MAJOR PROJECT - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK REPORT
MAJOR PROJECT - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK REPORT
Seminar Notes
Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduate
Set money aside for emergencies, investments and emergency funds first and foremost.
Around 3 - 6 months worth of emergency funds.
Don’t overcommit to expenses such as insurance.
Avoid accumulating debt
After tracking all expenses, observe your current wealth to determine your financial trajectory.
Saving is just keeping leftover income and untouched, investing means committing money for long-term growth and returns.
Start accumulating savings, use it for investment.
As a fresh graduate, focus on improving your own capital/income to be in a position to invest.
Prepare sufficient funds in the event of an emergency.
Inflation causes growth of prices exceeding salary growth.
Inflation can be beneficial for goods with appreciating value.
Compound interest is the core of long-term investment.
Timing markets is deceptively difficult, as such buying low/selling high via day trading is likely ineffective for a new investor.
Even with long-term investments, there is always potential for loss. Especially for companies with inconsistent performance.
Don’t succumb to peer pressure and start to invest without proper research.
Investment portfolio is an index showing the different categories of investment.
Diversify your investments, minimising the risk of loss in the event one investment fails.
Determine your investment goals > Plan and save expenses > Choose investments and create portfolio > Monitor your investments
Have a core portfolio (foundational investments that are stable, even with flat returns), then extend into satellite investments (trend-based growth)
Can earn with satellite investments and put it back into core investments.
Always have an investment goal, it encourages discipline and motivates.
Keynote: Aspire to Inspire
Authenticity is important to be a good leader.
Humility helps leaders relate to the experience of their subordinates.
Depending on the industry, EQ should be more important than IQ intelligence in general as it is harder to coach for these qualities. For occupations such as doctors and pilots, technical skills are required regardless.
Good cultural fit for the company, with similar values and purposes.
Can eventually develop into leaders that can energise and motivate their subordinates.
In Malaysia, people who are comfortable to oppose norms in a respectful manner.
Identify your strong points, and practice on things you don’t like doing.
Keep going out of your comfort zone and experience more uneasy situations.
Instead of only thinking about your next job, try to think further into 3-4 next jobs, and work down from there.
Progressing in your career, the only way is not upwards in terms of position, feel free to go sideways instead.
Even if not academically outstanding, you can try to stand out via other qualities. (i.e. ability, humour, work ethic)
Try to stay a keen learner, as technological advancements will easily outpace your knowledge.
In terms of learning, everybody has their own preferred methods and don’t be afraid to learn differently.
Be honest when it comes to admitting shortcomings and inabilities to uphold a deal, it will save both parties plenty of hassle.
Clarity of communication is very important to practice and makes dealings much smoother. Try to structure your statements succinctly for the other party.
Try to make a list of people you want to connect with, finding things in common work-related or otherwise, and try to bridge that connection.
Understand the culture of the workplace and its locale, it puts the behaviour of people around you into context.
Stay true to your personal values, but be sure to remain adaptable. Choose your words carefully when trying to communicate this, as it can easily demotivate or anger others.
It is normal to feel lost at any stage in life, therefore the most sensible thing to go for would be to pursue what you are passionate about.
Persistence and being a little thick-skinned can bring you far into your career. Being able to focus on a single goal and being able to take some setbacks on the way is ideal.
While it is good to voice any disagreements, sometimes it's better to leave it if it doesn’t bring much benefits.
Take any opportunities as early as you can, as it can help build experience.
There can be many lessons that can be learned not only within the workplace, but also the communities surrounding it, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to travel abroad.
The Art of Storytelling
Storytelling allows the relaying of complex topics and concepts in a digestible manner.
Empathy through storytelling helps foster a shared sense of purpose.
A relatable story presents a case persuasively.
Relating to the story inspires people to adopt the story and motivates people to act on the message.
Stories can engage with people, connecting us and gaining trust.
Art installations promoting a story can also serve practical purposes.
Storytelling can also help preserve the culture, and also incorporate new elements within their own works.
By challenging social norms, storytelling can help change perceptions of certain groups of individuals.
Installations can also help provide alternative sources of entertainment in already existing attractions.
Promoting these stories on-site can also provide context to the history and context of an attraction.
Media storytelling can raise awareness and discussions on various social issues that would otherwise be under-represented.
By setting examples, realistic or fantastical, character stories can help people discover alternative paths in their life.
Setting a proper stake for the scale of the story drives audience engagement.
Having a proper level of growth from a main character helps give a satisfying resolution.
Starting a story off with a personally relatable experience helps give an engaging start.
More fantastical challenges can be saved for later, but audience attention must be grabbed again with a well developed conclusion.
Factors such as vocabulary, perspective, authenticity, awareness and humour can contribute to a more effective story.
The more experience you have in life, the better stories you can tell and the stronger values you can establish.
It’s important to utilise visual aids to help maintain a consistent/developed technique, while focusing more effort on the storytelling aspect with less total effort.
When it comes to any design-focused job, it is expected to be required to re-make designs multiple times over to achieve a desired look.
Maximise Your LinkedIn Presence
Be mindful of what you post on LinkedIn.
Refrain from posting any personal opinions on your profile.
Content should only surround your professional development.
Outstanding profiles grab potential recruiters attention.
Your LinkedIn profile should be tailored to the opportunities you are seeking.
LinkedIn helps potential employers find methods to vouch for your credibility.
Not only for opportunities, your LinkedIn profile can also showcase your style/type of work.
The profile photo, headline and banner will catch any profile visitors eyes first.
Profile header should be simple, address your name and or role, and you might include a quote that represents your brand.
For the profile photo, pick a high quality one with good lighting, neutral background.
Be sure the face is properly visible, and you are the only subject in it.
For an attractive headline, add your role, your associated company, with industry keywords and any awards/accolades.
Any leadership roles during studying could also be added, as well as any internships completed.
Location is important to update, as the algorithm will help push you forward.
Add a summary of your profile, and be concise.
Describe who you are, and what you do, why you matter, etc.
Use a first person narrative, as it helps promote authenticity.
First person also shares your experiences through your voice.
Ensure your LinkedIn and resume mirror each other.
Keep your titles accurate and get your company logo next to your name.
When listing accomplishments, use bullet points for better readability.
Use statistics when it comes to introducing your achievements, it makes them more credible.
For work experience, ensure it is only detailing your professional career.
List at least 4-5 of your tasks and accomplishments.
For education, add your university name and logo.
Add any awards, merit scholarships and accomplishments.
Add your GPA.
Add details of any extracurriculars.
Add any extra skills that you may have.
You can add recommendations onto your profile, however only for people you are still currently in contact with.
When your profile is completed, craft posts to build your visibility.
Create short-form posts - real-time insights, but keep it professional.
Attach documents for longer content.
Add some photos or videos as accompanying material.
Post polls to help engagement for your posts.
Curate articles to gain more deeper insight into a subject touched on a post.
Directly reaching out to the employer isn’t generally considered rude, and it can help you stand out from the rest of the applicants, be sure to be respectful and clear.
The Importance of Making it Easy
Definition of Digitisation - Act of converting information to digital form.
Definition of Digitalisation - Turning the processes to utilise digital technology.
Definition of Digital Transformation - Incorporating technology into the culture of an area.
Most work moves to the cloud due to not requiring internal company servers, which cost money to maintain.
AI technology are data-trained models used to automate processes, improve decision making and enhance user experiences.
IoT devices are data crunching machines used to analyse and summarise data to make it easier for the company to make informed decisions.
AR/VR are mainly used for improving user experiences, for both the producer and end-consumer. I.e. customer experiences and employee training.
Knowledge of digital and data tools can help make graduates more appealing to potential employers.
By utilising digital technologies, more effective work can be done and drive business growth, which can also help increase salary.
Better contributions can also improve your career progression and provide advancement opportunities.
By reducing the amount of manual work that has to be done with the use of automation, a more flexible work arrangement can be achieved.
By keeping up with modern digital technology, there is a lower chance of obsolescence or redundancy, therefore enhancing job security.
Even if part of a small business, plan ahead with utilising these technologies in the future, to stay competitive with other businesses even after the company grows.
Make use of meeting tools in order to make collaborative efforts more effective and allows for a wider reach in terms of employees.
How to Build your Personal Branding at Work and Interviews
First of all, look for a company that you are passionate about and can help you achieve a proper work-life balance.
Personal Branding is influenced by your own self-impression, and therefore should be addressed first.
Internalise and make your branding part of your state of mind.
Personal Branding can take many forms, even a lack of branding can be considered a form of branding.
Personal Branding can help us manage our interpersonal relationships, even outside of a workplace.
Working on branding matters as it can help career advancement and networking. Online presence can be increased along with personal growth as you can reflect on how you contrast with your persona and be self-aware.
Before starting developing your own brand, gain insight about yourself and how you want to be perceived.
Also gain insight from others as it can give different perspectives on who you are.
Identify your target audience, and how you can relate to them.
Then develop the image that you want to portray towards the community.
You can share the different hobbies that you engage in during your free times to market yourself a certain way.
Most people are similar in many ways, and there are only so many ways that people can be described, therefore look for a different niche to fill within this personality type.
Communicate both tangible and intangible elements, tangible being accolades and portfolio, intangible being your physical appearance, personality, goals, values etc.
Maintain your brand periodically, even after securing a job. Access your brand regularly and gather feedback from there.
Showcase your quantifiable achievements onto your LinkedIn.
Recommendations on LinkedIn can help greatly in making your profile memorable.
Post about experiences, stories and lessons that are worth sharing.
Try to think out of box in order to grab the employers attention, but do set boundaries.
Report Reflections
As I embarked on my journey into the professional world as a fresh graduate, I quickly realized that the classroom teachings and the reality of managing finances and personal growth were vastly different. The transition from student life to working life presented me with many challenges, but also invaluable lessons that I will carry forward throughout my career.
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