Top Recruiters and Industry Leaders Shared Career Tips at Sunway University Career Conference 2013

Bandar Sunway, Sept 19 ~ Johan Mahmood Merican, Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia, officiated the Sunway University’s inaugural Career Conference 2013 in partnership with Talent Corporation Malaysia recently.

The event attracted over 250 graduates and graduating students from local and overseas universities such as Sunway University, Monash University, Nottingham University, London School of Economics, University of London, International Medical University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, SEGi University, Taylor’s University, University Kuala Lumpur, Multimedia University and Universiti Tenaga Malaysia.

The two-day conference on 18 and 19 September was packed with insights from top industry leaders and recruiters who empowered graduates and graduating students with the necessary network and knowledge to pursue their best career paths.

“Sunway University organised this Career Conference to give each and every one here the opportunity to succeed in their future careers. The purpose of this conference is to help the participants understand what tools, what skills, what abilities they will need to not just survive in the workplace, but to excel in it. To arm themselves with wisdom not from a theoretical textbook but real world advice from people who have been there and done that”, said Ms Elizabeth Lee, Senior Executive Director, Sunway University and Sunway Education Group.

Quoting the results of the marshmallow experiment conducted by Stanford University in the early 1970’s, Johan Merican said in his opening speech that, 'The ability to delay gratification is the key to a successful future.' He later did a simple test on the participants to bring home his point that individuals must also hold on to their values and sense of fairness in the future when one pursues his or her career.

The Conference kicked-off with a Master Class by the CEO of Leaderonomics, Roshan Thiran. He first shared his story on “My painful Leadership Journey” before speaking on his understanding of leadership and how important ‘Learning’ is in building leadership abilities.

After lunch break, Unilever conducted a ‘live’ project where participants experienced working first-hand on a real-life corporate project. In the exercise, participants were required to provide creative solutions for the brand at hand while thinking on their feet.

During the HR Specialist Dialogue, the panel of speakers from top recruiters such as Shell, CIMB, GE Malaysia and Sunway Group shared their key insights on what recruiters today are looking for when hiring talent. The dialogue also allowed participants to voice their concerns and raise questions on employment.

Day two of the Conference returned with three empowering sessions. It started with the ‘CEO Breakfast Special’ and the panel of speakers were Sajith Sivanandan, CEO of Google Malaysia; Sridharan Nair, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia; and Malek Ali, CEO of BFM 89.9. They touched on how both Gen Y and Gen X could leverage and learn from each other in the context of career leadership.

A workshop on “My Ideal Workplace” with the myStarjobs.com followed after that. It was a unique interactive session where participants expressed their thoughts and ideas of what they would like at their workplace. The feedback from this session will then be compiled and published in a special edition of myStarjobs.com pull-out.

YAM Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin, Founding President of The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affiars (IDEAS); Joyce Tagal, Alumni Lead of Teach For Malaysia; and Jin Lim, Hitz FM DJ and filmmaker for Jinnyboy TV; representing young leaders who have each set up their respective ventures then set the stage for the inspirational segment, “Young Malaysian Heroes”.

Representatives from the country’s industry leaders and top recruiters, including Shell, CIMB, GE Malaysia, Google Malaysia, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Unilever were present to engage with the participants too.

Lastly, Talent Corporation Malaysia shared employability trends in Malaysia, and the Conference closed with a networking session followed by a certificate presentation to all the participants.