23rd of November. It’s an ordinary Sunday, but at the same time, unlike the others.
I have taken part in a workshop organized by the R.AGE The Star, entitled ‘The March Forward’. At first, what goes in my mind was, ‘hmm, will this workshop be some boring, long-winded lectures? No..It’s Sunday..this is the only day which I can sleep without listening to the stupid alarm clock!”. However, with the continuous encouragement and persuasion from my parents, finally I decided to give it a chance, by sacrificing my lovely Sunday.
You know, sometimes life just gives you a twist, and a surprise will just leaps out right from the corner. For instance, this workshop is the most vivid example I could possibly give. I went there with an exhausting body, as I had to take a taxi from Cheras, all the way to Menara Star. As my trial exam is approaching soon, I actually didn’t have enough of sleep when I had to wake up as early as 7am. Nevertheless, I would say that this is one of the best workshops I have ever attended.
The workshop kicked off with the very first session, “Leadership is YOU”, conducted by an awesome and eloquent speaker, Mr. Roshan. There was something special which I would like to note down. Usually, discussion about leadership-building will begin with the jaw-dropping achievements of the speaker; whilst for this, Mr. Roshan started with his failures. Yes, you got it right. FAILURES. He said something significant about failures, “Why do we fall? So that we could pick ourselves up. Only through failures, we will be able to learn the lessons and morals, and grow up by knowing what are the mistakes which we have made, and avoiding them in the future”.
Then, he continued with the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is a characteristics-testing module. He explained that we as human will make preferences in our attitudes and thinking. He gave us a simple test, by asking us to write our names with the hand we are most comfortable in. After that, write with the other hand (If you started with your right hand, then now use left hand, and vice-versa). Then he asked, “Could you read both handwritings?” “Yes, sure” answered us in unanimous. “If you guys start to practice with your most uncomfortable hand, in 5 or 10 years time, can you write as good as your comfortable hand? Yes, you can. Same goes with characters. You might prefer to be an introvert, but when there is time requires you to speak up, you have to be bold and confident enough. This is an extrovert characteristic. There is no right and wrong here. But, you got to learn to balance to be successful in life as both characteristics have the positive sides.”
First session was so encouraging and exciting. My heart began to feel happy as the willingness to come began to triumph over the laziness of waking up in a Sunday morning.
Second session was conducted by a humourous image consultant, Ms. Wendy Lee. She began by calling up some of the participants to the small stage and asked us to give them the role they could play based on their outer appearances. Surprisingly, we actually judged a person within seconds and co-related a person’s outer image with his/her profession, or even characteristics. She shared about tips and tricks on grooming ourselves well when we are about to attempt for job opportunities. She even told us, “When you don’t pay attention on your image, no matter how good you are, the employer-to-be will eventually leave a bad first impression and sub-consciously find faults on you”.
For me, this session had given me a great impact and somehow cleared up my doubts and ignorance in image-building. I was shocked when I heard that our first impression could actually be a determining factor in job interviews, promotion, and even salary increments.
Thirdly, it was a session about acing an interview and polishing up resume-writing skill. I had been wondering for a long time on the recipes to write an eye-catching resume and the dos and don’ts during an interview. Therefore, I anticipated this session when I came to the workshop. There was a mock interview between Hui Ming, an ex-employee of General Electric’s and a participant. After the brief interview, she told us what we should avoid when we are in the process, such as raising the issue of salary during an interview and nervous whenever a question is asked. Talking about resume, there are no rigid rules which we should really abide by. We ought to put up our strengths before our weaknesses, so that we could leave a good impression.
Last but not least, we did have a game. We were divided into six groups, each with 9 people. I was elected to become the group leader and led them to play the game. We were instructed to build a strong and tall building. However, at the middle of the game, some additional tasks were given. Although in the end our structure collapsed, we actually learnt a lot from this game itself. For instance, the ‘additional tasks’, as explained by the game coordinator, Hui Ming, were some attractions appeared in the middle of your efforts towards realizing your main goals. Many fresh graduates had actually sidelined their main goals due to those ‘extra tasks’ and eventually couldn’t meet the employer’s expectation.
In conclusion, this Sunday would not be meaningful had I not come to this workshop. For me, it was pretty worthwhile to sacrifice a Sunday, but be better-prepared for tomorrow.
