AIMING FOR THE BEST, REACHING FOR THE HIGHEST

I am a staunch advocate of aiming for the best and reaching for the highest in every aspect of life, as according to one’s abilities.

When I was a student I set my mind on entering Malaysia’s top university then. I remember I was given three university choices in the application form. I put down the name of the same university for all the three choices.

So when it was my youngest daughter, Audrey’s turn to apply for a place in the university, I encouraged her to go for Trinity College Dublin because Trinity College Dublin offers excellent resources for her course and continues to be Ireland’s top university. It is the only university in Ireland in the top 150 universities in the world according to the Times Higher Rankings. It joins the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh among 25 other top listed universities drawn from 11 countries over the age of 400.

The question that comes to my mind is ‘Why do you limit your life’s ambition?’ Why do we sell ourselves short because of insecurities or fear? 

We think we need ‘connections’ to get ahead. 

I remember my daughter telling me that her friends knew ‘so and so’ to get them that job placement. Discouragement set in as we have no ‘connections’ since we are not Irish and I encouraged her to believe in her abilities and that there is still merit in hard work. There is also divine intervention for those who are faithful. It is our choice to soar like an eagle even when surrounded by chickens and naysayers.

Take for example attending a job interview.

It is not unusual for renowned companies to have as many as five stages of interviews or more before they select the applicants that they want.

During her final year at the university, Audrey applied for different top graduate programmes. 

A graduate programme is a stimulating one to two year programme with hugely empowering training structures. It also includes the support of dedicated mentors who are focussed on the new entrant - her development needs and career objectives. Upon completing the programme she is given the opportunity to be part of the company.

The advantage of a graduate programme is that an undergraduate enters into the job market seamlessly while others are still searching for jobs and sending in their resumes.

So she applied for different graduate programmes and although the interviews were similar some of them had different things. The majority of them had about 2000-3000 applicants each for 10 – 20 vacancies.

This is an example of what she went through.

Stage 1: Online application with CV attached and short questions on why she is the essential candidate for the job.

Stage 2: Online psychometric testing for numeric ability, verbal ability, personality and shape matching 

Stage 3: In-person competency-based interview with one current graduate and one Human Resource manager

Stage 4: Group assessment (with other competitors) to solve 3 challenges on the day itself.

·  Challenge 1: She was presented with a hypothetical case study of a business seeking to expand with limited funds. She had 20 mins to prepare a presentation to argue what she would do within the budget.

·  Challenge 2: She was presented with a hypothetical case study of running a new business project. She had to engage in a group discussion with others to decide on what should be done. There was no final presentation.

·  Challenge 3: She attended a competency-based interview with an organisational psychologist and company staff.

Stage 5: Interview with senior manager of chosen department.

All I can say is that I am glad I escaped that gruelling experience. 

I only attended one interview in my life after graduation and I became a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi MARA and I kept that vocation for 27 years because I enjoyed teaching and loved my students. I still do.

So, bring on September! That is when Audrey embarks on a new life with a prestigious company. She has made it to the top 10 out of 2000 applicants from Ireland, the UK and the EU.  

I attribute that to hard work and divine intervention.

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THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA
 20 AUGUST 2017

https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2017/08/270033/aiming-best-reaching-highest

ART IS IMAGINATIVE, SENSITIVE

I normally scan through the week’s television programmes to record movies and documentaries that I would watch (minus the advertisements) at a later date. One of the recent ones that caught my attention was Vermeer, Beyond Time aired over RTE (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) in conjunction with the exhibition of Johannes Vermeer’s works which runs from 17 June till 17 September at the National Art Gallery in Dublin.

Johannes Vermeer perhaps is most famous for his painting entitiled ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ which is a tronie of a girl with a headscarf and a pearl earring. Today, together with the old masters, he is much treasured and well known but not surprisingly, relatively undiscovered during his time – the short lived Dutch Golden Age of the 17^th century.

So I purchased a ticket and walked through the halls trying to absorb the magnificence of the works of the masters that hung on the walls. Besides Vermeer’s paintings, there was also a great collection of works done by Gerrit Dou, Caspar Netscher, Frans van Mieris, Gerard ter Borch, Jan Steen and others.

Art is imaginative and sensitive at the same time – the way light and colour interplay to evoke different perspectives across similar themes. As I listened to the recorded description of each painting, I couldn’t help feeling that I was in the very room itself where the artist was trying to capture that smile, that side glance and that movement of the eye. It was like a privileged intrusion into the world and life of the master and observing the cultured women, the maids and the curious minds of learned men. It was peeking into domestic interior scenes of middle class life of another era.

It is difficult for me to choose a favourite. But I really like The Lacemaker. According to the art historian Lawrence Gowing,

"The achievement of Vermeer's maturity is complete. It is not open to extension: no universal style is discovered. We have never the sense of abundance that the characteristic jewels of his century gives us, the sense that the precious vein lies open, ready to be worked. There is only one 'Lacemaker': we cannot imagine another. It is a complete and single definition."

To me, the allure of art can best be enjoyed alone or with a like-minded companion. It is a form of meditation, evoking feelings and responses hidden in the recesses of your soul. You can leave the snarky and angry world outside and imbibe the enriching quiet education. It’s totally different from viewing art over the internet which I liken to looking at a rainbow through the windowpane instead of being outdoors and enjoying its full essence.

I know what it is like not to be recognised for what you are worth. It is often said that a prophet is not accepted in his own town - Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin  and Georges-Pierre Seurat are victims amongst others.

Coming from the Delft, Vermeer too had moderate publicity and sank into obscurity after his death. His works were largely overlooked by art historians for two centuries after his death. He was rediscovered in the 19th century by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who attributed 66 pictures to him in an essay, although only 34 paintings are considered his today.

I know what it is like to live in limited means. Vermeer evidently was not wealthy as he left his wife and children in debt at his death at 43. He used expensive pigments and produced relatively few paintings because he was meticulous in his work and sometimes even taking time to paint over his original images when he felt that less is more.

I know what it is like for your works to be ‘claimed’ by others. Some unscrupulous dealers apparently painted over Vermeer’s signatures on his paintings. They then forged the signatures of more renowned artists on his art in the hope of getting higher prices.

This was my second visit to the National Art Gallery in Dublin and I thought that the whole exhibition was very well done. As I was leaving the hall, a friendly staff approached me and asked me what I thought about the exhibition.

I told him how I felt and asked if he had seen it himself. He said he had been working there for the past 30 years and knew every nook and cranny of the gallery. We exchanged pleasantries and before I took leave, he asked, ‘Are you single or married?’

‘Married’, I said with a smile.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA 
6 AUGUST 2017....https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2017/08/264596/art-imaginative-sensitive