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