You're Hired!

I was blessed enough to be one of the 50 chosen participants to vie for RM5000 and a job in the recent "You're Hired" competition organized by "Malaysian Today". The event took place on the 29th of September, which saw 50 youths from different colleges with various backgrounds come together. The next day, 30th of September saw the next 25 participants fight it out in the semi-finals. Eventually only 1 winner will emerge and 7 people who would be offered jobs with 1 of the participating companies each.

I enjoyed my experience there although I had to work from morning till evening on both days. However, my most valuable lesson was from presenting our team's proposal to our client - Ms. Farah from Malaysian Today. That meeting with her taught me that I have to really capture what the client wants and it is not only about knowing how to speak but to deliver the ideas that is practical, marketable and profitable. Without creative but practical ideas, no proposal would be able to make the cut. Here are some pictures of what I went through:

(Participants receiving instructions for the first challenge)

(1st challenge - Get the most respondents to sign up for JobsDB.com)

(Clockwise: Sher Li, Sun, Hui Kee, Fariz, Andrew)

(Photocopying registration forms. Had a long negotiating session for the lowest price)

(Semi finals - Advertise "Malaysian Today" with the most effective street promotion)

(Hui Kee preparing for the 2nd challenge. We had to finish preparations within 1 hour only)

Lessons learnt:
1. Always refer to the client's needs before progressing to the proposal.

2. Never underestimate the possibilities of "worst case scenarios".

3. Must always finish tasks in the stipulated time.

4. Should find out what went wrong in times of failure.

5. Aspire to learn from those who are greater.

6. Know what lies in the future and the possibility of the current capacity to reach it.

7. Place all worries into God's hands and He will direct and guide every step.