November 16, 2015, by Noor Syuhada
Discovering the Future of Gen Y in Health Sciences
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) Health Sciences Careers Day had made its comeback! This time, the event entitled “Find Your Path” was held at the Great Hall on the 21st of October 2015. This informative event was proudly organised by the UNMCCareers Advisory Service (CAS) with the collaboration of GTI Media and UNMC Biomedical Sciences Society (BMED). It was designed for sciences students to learn from the insights of different experts in pharmaceutical and community healthcare industries on landing a perfect job.
The event drew in approximately 180 sciences students who registered and it was supported by School of Pharmacy,School of Biomedical Sciences and School of Biosciences – Nutrition.
The highlights of this three-hour talk by four amazing panellists were work experience sharing, Gen Y in health and sciences, and graduate trends, which led to a great exposure for the students to get a grip on the potential career pathways, hiring trends and expectations of the recruiters.
The talk had been heated with the discussion on the employers’ criteria in hiring fresh graduates and also on the job hopping, in which the respectable panellists presented numerous valuable information for the students to get a glimpse on the expectations of the employers.
“I do a lot of interviews,” said Prof. Dr. Cheong Sok Ching, the Head of Oral Cancer Research from Cancer Research Malaysia. “Firstly, I would see whether they are ‘hungry’ for knowledge and experience, and also whether they really want to learn or to make a difference. Secondly, I would want to see interns or employees come in and hit the ground running. The most important thing is the impression that I get from the candidates based on the intuition.”
She also highlighted that the students should have self-respect and try to be competitive to stand out. “You already have half the battle won if you were called for an interview and you just need to show us why you are special”.
Another experienced panellist, Su Tan, the Head of Human Resource and General Admin from Sri Kota Specialist Medical Centre believed that professionalism should be shown through the resume itself. “Professionalism is very important, therefore try to avoid using inappropriate email address because it shows the reflection of yourself.”
HR Associate Director for Zuellig Pharma Malaysia, Daniel Tan, gave insight on the occurrence of job hopping and comfort zones among Gen Y compared to the graduates of yesteryear.
“Somehow, Gen Y tends to job hop often in the first few years of working. There are pros and cons of job hopping. As for me, I would say that job hopping is allowed, however, only within the organization. It is possible for you to enhance your skills and gain various experience from different departments. Nonetheless, the habit of changing jobs often to other companies can affect your career as it gives a bad impression to the recruiters,” Daniel said.
Daniel, who has over 22 years’ experience in the Human Resource industry also added, “Previous days, we have to work so hard to get the job because our parents would not help us. Nowadays, parents can be one of the factors Gen Y would be very comfortable in their comfort zones. They are provided with everything they want by the parents and hence, they do not try to take their own initiatives to be so driven. My advice to Gen Y is to think outside the box and be independent.”
The experts had wrapped up the talk by coming to a similar conclusion that the recruiters or employers will always search for passion, energy, and drive from the fresh graduates, especially Gen Y. In addition, the students were encouraged to explore the diverse possibilities in health sciences and represent themselves well in the future.
The Careers Advisory Service would like to express sincere thanks and appreciation to the Head of School of Pharmacy, Prof. Andrew Morris; Dr. Jonathan Teoh, Dr. Mung Seng Kan and Dr. Susan Azam-Ali from the Faculty of Science for their involvement in the execution of the event.
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