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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.

Photo with the all the students, rep from Agilent, Malaysia Ministry of Education & ATM Solution. I am in the 1st row, 2nd from the right.

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.

I gave this speech during my previous Toastmasters meeting.

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My fellow Toastmasters & Guest,

We are living in a very complex world. Most of the things that are happening around us is based on a very complex system that are working together helping us to live a better life. Let me take a personal computer or commonly known as a PC for an example. About 20 years ago, it is not common to see a PC in most of our homes. But now, it has become an essential tool in our life and even some homes have more than 1 PC.

Even though a PC is relatively an easy tool to use but in the inside, a very complex system is working silently. The moment you press the start button, it will trigger the power supply to send electrical current to drive the processor which is the brain of the PC to process signals or data and send them to a detector to project the image we can see on the monitor screen. Thank God, someone has simplified the usage of a PC if not; imagine the hassle all of us have to go through or maybe we will not use it at all.

The point that I would like to share in my speech today is just make our life simple. If a computer did not evolved from its start up size as big as this room or maybe bigger to relatively smaller as what we have now, I’m sure the word PC will not exist. Unfortunately, living in this complex world has influenced us to think that complexity is a way of life. Even though evolution has simplified things such as computers, handphones and many more but evolution did the opposite to us. We have evolved from a simple life thousand of years ago to a very complex life in this 21st century. Even our body itself consists of many complex systems and so do our mind. The way we think is already a complex process and logically as a result our action will definitely be complex too. Fortunately, it is not impossible to make our life simple if we know how.

What I’m going to share next is something practical & fundamental which I call the process as F.O.R or FOR.

F is for Facts, O means Organize and R is for Reflect.

Whenever you want to simplify a solution to a problem, breakdown the problem into simple steps. Start by understanding the problem based on the facts which is the F. For example, if you are not getting the promotion that you supposed to get after working hard to complete an important assignment, rather than being upset and demotivated which will make your problem to be complex, why not talk to your boss about it to actually know why you are not getting that promotion. Do your facts finding.

Next O for organize comes in when you start to make arrangement with your boss to talk about your dissatisfaction. Clearly state why you think you deserved that promotion then let your boss talk. Ask for clarification if you don’t understand. Even though your boss can come out with many logical or illogical explanation, don’t make any conclusion yet until you reflect on the facts which is the R.

Later spend some time to reflect on the facts and also share with your close friends or love ones to get their feedback. With that, make a decision either to improve and wait for next round of promotion or if the facts does not make sense, then it is time to look somewhere else that can provide what you want.

Using these simple steps: F.O.R will prevent you to complicate your problem. Imagine if you don’t organize your facts finding and reflect on them, you might acted foolishly by arguing with your boss which will kill your career. So simplify your problem by doing F.O.R.

I would like to end my speech with a story I read sometime ago about a team in NASA whom for the first time wanted to send astronauts to a space station. The challenge the team had is due to no gravity in the outer space, it is impossible to write with a normal pen. So rather than looking for a simple solution, they spent million of dollars and several months to invent a special pen that can work in the outer space. Meanwhile the Russian team who also had the same problem resorted to a very simple solution that doesn’t cost much by just using a pencil. They just look at the facts, organize and reflect on them.

So my fellow Toastmasters & Guest, just do F.O.R to make our life simple.

Thank you.

This article is taken from our latest E-Newsletter – Aug’09 to Oct’09.  You can download a copy here.

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Every year in August, it is declared as a historical month in Malaysia. Previously on the 31-August, we have celebrated our 52nd anniversary of independence.

Malaysia has been independent for 52 years from the British regime. For the past 52 years, we have evolved from an agriculture and mineral producing country to a developing country focusing on many economy sectors. As a result Malaysian and also foreigners enjoy many opportunities of employment in this beloved country. To a certain extend, many foreigners willing to migrate to Malaysia legally and also many illegally to take advantage of these fertile opportunities.

Ironically, even though there are many job opportunities in Malaysia, the projected 2009 unemployment rate among Malaysian is above 4%. That is an increase of 1% from an average of 3% recorded from previous years. From my personal observation, there are several contributing external & internal factors which I will briefly share in this E-Newsletter.

“Ironically, even though there are many job opportunities in Malaysia, the 2009 projected unemployment rate among Malaysian is above 4%.”

Obviously the external contributing factor is due to the world economy  meltdown. Malaysia as a developing country rely heavily on foreign direct investment (FDI) especially from countries such as Singapore, Americas, Europe, Japan and etc. Most of these FDI are into the manufacturing sector. Many major multinational companies (MNC) in Malaysia have announced layoff plans including factory and office shutdowns to mitigate the impact of the economic slowdown. Since the presence of manufacturing MNC in Malaysia are significant, the layoff plans contributed to the increase of the unemployment rate.

Internally, there are several factors that contributed to the increase of the unemployment rate such as job competition & matching.

Malaysia is a heaven for job seekers who is not so particular on what job is available. As long there is a job, they will just take it. This is very true for foreigners especially from less developed countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and many more. Their presence have created a competitive job market in Malaysia especially among the blue collar jobs where most of employers prefer to hire these foreigners rather than Malaysian because of relatively cheaper labour cost and easier to manage.

“Malaysia is a heaven for job seekers who is not so particular on what job is available. As long there is a job, they will just take it.”

Another contributing factor of higher unemployment rate in Malaysia is due to job matching. Even though there will be about 200-300 thousands university/college graduates will be entering the job market in 2009, the competency of these graduates is still a concern where their qualification can’t directly match the needs of the employers. This is a known fact that the government is putting more attention financially to provide platforms for graduates to be train & place in suitable job market. To make it more effective, these graduates themselves has to realize that they need to adapt to the needs and wants of their future employer. Bottom line, they need to market their career smartly for their own & their future employer success.

We would like to invite you to a FREE EXTENDED DISC PUBLIC MINI-SEMINAR:

INCREASE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR RECRUITMENT WITH EXTENDED DISC ASSESSMENTS REPORTS

The use of personal assessment tools is now a necessity in the recruitment and management of people. It is critical that the method used in the process be validated, internationally understood and accepted.

Why are assessment tools a necessity? See if these situations sound familiar to you?

§ A manager comes to the HR department telling to fill a certain position and just giving the technical requirements.

§ Company keeps on advertising the same job, because of high rotation on that position without knowing what causes this situation.

§ Smaller business owner advertise for all positions in a similar manner, requesting only required technical skills or the same set of traits (e.g. able to work independently, strong drive for results)

§ The applications received are not meeting the desired requirements, as if the advertisements are not attracting the right candidates.

§ During interview the person seems to be the best candidate, but once employed turned out to behave quite different.

The end result is that candidates of questionable suitability apply for positions, which they may or may not really want, and companies spend time recruiting and interviewing people who may not possess the fundamental behavioral traits that suit the job description. How do you ensure that you’re hiring the right people to take on the critical roles in your organization?

Defining requirements is the initial step in recruiting the right people for the job. By measuring candidates against the defined requirements that are crucial to success in the role and in the business, you ensure you have an objective framework for selecting candidates and developing staff. The most successful organizations know that their most important resource is the people who make up their team and carry the responsibility for the growth of the company, so they use assessment tools in the employment process and further for the ongoing management of their people.

In this two-hour mini-seminar, we will present a two interactive and practical case studies and a model that can be easily applied immediately in your current recruitment process

This mini-seminar will take place on  1st October (Thursday) at 9 am in Extended DISC office (Lot 237, 2nd Floor, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor).

Please book a seat by sending an e-mail to career_advisor@resumeweassist.com ASAP.

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Extended DISC (http://www.extendeddisc.com) is the leader in understanding how people information can generate business value to client. We service each client with individuality and tailor our approach to their needs!

To determine if Extended DISC can help you and your organization, contact us today. Together we can find out if your organization needs the information Extended DISC provides.

THANK YOU!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Muslim clients & friends Eid Mubarak & Selamat Hari Raya: Maaf Zahir Batin.

I will be away from 18-24 Sept and most likely will not have access to internet. I’ll reply your e-mail or request immediately once I’m back in office.

Happy Ramadhan to all our Muslim clients & friends.

This article is taken from my speech during our last Toastmaster meeting.

Do you know what is the only thing that will never stop until you die other than the pumping of your heart?

You will never stop learning from the day you were born until the day you end your life. Learning is a continues process for you to develop a certain skill set to do something effectively to achieve a desirable result.

Learning can happen in 3 ways.

Firstly it can happen instantaneously using the subconscious mind like a baby trying to stand up for the first time by holding the edge of a table or a chair to lift its body up and stand before falling on the floor. But later on will try again and learn to balance its body until it can stand up comfortably.

Learning can also happen by force as what we have gone through in school. Like it or not, we have been forced to go to school and obviously all of us have adapted to this type of learning.

Another type of learning which I will talk about in my speech today is self learning which is the best type of learning just because it originated by your own initiative. When a person opted to develop him or herself, automatically the commitment and the dedication will come out by itself. A great example is here in Toastmasters. I’m sure no one is here by force or just happen to be here because your subconscious mind brought you here. We are here because we have chosen to develop ourself to be a better speaker and at the same time develop leadership skills for our career or personal needs.

Self learning is about how you want to develop yourself in whatever way you want by yourself. You can learn by reading books or articles, by attending talks or courses, by reading and leaving comments in blogs or participate in forums and etc. You can also learn by joining clubs such as Toastmasters or just do something positive to get out from your comfort zone.

The “Law of Entropy”, one of the fundamental universal physical law stated that anything that is left to itself, organized system will get less organize and unstable as time advances. For example if you abandon a new car for a year or more, you will notice a flat tire, broken windows, corrode parts and etc. Similarly, if you are not continuously learning and developing yourself even currently you are at your peak, you will not be at your best in the future.

The question most of you will be wondering now is what is the best way to start a self learning process.

The answer is “Just focus on your strength”.

Many leadership gurus have shared many ways on how to kick off a self learning process. For example by Stephen Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” where the Habit # 7 is Sharpen The Saw.

A saw will only be effective as long its teeth are sharpen diligently. The strength of the saw is determine by how sharp its teeth are. Similarly to us, our effectiveness will be determined by our strength not by our weaknesses. Going back to the analogy of the saw, if you diligently sharpen the wrong side of the saw, yes in the long term it may eventually get sharp of course after some great effort but it will  be useless in a short term.

Hence, as a start, you can begin by assessing your self learning needs by identifying your strength. To avoid being bias, get feedback from your family and close friends. You will also need to be very honest to yourself and should be ready to leave your comfort zone. You will need to remember this is a self assessment, no one will be there to tell you if you are doing the right thing or not.

Once you have completed this assessment, you should have a good understanding on your strength.

Next it is time to sharpen the saw. Focus on activities that can enhance your strength. I’m sure in no time, you will start to have a very sharp saw, literary.

So in the future, if you want to start a self learning process just focus on your strength.