End of the Road

By LOONG WAI TING

Some say school is boring, while some declare school was the best years with both good and bad memories. For some, schooling years are the best time for building friendships, relationships and most important of all, knowledge. For others, school was a torture device for students, ranging from pre-school children to college-going teenagers.

Ask anyone around you, how their first day of school was? Majority of them would hide their face, pretending to pick at imaginary bugs on their hands and hang their heads low. Why. Well, for these kids, the first day of school meant plenty of leg-hugging-while-I-wailed scenes and I-swear-I-would-be-good promises; all these can be very embarrassing.

While the first day of school usually meant something nightmarish for most children, being able to step into college or university would be the proudest moment that deserves to be cherished. College life is usually labelled as having freedom (excessively!), more access to facilities and places you’ve never dream of going and best of all, tonnes of discounts await you at the shopping paradise. While most students love their carefree life, but there are occasions where one really sits down and plan for their future? What’s next when a student’s life is over?

Since the end of the semester is just around the corner and for some the end of student life, a lot of us have been scratching our heads to find our next footing. For some students, this is the right time to travel the world, meet different people and learn different cultures. But for workaholics, job hunting begins even before one receives their scholarly scroll. Some are even so bold as to take on the family business.

While there are things that are easy said than done, preparing oneself for the job market requires not only good grades, but a whole lot of confidence and capabilities. To know how “prepared” these students are for the job market, we asked a few students from different colleges and universities what they taught what “prepared’ meant. Here is what they had to say.

Swee Wei, 21, Writer, Taylor’s College

During my diploma, we had to go through an internship period of two months. This was also the time where I really had a taste of what corporate life was like. I didn’t really prepare for anything but went through the normal process of working and picking up things (experience) on the way. It’s really hard to learn anything if you haven’t really experience it.

William Chin Wei Limg, 23, majoring in Broadcasting, UCSI University

Apart from getting good grades in studies, working part-time while studying helps to prepare yourself for the future job market. For my internships, I’d rather look for my own job as it is something that I want to do and would love to do long after I graduate. So, instead of waiting for placement from the university, I rather be proactive. College life is easy-going, but again, nothing beats being financially independent.

Johnny Loong, 21, majoring Actuarial Science, TAR College

I think before one prepares for the job market, it’s important to know the market’s requirements. For example, I will gather as much information as I can about the market, their criteria and requirements. With that, I can start to improve myself, so that by the time I enter the work force, I can satisfy my employer with my skills. Of course, working experience helps in one way or another so internship is a great way to start.