Taylors Fill My Cup back with another RE-Think session

By Nisha Ganasen

Chin Teik Cheah observing participants' answers during the ice break session

(Source: Personal Archive)

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you start to lead yourself, then leading others will become natural.If you fail to do so then you will bring baggage to the team,” said Chin Teik Cheah, president of Chin Teik Consulting Ltd in the opening session of Re-Think.

Taylor’s Life Skills Society conducted an enriching and meaningful Re-think session about ‘What Do Employers Look For In The 21st Century’ on 11 June.

The event was attended by approximately 60 Taylor's staff and students.

Cheah began with an ice breaking session with participants to get to know which stage they are currently at and to understand the definition of careers and jobs.

Throughout the session he focused on these three key teachable points: Begin with the end in mind, Optimize the ‘Now’ for ‘Tomorrow’ and Expand the current paradigm through 3E’s.

“The 3E’s: education, experience and exposure is important. e are all limited in our own paradigms, so the number one challenge ladies and gentlemen, is that many of us aren't aware that we are stuck in our own paradigm.

Then number two is when we are aware of our paradigm, we don’t know how to get out of the paradigm. When you are able to observe and shift your paradigm, the impossible becomes possible,” said Cheah.

Chin mentioned a life question to think for students who are coming out for work in the future.

“What happens to the job title, to the wonderful homes, to your fat salary and your identity when you retire?” he said.

Then, he shared that harmony is when a person is being paid for what they have passion to do and be sure not to lose focus and faith throughout the journey.

Students who are thinking and writing down what industry is looking for in employees, everyone should look back on lessons learned from the COVID 19 situation.

They should look out for what has been pronounced more frequently and has been missing in today’s employees when they go through newspapers, magazines or any articles related to employment.

“Covid 19 has pronounced very clearly that accidental managers are no longer going to be enough,” said Chin.

He also added that functional competencies are not going to be enough.

Students those are searching for a job or existing employees should get to know their strengths, then match that strength to the organisational need that is hiring.

Finally he shared some tips on creating a resume.

For the upcoming employees they should evaluate what is different and unique in their resume compared to others, and for the current existing employees how frequently their resumes have been updated.

“Because if you are in a company for more than 5 years, you are out of current employment needs and you are out of competition,” said Chin.

When an employee is in a closed company for more than 5 years they will lose connection with the open environment and open organisation which is the marketplace because they will not upskill or differentiate themselves, he added.

Hence, writing a perfect resume that is filled with your strengths and experiences, making sure that it matches with the organisation you intend to apply to.

“When you are leading yourself, you are creating your future, your passion, your purpose in life, but when you are managing you are reacting, because we have zero control over 90 – 95% of our life. , So always aim to be a creator,” said Chin in conclusion.

For more upcoming empowering sessions do check out more on Chin Teik’s official website, YouTube page and follow in Spotify.