By Nur Najmi Jamal
When are you going to get ready for work? Are you waiting to be in the final semester before deciding to get ready to face the reality of the outside world? No, why don’t you start doing it right now.
There are so many things we can do now to prepare ourselves for the real world out there. Opportunities are available all the time in our university to gain knowledge to survive, but have we strived hard enough to get ourselves prepared? When we have to face tough competitions and challenges out there, for me the answer is ‘No’. We are currently in the age that we just cannot rely solely on textbooks. The job would have high expectations from us. We therefore need to explore outside the textbook paradigm.
Here are some tips which I wish to share:
1) Explore new things
It’s time for us to push the boundaries from the comfort zone, be comfortable with the limitless boundaries, learn many new skills as much as we can. One of the characteristics needed is leadership. Leaders are people who can think outside the box and are ready with new ideas to deliver them in creative ways. Intelligence and compassion are keys to build strong leadership in us. I believe we can further develop this characteristic while exploring new things. Don’t limit the word ‘explore’ by imagining yourself traveling outside the country, it can be as easy as joining any volunteer group and commit to its cause. Exploring new things can make us wiser.
2) Meet new people
Believe me, I used to hate to be in the same room with people I don’t know and to converse with strangers, especially when I am in the mood, “please don’t talk to me”. When I look back at the way I behaved I felt ridiculous. Now I realised that pretending by scrolling your phone just to avoid interacting with people is simply a waste of time. This is because communication is the key to help you in the working world. Don’t be scared to approach someone if you like what he or she is wearing, tell him or her that. Who cares? Who knows it could open up a whole new world of useful questions and answers that could lead you to gain more knowledge through life experience. Everyone likes people who are approachable, isn’t it?
3) Create new solutions for the community
Be aware and alert of what’s happening in the society. Keep yourself updated with current issues on what’s going on in your surrounding. Be accessible to information so you can learn the real things happening and thus be prepared with solutions that you can apply in your job. After all, you want to pay back to the community when you work.
So, are you ready to join me to compete? Let’s get ready because our future starts now, not tomorrow. ***