Starting Conversations, Building Network

Finding a job in Singapore is not easy. Market dynamics are different and things are not easy if you have come to Singapore for employment. Personally, I have witnessed few people coming here, spending time finding a job and then finally returning to their home country. Have seen many NUS MBA students passing through the same rigorous process. I have gone through this process myself at Singapore as well and do believe that perseverance will pay, however you need to gain the art of conversing with others and building your network in order to reach where you want to be. There had been many weaknesses I learned about over a period of time though I now feel a little content that I have become better at tackling few things that I was completely fearful about during and after my MBA time.

People say that the most important aspect one learns in a MBA program is Art of Networking. “How do you come across as a personality to other people, how do you sell yourself in a job event, how do you make an interesting conversation that could lead you to where you want to be”. These things are exceedingly important in one’s career as he/she will be evaluated more and more on personality aspects rather than technical aspects as one gains experience. And I was not good at this at all the time I joined my MBA school. I, definitely, was not one of those who can get along with anybody in minutes, actually far from that. I was not confident of speaking in public, I had problems continuing (or even starting) a conversation on anything, etc to name a few. Furthermore, my career experience post undergraduation after IIT Bombay was in a technical domain, as a software developer, which is more like an inward job where one gets evaluated more on technical skills than anything else, and does not expose much to interacting with customers often. Moreover, getting a job in IIT does not inculcate that very skill which is so much needed in a career growth. IIT students are given a silver spoon and companies line up to get the best available student, unlike any other university in world where students understand from very start that they need to sell themselves to a prospective employer.

Finding a Job

I have been contacted by many NUS graduates for some time now for advice on career in Singapore, finding about how job market works and others. And more often than not, I feel that students today are lacking the key abilities to position themselves in front of recruiters. I, during my MBA, also committed same mistakes and had a tough time to find a job where I fit well. I did commit serious mistakes, such as - I had more or less same resume floating everywhere for different kinds of job roles, I gave just one read to understand the job requirement, and many others.

Having met few candidates earlier, I see same issues again this and, hence, this is my attempt to explain -

• how important it is to understand a job description
• how important it is to position and up sell yourself according to the job requirement
• how important it is to network with industry people and alumni

I believe I can explain all the above points through a small story, which is quite powerful. I had attempted this on few candidates earlier and found same answers from everybody.

Click on Read More link below.

The Art of Selling

I've been investing at personal level in Indian Stock Market for a long time now. I bought my first stock in Dec 2004 and since then my portfolio has grown and grown. I love taking bets and ready to forgo the amount if the market crashes. (so, in a way I'm prepared for the risk). Most of the times I hear news about some stock from somebody in the family or office (and never follow CNBCs, NDTVs stock experts etc), track that stock for probably a month and then take a decision to invest in it. That has been my usual investment style. Things that I have learned post MBA is to look at the financial reports and try to form a basic reasoning before investing. Nevertheless, my returns have been pretty ok and I'm happy doing this personal investment and excelling my return targets every year.

One very important thing that I have observed over a period of time and learned during MBA that the trick of making money in stock market is not through continual investing. However, it is really through selecting the right time to exit and make a realized profit. The realized profit every year is actually my return targets. And because of this strategy, I've made money in the stock market by not waiting for a return and either take a sell or buy more call once I don't see the stock moving in the direction I expect. Have been fortunate to not wait for a long time and see my profits eroding as the financial crisis these days is taking a short cut and returning pretty fast.