Career 01 (Sep 08 - Mar 10)

[kennynah]

i think we have to differentiate a "mentor" from a "back mountain"...

in several large MNCs today, having a mentor may not be as important in job security and advancement as having the right 靠山 (supporting mountain)...

perhaps, it is important from a learning perspective for new workers to be mentored the ropes of the trade. yet, in the more recent years, i have witnessed experienced and diligent staff laid off when the lesser productive ones stay on... the latter survived corporate politics through sheer wit. not necessarily a trait to be scorned at... from a certain angle, this is just being street smart.

[sidney]

Maybe it transits from back mountain to broke back mountain lor.. hahaha

[kennynah]

oh....that one..no way, i compromise...i rather lose the job than to go camping at broke back mountain... disgusting

[winston]

A very good career choice would be to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth—and joy.

Make a "career" of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do things with your money that will then make you happy.

When feeling happy is of paramount importance to you—and what you do "for a living" makes you happy—you have found the best of all combinations.


--- Abraham

Excerpted from the book "Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth and Happiness" #274

Source: abraham-hicks.com

[winston]

Quiz: Are You Satisfied With Your Job? By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com

Take this quiz to find out how satisfied you are with your career. Read each statement and give yourself one point for each one you agree with: -

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MS ... cbmsn41476

[winston]

Creating Your Own Security By Brian Tracy

Throughout most of history, people have been accustomed to gradual progress. Sometimes change was faster, and sometimes it was slower. But it always seemed to move in a straight line. This made the future fairly predictable.

Today, however, the rate of change is not only faster than ever, it is spasmodic. It is taking place in a variety of areas and affecting us in unexpected ways.

Changes in information processing are happening separately from changes in medicine, changes in transportation, changes in education, changes in politics, and changes in global competition. Changes in family relationships are happening separately from the rise and fall of new industries.

If anything, the rate of this desultory change is increasing. As a result, most of us are already suffering from what sociologist Alvin Toffler called "Future Shock."

You can't do much about what's happening. But you can -- and should -- think seriously about what all this change means in terms of your financial security. To position yourself for an uncertain future, you must do something to ensure that you'll be able to keep earning money... no matter what.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make -- the one with the worst long-term consequences -- is to think only about the present and give very little thought to your ability to make a good living in the years ahead.

In our grandfathers' time, most people stayed with the same company for their entire working lives. For our parents, it was common to change jobs three or four times.

Today, a person entering the workforce can expect to have five careers between the ages of 21 and 65, and 14 full-time jobs lasting two years or more.

According to Fortune magazine, 40 percent of American employees in the 21st century will be "contingency" workers. This means that they will never work permanently for any company. They will continue to move from job to job, earning less money than full-time employees and accruing few, if any, benefits.

Imagine what your job will look like five years from now. Since knowledge in your field is probably doubling every five years, 20 percent of what you know is becoming outdated each year. In five years, you will be doing a completely different job requiring completely different skills.

Ask yourself, "Which of my skills are becoming dated? What am I doing today that is different than what I was doing one year ago and two years ago? What am I likely to be doing five years from now? What knowledge will I need, and how will I acquire it?"

In other words, what is your plan for your financial future?

It costs a company approximately double your salary to employ you -- in terms of their investment in space, benefits, and other resources. And of course, they have to make a profit on top of that. Therefore, what you contribute to your company's bottom line must be considerably greater than the amount you are receiving... or you will find yourself unemployed.

The market pays excellent rewards only for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance, and it pays below average rewards for below average performance.

To earn more, you must learn more. Not only that, what you already know -- your accumulated knowledge and experience -- is becoming obsolete bit by bit, day by day. As I said, knowledge in your field is probably doubling every five years. That means your knowledge must double every five years just for you to stay even.

The solution is continuous self-development.

You must continually add to your knowledge and to your ability to apply that knowledge. Those are your most valuable assets... And only by building on those assets do you keep them from deteriorating. As Pat Riley wrote in his book The Winner Within, "If you are not committed to getting better at what you are doing, you are bound to get worse."

By engaging in continuous self-improvement, you put yourself behind the wheel of your own life. By dedicating yourself to learning more, you are automatically preparing yourself to earn more. You position yourself for tomorrow by developing the knowledge and skills you need to be a valuable and productive part of the economy, no matter which direction it goes in.

Source: ETR

[kennynah]

Hi all.... if you havent received this piece of great news, read on for the employment opportunities these are only for Singaporeans and Singapore PRs...

inserted into the crevice of my house metal door gates, was this flyer :

Resorts World Sentosa is hiring !

Casino (full time)
Croupier, Cage Cashier, Admin Coordinator, Guest Services Coordinator

Security
Resort Security Control Supervisor, Casino Security Officer, Traffic Warden

Hotels
Room Attendant, Bellman

Transport
Limousine Chauffeur

F&B
Bartender, Waiter/Waitress, Kitchen Steward


To the people responsible for such great opportunities
Thank you PAP...Thank you PM Lee.... what would Singaporeans do without your visionary leadership during such crisis period....USA has officially 10.2% unemployment... Siemens just reported today, a lost Euros 1 billion for last quarter's operations and soon may have to retrench workers....but thanks to you, you've created job opportunities for all of us...otherwise, many will remain jobless and without a future.... many of the unemployed Singaporeans maybe despondent at the poor employment prospects here... Resorts World recruitment drive is a breath of fresh air to the stale employment scene...

as a Singaporean, I'm so indebted and grateful to PM Lee that many of my fellow Singaporeans now have chance at being employed in anyone of the most career challenging and rewarding jobs being offered by Resorts World... Thank you PM Lee...I just can't express enough my gratitude to your great idea of setting up casinos in Singapore...and I especially liked your decision to set up two casinos. I am guessing you must be thinking that if one is to do something, might as well be world class about it...

I am looking forward to Sands Casino also embarking on similar recruitment exercises as well... I believe soon, we will enjoy near 0% unemployment in Singapore. then, we can so very proudly announce that to the world; "We are a nation of fully employed people, of card dealers and doormen, of bell boys and attendants, of toilet cleaners and kitchen helpers, of chauffeurs and security guards, regardless of race, language or religion, and we have achieved a prosperous, happy and progressive society "

For those interested in the above Walk-in Recruitment Drive

Employment and Employability Institute
Date : 5 & 6 Dec 09
Time : 9am - 5pm
Venue : 141 Redhill Road, Singapore 158828 (5 mins walk from Redhill MRT)

[LenaHuat]

According to Fortune magazine, 40 percent of American employees in the 21st century will be "contingency" workers. This means that they will never work permanently for any company. They will continue to move from job to job, earning less money than full-time employees and accruing few, if any, benefits.

This is the new 'normal' that PIMCO's Gross left out of his mantra. This financial crisis has structurally changed the US employment backdrop. The new 'normal' is high unemployment. Someone said that unemployment for 2010 might just eased by 0.5% next year. Moreover, the operating environment for small and medium enterprises are no longer as favourable as before. That would push more Americans into the labor force.

Singapore should seriously re-evaluate its immigration policy. Why do we need so many new citizens?
We need contingency workers more than permanently rooted new citizens.

[iam802]

Not too sure where to put this.

I believe Lena has highlighted this before.
--
Working Two Jobs and Still Underemployed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1259621 ... sNewsThird


Temporary Workers and the 21st Century Economy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 70348.html

[kennynah]

if we are not careful and do not strategically plan our workforce, we may end up like japan, where women graduates work as coffee/tea ladies of the organisation... perhaps the japanese can get away with such chauvinistic approach but i highly doubt our womenfolk will agree to simply become pantry girls after having studied a tertiary education...

with unnecessarily loose immigration policy on a 40x40km island, this is clearly a problem...especially when mid level executive work can and should be performed by domicile singaporeans.. i've never agreed with importing talents in the first instance...even though some good can derive from having really talented scientists and managers, such benefits are overshadowed by the immense disadvantages brought to the common singaporeans by such ill conceived immigration policies...

a nation is built upon the capabilities of its citizens, however long that may take to achieve...we must still try...it is the effort in nurturing our own citizens that formulates culture and identity...not just singing songs and waving national flags during national day... taking short cuts are never permanent answers to any immediate problems... we tend to think that cosmopolitan societies are made of people of various citizenry and perhaps there's some truth to that..however, we omitted an important factor and that is the ability of that city to accommodate these people...size does matter in this case.

if the argument is for foreign talents to raise the standards for singapore, then i urge the singapore government to admit foreign talents as MPs and ministers...since the impetus is for the best to be here running singapore operations...then why not the best brains in this world to run the government of singapore ?

i say this to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong... do you concede that there could be someone of better calibre than yourself to be the PM of Singapore? if so, why are you still in office? this is a contradiction to the foreign talent immigration policy... do what you preach with no exception, because theoretically you are not above the law.


(PS : duno whether Winston will let this post stick here...else, W, please feel free to delete it..no need to PM me about it....i've made my stand on this matter)