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Career Advancement Interview Tips Self Improvement

A Positive Mindset For A New Job

What you can do to prepare yourself in the Covid era. If the journey is a thousand miles, I won’t even take the first step!! I once worked for a man who asked me to put up a “Quote of the week” on our office notice board.

I chose the old Chinese proverb, “The first step is the journey to a thousand miles”. When he returned later in the day,he called me to come over and I saw him waiting at the notice board thinking he would appraise me for a good choice, after all it was an ancient proverb that had inspired millions of people.

As I strolled nearer with my earnest face, I saw a rather displeased frown on his. “ What is the meaning of this?” he barked. “It’s an ancient Chinese proverb boss”, I replied. “I know…,If the journey is a thousand miles, I won’t even take the first step!! Take it down!” and he stormed into his room. I felt defeated and embarrassed, especially in front of my co-workers. Why would he say that? What did I do wrong? I struggled as the day came to a close and dragged myself home.

We’ll leave the conclusion of this story for another time, but what a negative outlook on life. If one is unwilling to step out on a long journey, how will one garner a rich experience? And if the farmer is unwilling to be hardworking, how will he enjoy a good harvest later?

This unprecedented time of the pandemic, economic downturn, and job loss has come with ailments namely loss of self-confidence, the inability to progress due to lack of skills or necessary work experience, and possibly depression. The level of anxiousness goes up each day.

The truth is, all of us are on a journey of a thousand miles. Many times, the journey is fraught with countless obstacles and delays but in the end, there’s a reward.

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Respecting my own professionalism One good boss once said,” It doesn’t matter how good you are. What matters most is your attitude and your respect. That’s still not enough, your attitude towards your company and a sense of responsibility towards the people you work with..,a sense of family. That is the most important thing that a staff must have or learn to acquire in the long run”.

I asked, “You mean, I’m not respecting you boss?” He said, “No, not your respect for me, but your respect for your own professionalism!”

Boom! Oh dear, I had been in the workforce for many years now, but my thought process hadn’t changed much and all of a sudden, I had a lot more to learn. It was why I had not managed to get ahead sometimes. This was a new starting point of my learning process. Someone decided not to play it safe and cared enough to tell me that.

A New Learning Process

Another time, I was told, “You have too much of an employee mindset. For you and the company you work for to survive, you must acquire an employer’s mindset.” “An employee works but an employer makes things happen.”

To summarise, here are the three things that we’ve looked at so far.

  1. A change in my thinking and attitude.
  2. Respecting my own professionalism so as to respect others and have them respect me.
  3. Changing my mindset from an employee to that of an employer, even though I’m an employee because my actions now are not only for myself, but for the best interests of my colleagues, my boss and my company.

Creating Opportunities for yourself. This can turn out to be a great time to acquire new skills that can improve your chances of getting that new job you need. Use this time to study and research on what you can do to improve your employability.

You may be a father, a mother or a brother or sister in a desperate situation to secure immediate employment and attended countless interviews. We, at Xremo would like to strongly encourage you to keep on moving and never ever give up. We will do our part, but the extraordinary achiever, YOU! Yes, you can make things happen. Here are a few immediate things that we can think of to get you on your way.

1. Network: Meet people and put yourself out there. This is a good time to do so as many professionals do have the time now to meet new people. Have confidence and continue the journey.

2. Friends & family: Surround yourself with supportive friends and family. You will need their emotional and moral support.

3. Online Groups: Join Relevant Online Forums or Groups: Groups that can connect you to some work such as FB Groups.

4. A Polished Resume: Keep on updating and polishing your resume. Ask someone you trust to look at it and improve it for you. Add a good photo of yourself too because a proper resume can get you noticed.

5. Your USP (Unique Selling Point): More on resume. Detail some of your experience on specific projects which you saw through to a successful completion as this will attract potential employers. There’s definitely something that only you could have done which will really make you uniquely attractive to employers.

6. Have the right Perspective: One more thing we should mention here is Perspective. Present yourself not in the way you think is best but in the way your potential employer could want. Remember, the employer has a need and you need to match their perspective. Again, It doesn’t primarily matter how good you are, but if you can meet their needs and their belief that both of you can work together.

7. Add to your computer and online skills: Yes, you may have heard this before but it’s a “Media World”. Colleagues don’t just talk to each other, they communicate by email and WhatsApp etc. hence you must make this part of your skillset. More so, communication using social media will increase your skills broadly.

8. Last but not least, register with us at Xremo: Xremo is a job platform which aims to be different from others. We are passionate about the Malaysian workforce and our unique difference is that we don’t use automatic job matching software outright, but rather we handpick and filter each application manually in the old school style. We understand and recognise that behind every application, there is an applier, a human being with a need which we regard respectfully and not as just a document. Our pledge is that we will strive or very best to get Malaysia working again for the betterment of our country.

Stay updated with our latest job vacancy: www.xremo.com

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