Met Paul at SESS 3.2, i think i was disturbing him too much, he didnt seem to get much work done. And then at 9.45a.m, went to PS with denise to meet a Prof for consultation.
I think Mr Steven Chong is cool. He gave me lotsa insight to the HR field as well as other aspects of the education/ business world. And i didnt manage to see the caustic and mean side of him. I guess i was lucky i suppose. Some of the issues he brought up:
- Although some companies see the HR sector as mostly administrative in the workplace, the major ones are re-orienting the focus of HR and seeing it as a strategic component. The only way for companies to survive or gain that so-called competitve edge is to recognize that their staff are human "capital" and not "costs". So if we are truly intereste in this field, which i am, this is where Human capital comes in and for that we need to be able to find our interest in the field. Would we want to become a HR specialist? or do HR in a particular industry? He predicts or is actually hopeful that by the time we come out to work, or a few years after that, there would be a widespread need or concern on this particular topic amongst firms.
- Some advice on career planning: its unwise as undergrads to plan our career paths for the next 10 or 20 years. We should have a general goal or path we want, but we should not set it in stone and should actually take things as they come. For one, decide on our internship first and take things at a time and explore our options. For those who already have jobs, he suggest 3 year intervals to re-evaluate options and re-look at the economy and prospects. change with the times was the key point he kept reiterating. Most importantly, he encourages us to take on more repsonsibilities during our internship as it should never be seen as a prelude to a job, but more of a learning experience. He also states that Singporeans are too focused on the end product such as getting a career. They dont buy the idea of career planning. But what must be realized is that career planning is just as important as the end product and the only way to transmit this belief is by instilling them in the next generation, us. He thinks that there will be a rush by people in the future when they realize that this is the best way when the they are being marginalized as compared to those who have done their planning and are not.
- On education: There's a huge discrepancy in the system now as university students are learning modules that are business based while everything before that like JC and Sec Schools are learning modules that are engineering based. Even things like accountancy and commerce has been removed from the JC syllabus. Students need to learn the importance, practicality of their subjects. Thats why, he believes that starting from a young age, there must be some sort of information provided by the schools on career planning. Not what to do in life per se, but more of an exposure to the different fields and how their current subjects relate to them. Even more so, there must be communication to parents to highlight and emphasize the need for recognition of career planning or career planning exposure. Yet, to institutionalize such changes require immense cost and time.
Erm, so that what i learnt from him, not learnt but more of insights.
Shopped around with denise for a while. I like hanging out with her :) found out we have quite similar tastes in clothes, not to mention, similar things we cannot wear :(
and then went to sim lim square where i prove that u can still survive walking through that tetosterone pumping arena being a girl. All i needed to do was just walk to a decent looking shop and apply what comes naturally to all girls... bargaining skills. And there we have it, a brand new portable hard disk with a new casing to replace the faulty one.
Returned to school where i head off for a project meeting with my International Economics group. Did what i have never done before... have a meeting to plan for the agenda for the next meeting...
Studied and finished up whatever needed to be done for IO pscyh. yeah!
rushed off to meet Alex for night swimming. we swam 30 laps!!! woo hoo. but i dont feel tired at all. and then we put all the calories we lost back on when we ate at "sticky rice" in Serangoon Gardens. hee hee. talked alot ot alex, what he did today with his army people and then things we have done for each other. and then i realise that i havent been doing nice things for him for quite some time... think i should surprise him with something one day ;) Had a nice time all in all, and its nice putting it down. Its a nice way to end a long day
Its like finally putting a "full stop" after one long sentence.
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