How to get your dream job?

It seems impossible to get a dream job nowadays. However, you might be able to get one if you really work on it. Speaking from my experience, I would like to share some tips with you.

1. Interpret your dream
Many people do not even know what they want. 90% of the job seekers are putting monetary rewards as their main consideration in seeking a better job. Before moving into that, list down what you really want for your new job. (in terms of exposure, traveling requirements, job function, career path) You will be surprise to find that you actually wanted more, than just money.

2. Knowing your destination
It is such ironic that everyone seems to know how to answer the popular interview question of "how do you see yourself in 10 years?", but do not really know what they are answering. Most of the interviewees came prepared which such question. However, most never really ask themselves such questions throughout their entire career life. Where you want to go? Do you see yourself as a future entrepreneur, skilled expert or manager? Knowing your direction helps you to focus on the job function you want.

3. The Time Race
We always contradict ourselves with different goals. Some common examples are statement such as, "I want to be a manager in 5 years time" and "I want to try different job roles to know what I am suitable for". Changing different roles is just an excuse to buy more time as you are unsure of what you really want. Let me tell you a fact, what fits you the best, end of the day, is what you are best at. If you don't think you like to do what you are best at, forget about excelling in your career. You will always be a mediocre.

4. Job Function, Company, Remuneration- Choose 2 out of 3
Fulfilling all your 3 requirements above for your first few jobs is like hitting a lottery. My advice, choose 2 out of 3 above. Why specifically 2 but not 1? Having two of above brings you closer to your dream job. If you only have one of them, you will need to try to fulfill the other two in your next job search. This is tough, as your salary requirements is moving up along with time. Any mistakes in choosing your career will not only costs you your job, it will also costs you time.

5. Get to know the right headhunter
80% of my experiences with headhunters are bad. Some headhunters just call you up to get FREE ADVICE from you about the job description(JD) given by their clients. Some will take your CVs and pass round to a few employers at the same time to try their luck. Most of them do not care about your career. They are more client-focused and they care more about their commissions. This is why they can always find GOOD talent for industries but always fail to provide the RIGHT candidate. Try to submit your CVs to a few headhunter and locate one or two good ones. Better still, check with your friends on their experience with headhunters and get them to introduce you to the good ones. Just drop me a comment if you need any recommendation from me.

6. Know your job well
Dream jobs are meant for those who can handle their job well. You can be hired as a CEO but are you able to increase the company's profit growth by 10 % per annum? You will only enjoy your job without high levels of incompetency stress. Most jobs are deemed to be stressful not because the employers are mean. It is simply because many of those are incompetant and yet taking up jobs that are beyond their capacity.

7. Be confident but don't think too highly of yourself
Dreaming of a job that pays you high salary, flies you around the world in business class cabins, able to work from home and comes with a huge team for you to command? Are you dreaming? No, it is not impossible! Once you have identified your strength, you will only need to identify the right company that is profitable enough to match your requirements. Be confident of yourself but never expect all companies to be able to afford what you want. Check out their annual reports (if they are listed) or audited accounts (from SSM for RM10) if you are really concern about the companys' profits.

Good luck in your job hunt!

Even easier now to top up your ASM and ASW!

Looks like the Malaysian government is really desperate for cash. Amanah Saham Berhad(ASB) has just enabled their trust holders to top up using online banking. The only drawback to this is that you can only do it with Maybank2U. Read more here.

Maybank Newsroom Statement
The Star's Report

Newbie to ASM & ASW?

Just to share a bit more about Amanah Saham Malaysia & Amanah Saham Wawasan as some of you might be asking what is this all about.

ASM is a fund launched by PNB on year 2000 while ASW was launched back in 1996 when Dr. Mahathir first conceptualised the Wawasan 2020 vision. So far, both the funds performance has been very consistent and profitable.

To purchase the fund, you can walk in to any of the following banks:
i) Maybank
ii) RHB
iii) CIMB
iv) Post Offices

Just prepare at least RM 100 if you are opening a new account. Each unit cost RM 1. The past dividend payouts for ASM are listed as below:

ASM : 2006 - 6.75% 2007 - 6.80% 2008 - 7.80% 2009 - 6.25%
ASW: 2006 - 6.80% 2007 - 8.00% 2008 - 7.00%

ASM announces its dividend on 31st March every year while ASW announces on 31st August.

ASW & ASM is back again

Missed the opportunity to grab ASW and ASM trust fund last year? Don't worry, 3.3 billion units will be out for grabs starting tomorrow. Each person can only purchase up to 20,0000 units. Be careful when you are queuing with your loaded bag of money. :) . Here is the details:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/20/nation/20090420114255&sec=nation

How to Pitch?

Coming out with great ideas is hard, but evangelizing and convincing others about your idea is even harder. Pitching is an art, which takes time and effort to pick up. However, learning some tips and tricks on pitching will definitely help to put you on fast-track in mastering the art.

Being a 3-times award-winner of international business plan award and a 2-times recipient of government venture grant (sounds a bit arrogant, do i?:)), I hope to share some tips on pitching with my readers.

1. Refine your idea
Great ideas originates from crude ideas. Crude ideas are normally flawed and comes with plenty of rooms for improvement. Before pitching your idea, try asking yourself a few pragmatic questions. What problem does the idea solve? Does the idea have any adverse effect? Does your idea benefit the mass market, or just a handful of people? Will the idea bring huge benefit in relative to implementation cost? If you still can't think of enough questions to refine your idea, try going to Gallery SmartShop and check on all their creative products. Ask yourself what you products you will buy and why you buy it, if you are given an RM2000 voucher.

2. Focus your area
Having an idea or solution that solves a few problem at once is superb beyond any doubt. However, an idea which covers a wide range of problems will certainly involve more pitching. Pitching is about getting others to intoxicate with your idea. Therefore, it is important to define your pitching scope. Without setting some borders to your idea, you be pitching for 10 minutes just to get to the center of your idea. This rule will help you to ensure your audience does not *yawn* at your pitch.

3. Identify your audience
It is always a part and parcel for me to identify the audience or panel of decision makers before I pitch. Doing some quick research on your audiences will increase your chances in pushing the idea through. I was once faced with a panel of 15 joint decision makers which comes from different background. I actually did a quick research on 10 of them in order to capture their attention from various perspective. The effort was actually paid off.

4. Build your pitch
Pitching is like telling a story you can't wait to share to your friends. You will finally gain the satisfaction after telling the story by having responses such as "wow', "wah", "really?". Well, at times, they might find your story to be boring too. This is what exactly you want to avoid during a pitch. A good pitch requires proper structure, which builds up from a teaser to the climax. Think about your idea, can your audience grasp your idea it in a 5 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes pitch? Let me give you a real-life idea which I am currently working on in 5 seconds.

"Shipping books from Amazon.com at RM5 only instead of USD10!"

Do you think you want to know more? Haha, find out how in a few more months time! (I am developing the solution now.) Restructure your pitch for 1 minute, 5 minutes and 10 minutes session. Try to get the gist out of your idea within the specified period. So , have you started working on your 5 seconds tagline now?

5. Practice it
I know a very senior executive(one of the "C"s) in Samsung Group who still practice his pitch repeatedly before facing the audience. It is normal that your confidence will build up after structuring your pitch, so as your egoisim. You might be over-confident with your idea. Believe me, things are very different when you are facing your audience especially when the phychological factor kicks in. Be it a job interview or business idea presentation, your balls tends to hide during the pitching session and you might be performing only partially as good as what you had expected. Therefore, practice and improve on your pitch for at least 15 times before the actual session. If you feel weird speaking to the mirror, try pitching to your best friend or partner, it helps.

6. Be confident while delivering your pitch
Before we dive into this step, ask yourself, are you confident with your idea? Having confidence in your idea holds the key to delivering a good pitch. Forget about pitching if you are not even confident with your idea. If you are still not convinced about your idea, go back to step 1. If you are convinced, the next step would be building your confidence. I still remember vividly how I defended my arguments in one of the venture funding approval session. I thought my chances were slim after the "cynical" approval session but I got the grant in the end. Moral of the story, be prepared and do not give up easily.

I hope to share more about pitching the my coming posts (especially on some tips during the actual pitching session). I hope you enjoy this post and do leave your personal tips/comments if you have any!

Did you queued for Sukuk Bonds?

Excerpts from TheStar report on 17th April:

KUALA LUMPUR: The RM2.5bil Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat government bond launched Tuesday is all snapped up.

The bond issue has been increased and Malaysians can continue to buy the bonds, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement Friday.

Go to www.treasury.gov.my or www.bnm.gov.my/sukuksimpanan for details or contact Bank Negara Malaysia TELELINK at 1300 88 5465.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/17/nation/20090417172535&sec=nation

It is never a surprise to see such news, especially with the current gloomy state of economy. In the past, people have been queuing outside the bank as early as 5 a.m just to get a share of Amanah Saham Wawasan and Amanah Saham Malaysia(ASM). However, how many people really know how Sukuk works ?

This is one of the problem with Malaysians, the "herd mentality" and "kiasu"(scared to lose) spirit. Many jumps into the bandwagon without even a single knowledge of what Sukuk uses as their investment vehicle. Malaysians seems to be very confident with the government when it comes to bonds and trust funds as compared to government policies. *grin*

Back to Sukuk. Since interest bearing bonds are not permissible in Islam, hence Sukuk are securities that comply with the Islamic law and its investment principles, which prohibits the charging, or paying of interest. Sukuk normally invests in HALAL assets by providing short term LOAN and revenue collected from these assets will be distributed as dividend to bond holders. A simple scenario would be investing (as a short term investor) in toll concessionaire or even real estates (by providing loan for development and expansion) which in turn generates steady fixed income.

Here comes the question many will ask when they make an investment.(but surprisingly not when they invest in Sukuk!) What happens if the investment loses money? Well, in Islamic finance, the risk is SHARED. However, when it comes to Sukuk bonds issued by Malaysian government, the risk will be guaranteed by the Malaysian government. (though I am not sure what is the level of guarantee, but I am sure that the coalition government does not want to lose their next election,:))

Sukuk bonds provides you with 5% annual return, to be distributed on quarterly basis. The bond will mature after 3 years. For those who didn't manage to grab a share of it, here's the good news from BNM. For more information on Sukuk, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuk

One of the greatest advice I had for Web Startup

I usually do not spend more than 10 minutes watching videos online. However, this talk on web startup is so far the greatest advice I had for Web Startup. I have attended enough seminars on startups by VCs and some organisations for me to say "cut the crap!". This video talk truely enlightents you on how easy you can create a million dollar company!

Enjoy the talk by David Heinemeier Hannson of 37 Signals, who is also the founder of Ruby on Rails which slices through most of the hype and nonsense around startup companies I have heard for years.

How to Survive Retrenchment?

Most of us are lucky. We have never tasted the bitterness of retrenchment in our entire working life. However, as many firms are undergoing major organizational restructuring in order to cut costs, the risk is adverse. Adding salt to wound, a lot of companies have freeze hiring. Thus, retrenchment is something many people may have to face, whether they like it or not. Here are some tips to help you cope with retrenchment if you land yourself in such a situation.

1) Face It, Not Face Off

The initial reaction you will encounter would be shock and anger. You are shocked that the firm is willing to lay off a good employee. But you need to understand that this is not personal, it's business. After that, you might feel depressed that your firm did not value you as much as you though they did. You may even feel a depreciating sense of self-worth. But there is one thing you need to do - you need to get back on your feet. Share your feelings with your loved ones, your spouse and family. Do not carry the burden alone. Your family will be there to support you and help you work things out during these difficult times. Once you have accepted the reality of your retrenchment, you need to find out what to do next. How are you going to cope with it?

2) Assess Your Finances

While sharing the bad news to your family, you may also need to tell them that there is a need to adjust your current lifestyle to survive financially. You may get a nice severance package when you were laid off, but refrain from spending it on luxury items that depreciates in value such as a new car or a long vacation. Instead, you need to spend on things that will help you make more money. For instance, you may want to invest the money to make it grow or set up a business to make more money. As a family, look into how your family can save money by cutting down on daily expenses or switching brands.

You may think that you have enough to cover for the next 6 months, but the reality may be different. The amount you have may not even last that long. Besides looking at your cash flow, also assess your debts, savings and assets.

It is also important that you get enough medical or hospitalization coverage for you and your family. Since you have stopped working for your firm, you may find that no one will cover your medical expenses. Get one as soon as possible. The last thing you would want to do is to have to fork out lots of money on medical expenses during these times.

3) Skills Training

Assess your current skills to see if they are still relevant in the modern job market. If they are not, you may wish to upgrade your skills with extra training so that you can land yourself another job easily. In addition to technical expertise and knowledge upgrade, you also need to learn to refresh your resume writing and interview skills to help you clinch the next job. Also, the Malaysian government has been kind enough to offer free skill retraining program for laid off workers. So, let's just grab the opportunity and make yourself a more valuable asset to your future organisation.

4) Positive Attitude

It is important to have the right attitude from the beginning in order to cope with the situation. You may be retrenched but it does not mean the end of the world. Continue to network with friends and ex-colleagues to be in the loop about what is going on in your industry. You may wish to ask them to look our for a job opportunity for you and get their recommendation. At the same time, you may want to seek help at employment agencies to get another job. They may offer you a temp-to-perm job. Start off with the temporary position and if you do a good job, you will be employed full-time. Be open to various opportunities available. Don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself; you've got a life ahead of you.

5) Be flexible

You may find that there are limited job opportunities in the industry you worked in previously. If that is the case, you may have to find work in a different industry. Be flexible. You may have to undergo more training, experience a drastic pay cut, or irregular working hours. In order to get the next job, show your employer that you are willing to be flexible about these things. It is important to take whatever job you can get at this moment and continue to look for other opportunities as you go along.

Coping with retrenchment is never going to be easy. But if we take certain issues into perspective, it might be easier to cope. Having the right mindset is the most important tip I have here. From there, you need to formulate a plan to streamline your finances and look for another job. All the best!

Excerpts from: Sydney Hazelton

How to start an Internet Business?

Despite more than 10 years of experience dealing with Internet technologies, I am still new to Internet marketing. Lately, I have been researching on Internet marketing strategies which leads me some interesting findings. I would like to start my post with simple introduction tools to Internet business.

1. What makes you special?
Internet hosts millions of sites and the number is increasing day by day. What makes your business outstanding? Having a niche product/service will help you in identifying and growing your customer crowd. Surprisingly, simple business such as language translator, grammar tools, connectivity detection tools, Sarawak handicrafts, accessories and cloths are selling like hot cakes. Have you identified yours ?

2. Where is my shop?
You can host your Internet business anywhere. Ebay & Lelong.com provides member storefronts for you to start your "shop". Alternatively, you can even sell your stuff from blogs. Just post your products and services on web! If you want to have a virtual office with hotline number, you can look for various virtual office solutions in town which starts from RM80 per month. If you want something cheaper, leave me a comment and I will share more with you personally.

3. How to collect my money?
Popularised by Maybank, online banking is the fastest and safest way to get paid. Altenatively, you can open a free payment account with Paypal and fetch business from international customers as well.

4. How to promote my business ?
If you do not have spare cash to promote in Google Adwords, Facebook or online newspapers, try the following:

a. 7-11 - There are so many 7-11 shops in town, just post your ads there, you will be surprised about the results.

b. Freebies - Give out some freebies for referrals to your website. Your freebies can be the products that you are selling or simply an RM 20 Starbucks voucher!

c. Forums- Join forums with your website's signature. Be active and get to know friends there. Start with lowyat.net or malaysianbabes.net(if you are targeting ladies)

d. Signature - Design a good signature for yourself, prefebably with some nice graphics. Find good articles online and forward to your friends with your signature. Your friends will help you to forward those.....

e. Blogs - Visit friend's and stranger's blogs. Get your friend who is a frequent blogger to blog for your business.

f. Facebook - Leave comments on your facebook friends' page and start a fan club for your website.

g. Search Engine Optimisation- SEO . This is complicated but can be a good solution which is free of charge, leave me a comment and i will tell you more,:).

h. Youtube - Send your friends interesting Youtube videos related to your product with your website advertisement.

i. Information Collection- Search for info related to your product from the web and filter them.
Publish your findings related to your product on blogs and promote your product there as well.

j. RSS- Keep an RSS subscription for your potential customers to subcribe to your website promotions.

I will share more about my findings in the coming post. Stay tuned!

How to buy GOLD in Malaysia?

It has been a long long time I have not appeared in the blog space. So sorry my dear friends as I am busy lately.

I have been advocating on buying GOLD to safeguard your wealth. I am not saying that you should used up all your wealth to purchase gold. But rather, try to spend 5-10 % of your wealth to buy some GOLD to hedge against economic crisis.

A lot of people are new to GOLD investment and most of the are thinking that you should keep physical gold bars at home. Well, some people might be doing this but I am not. Let me introduce you a simpler and safer way to invest in GOLD.

There are 3 commercial banks in Malaysia that offers gold savings investment. All you need to do is to open an account with them and all your gold savings will be recorded on the savings passbook in gold units (grams). You can open an account with any of the following banks: Maybank, Public Bank or Ambank. Personally, I prefer Public Bank as their spread for buying and selling is much lower than the other 2.

Check out this page and get more information from here.
http://www.pbebank.com/en/en_content/personal/investments/gold.html

For latest GOLD rates, you can refer to
Public Bank Rates
Bank Negara Malaysia or
Gold.org for international gold rates

Have fun!