest,

I’m not going to talk about the biography of John C. Maxwell in my speech today. What I plan to do for the next 6 minutes is to talk about the misconception about talent. Is talent enough to be successful in our life? I would like to share based on my research from John’s book, Talent is Never Enough and also from my personal observation.

I would like to start with what is talent? Based on our most trusted source, Wikipedia, talent is the natural ability or a gift in a person to do something without a need to learn how to do it. Obviously talent is already there in each of us since the day we are in our mother’s womb, just waiting for the right time to show it off. To name some of these famous talented people, Pablo Picasso & Leonardo da Vinci for their talent in art, Michael Jackson & The Beatles for their talent in singing, Steve Job and Bill Gates for their talent in technology leadership, Zinadeen Zidane & Maradona for their talent in football and not to forget Tiger Woods in his world of golf. All of these people have special talents that have somehow changed the way we live today.

However for all these talented people, talent alone is never enough to make them successful. Even though their talent does help but there are still many other factors that make them achieved their fame. As I’ve mentioned earlier, talent is just an ability hidden in all of us just waiting for the right time to reveal itself.

To make this happen there must be some internal & external factors that need to be synchronized with their hidden talent.

So what are these factors? In this book John has listed down 13 factors (11 internal & 2 external). I don’t think I have the time to share all these 13 factors, so I’ll just cover only 4 factors ( 3 internal & 1 external)

Let me start with the internal factors. Internally, for a talented person to be successful, that person must have the passion, take the initiative & maintain good character or “PIC” (passion, initiative & character). To illustrate how “PIC” works, let us look at Tiger Woods. He is the first African American to reach the top of the golf world with his talent. He was introduced to golf at a very tender age of 2 years old by his father and from that day onwards he built his passion in golf. Well obviously his talent is not enough because he has to work hard perfecting his swing every single day before any tournament. His passion & hard work has resulted in many victories for him to become world # 1. On top of that, he has portrayed a positive character in his career until recently everything good he gone because of his disloyalty in his marriage. For sure talent for Tiger Woods is never enough for him to sustain his success.

What about the external factor?

Your reputation in eyes of the public is one of the external factors. There is no way a talented person is regards as successful if the public is not acknowledging that. Again taking Tiger Woods as an example, he glamorous & wealthy life is not just because of his talent. The sponsorship & publicity that he received from his success i.e. his reputation have brought his family & himself to fame. Unfortunately immediately after his scandal was revealed throughout the world, many of his sponsors started to pull out their sponsorship because of his bad reputation to the public especially to ladies. That was really a big blow to him because majority of his wealth depends on these sponsorship. Again talent is never enough for Tiger Woods’s reputation.

This example I’ve shared with you today is an eye opener to many of us who thought to be successful in our life we will just need some sort of talent. That is why many of us started to blame our failures because we are lack of that talent. Unfortunately, there are many internal & external factors that will bring us to success. I hope my speech today is wake up call that talent alone is never enough and with that I end my speech.

Thank you

I gave this speech during our latest Vista Penang Toastmasters Club meeting:

Oh my God!!! This is a very popular phrase used by many throughout the world. But lately in Malaysia, new phrases are getting more popular such as “ Don’t use my God’s name” and “I want to use your God’s name”.

My fellow Toastmasters & Guest,

In my speech today, I don’t have any intention to criticize or offend anyone about this issue of using the name Allah by the Roman Catholic in their publications, The Herald. My sole intention is to share with all of you the standpoint of a Muslim like myself since the name of Allah is commonly known as the God in Islam. I felt it is my religious obligation to share with all of you today.

I would like to start with the meaning of the name Allah which is an Arabic word which consist of the word Al which means “The” and Ilah means God. Hence Allah means The God. Whatever religion which uses Arabic as their main language tends to use the word Allah to represent their God because that is the meaning in their language. However in Islam, Allah is the only God that we worship and it is a hugh sin if we worship others than Allah.

In the teaching of Islam, fundamentally a Muslim has to acknowledged that Allah is the only God and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is His messenger and also practice the basic 4 activities such as 5 times prayers every single day, fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan, pay Zakat similar to paying tax and perform Haj if affordable. All this activities entirely done because of Allah not because of anything or anyone else.

However in the context of Malaysia, there is too much hidden political agenda which may be taking advantage with the situation we are facing now. The usage of the word Allah is already been used in the Bible translation in Arabic & Bahasa Indonesia. For me it is not a big deal if the Bible translation or any Christian publications in Bahasa Malaysia or English also want to use the name Allah as long the intention is just to represent God and nothing else. It will also be a positive thing to do since Islam & Christianity will be sharing the same God by His name.

So if that is the case why many of us making a big fuss about it. Putting political reason aside, the basic knowledge of religions among Malaysian is in a very poor situation. Obviously, many do not know much about other religions and worst even their own religion. Sadly even some of our leaders also have the same deficiency. Something has to be done in our education system to introduce basic knowledge of multiple religions in schools, colleges & universities. At the same time, for those who have left school, intellectual & matured dialogues and sharing sessions should be encouraged to close the knowledge gap about comparative study on religions in Malaysia.

On top of that, we as Malaysian has been living in a very harmonious country for the past 52 years. We should bear in mind that this misunderstanding in our community is an opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves and also compromise with each other needs. The 13-May 1969 tragedy is something that we do want to happen again but unfortunately there are some crazy and (my apologies to use this word) idiotic people taken actions out of norm as a civilized human being. There are some attempts to burn down churches & suraus and most recently putting pig heads in several mosques in Selangor. Well I do not know what stupidity going to happen next but stent actions have to be taken to those responsible to stop any unwanted tragedy to happen.

Regardless whatever religion we believed in, I’m sure all religions teach us to do good deeds and avoid bad deeds. On top of that, our Gods also do not want us to fight with each other just because of what name we should call our Gods. The most important is we should strive to be a better follower of the teaching of our Gods rather than wasting time arguing with each other.

I hope what I’ve shared with be beneficial to all of us. Just remember that, God created us with a reason to worship Him not to fight over His name.

Thank you.

A friend of mine is urgently looking for a fresh electrical/electronic/telecommunication engineering graduate (2nd Class Upper or CGPA > 3.0) or with relevant experience (< 3 years) to join the Manufacturing Engineering team.  You will follow established techniques to design, develop and improve the products, processes and components and be supported and encouraged to expand your skills and knowledge every step of the way.

Primary responsibility
- Support production for product yield and quality improvement in electrical aspect
- Support product re-engineering and design improvement in electrical aspect
- Support NPI/CPI and product transfer activities

If you met the above requirements, please submit your resume to career_advisor@resumeweassist.com ASAP.

Good luck!!!

One of our latest project with Agilent Technologies and its partner ATM Solution Sdn Bhd. I was personally involved as one of the guest speaker to share about career in engineering to these students.

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Agilent Technologies recently hosted 60 high school students from 18 technical and vocational schools in Malaysia at a five-day engineering camp supported by the Ministry of Education and University Science Malaysia (USM). Held at USM, the camp gave students exposure to an engineering career and the technical and soft skills required to excel in this field. Activities included a series of talks on electrical, mechanical and civil engineering and an introduction to test and measurement. Students also spent a day at Agilent’s Penang campus where they were given an overview of Agilent’s products and interacted with engineers on-site. The highlight of the camp was a design project where students learned to strategize against competitors, decide on tradeoffs and work within constraints.

This program is strategically conducted as a platform for these technical students to be aware on the expectation that will be put on them as they enter into their engineering career. Even though it will take another 5-6 years for them to begin contributing as engineers, it is an advantage for these students to be nurtured with the right skill sets as early as possible. With that, we hope this program not only help the corporate sector to pay back to the society in the short term but in the long term helps to grow world class engineers of the future.

If you are interested to apply for this job, please send in your most updated resume to career_advisor@resumeweassist.com. We will work with your future employer on your suitability for an interview. For Malaysian ONLY.

Taken from my previous Toastmaster Speech about body language. Knowing how to control your body language will help you to win in your interview.

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My fellow Toastmasters & Guest,

I had a tough time preparing this speech just because this assignment required me to practice body language and at the same time deliver an interesting speech. What I’m going to share in the next 6-7 minutes is to start with a brief introduction of body language. Followed by some examples of its application in our daily life and what we can do to be good it in.

Body language is just alike any other verbal or written language where its main purpose is as a tool for us to communicate with each other. The uniqueness of body language is that it can be used to communicate with anyone even they talk or write in totally different languages. A bang on the table and a grinch in your face means you are angry and regardless anywhere you go, people will know that you are angry even if you do not say anything. To a certain extend, it is even harder to lie using your body language where your true colours will reveal who you really are. This is the power of body language that many do not realize and it is an important tool for us to learn and master in our life.

Rishi, do you know that more than half of our communication is based on our body language? He is nodding his head which means he knows that we always use our body language when we communicate. Now, Usha imagine if you are in a situation where someone just entered into this room and start talking to Hock Chye while I’m standing here delivering my speech. Without saying anything, spontaneously you will look at that person and raising your index finger touching your mouth and make the shoo sound is another example of a body language. Peng Yew, who felt disgusted with this distraction, will look straight at that person with a disgusted face. That person who felt guilty will raise up his hand to apologies and as silently as possible will move back to find an empty seat. Well, all that happen without saying a single word but all of us understood what each of us means. Obviously, most of the time we are communicating with each other non-verbally and that is happening every time in our daily life.

By now, we should realize that our body language plays an important role in our communication. The way we reacted and our facial expression not only will tell how we feel but also will reflect our true identity. Fail to control it will open up our can of worms. So how can we control our body language?

Recently I just read a book titled “Listening Leader”. In this book, overall it teaches how to be a good listener. One of the skills taught is called “SIER” which stands for Sensing, Interpreting, Evaluating & Response. Even though this book is all about verbal communication but I think “SIER” can also be used in our body language. Going back to the example of banging on the table. When I did that, you will be “Sensing” the sound and my hand gesture banging on the table. Your mind will spontaneously “Interpret” that I am angry. At the same time you will also start “Evaluating” what is your next reaction, either to come over and ask me why I’m angry or maybe just ignore me. When you decided to take the action, this is where you “Responded” to me. Without realizing it, you have taken the steps in “SIER”. Understanding how “SIER” works not only will help you to control your reaction but also helps on how you express your body language. If you are aware your every action will be sensed, interpreted, evaluated and responded, you will be more careful on how you express yourself non-verbally. Having that in mind and with some practice, your mind will automatically think on what you are going to do and the effect of it before actually doing it. With that, you will improve on how to control your body language.

Like any form of communication, body language is just a tool. Your intention will be revealed even how good you are controlling to hide it. Hence, always be truthful to yourself and to anyone around you and always be yourself. “SIER” is also a tool which can help you be a good communicator as long your intention is good.

With that, thank you for listening.