Very nice Career Advice by Donald Lim on News said... I would like to seek advice on my career, as I have just graduated from a engineering course. However, I know my calling is in teaching as I really like to teach. The thing is, the reason why I took up commerce is that my parents want me to be employed and help move our family from poverty. An engineer will always have a higher pay than a teacher, right? Do I focus on getting employed as an engineer or do I follow my passion for teaching? Please help. If you follow Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs, physiological and safety needs are two of the basic needs of men, which includes food and water, and a secure place to live in. Self fulfillment derived from one’s work belongs to higher order needs Esteem and Self Actualization. The rule here is: basic needs have to be satisfied first before higher order needs. In your case, you should always make sure your family is eating well and taken cared of physically, before you take on a “dream” job. This rationale is simple. You need financial resources to survive and maintain a decent life for your family. Bring it to that level. Be the most successful engineer so that you can give your family a good life. My recommendation really is to focus and be successful with your chosen career from the course you took up in college. Do not be itchy with being wanting to teach. In fact, forget teaching and focus on your job. Just have an endpoint that in the future, you will be teaching after gaining so much industry experience. So for today, apply for a job in the course you graduated in, and do well. As you move up the corporate ladder, things become more predictable and you eventually get to have everyone schedulethemselves with your calendar, or in your case, people adjust to your teaching calendar. So what about teaching in this age of digital? You can always teach given that there are now various opportunities for working professionals to teach part time. In fact, most of the universities are looking for professors who have practical industry experience. Knowing that you are from the industry, you would easily get a teaching profession since universities today prefer the sharing of actual experience rather than theory and pure textbook discussions. This story is very similar to mine in that I really like to teach. My parents also dissuaded me not to go to full-time teaching and get a “legitimate” job. However, I decided to invest in working and gaining professional experience, and at the same time earn my masteral and doctorate degrees. Thus, I don’t lose any income since I am trying to do everything at once. Now I teach Masteral students weekday nights and doctorate students Saturday mornings, and am enjoying it tremendously. I also give various talks three to five times a month, as it is my personal advocacy to teach people regarding marketing and the world of digital. Whenever I looked back, I am always happy that I decided to focus on my marketing career, and that today, I now have a lots of stories I can tell my students. Also, I am secure enough already to know where I stand, and I do not mind being corrected by my students. While I know my recommendation can be controversial in that some parents may want me to tell students to follow their heart. I actually do not disagree with them. In fact, I believe that people who follow their heart’s desire and calling can be more successful because the skill and desire is inherent in them. They just need to harness that. From my end, I just believe that you need to prioritize, stabilize yourself and remove all the “barriers” and obligations in your life, so that in the end, you can fulfill your desires and teach in peace. A good career advice for fresh grads Danilo Biadog Jr. Van Essar Marlo Biadog
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 08:48:00 +0000
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