A Thousand Years

The Moorish styled lights in Dubai

This would be my third post in this year, exactly after I've completed my second semester in IMU. To be honest, till this very moment, I still can't buy the idea of studying in this university. As I've always mentioned, they one and only thing that I'm happy while studying in this place is the people around me. They are the ones that brighten up my life. There are the jokers, the helpful bunch, the motivators and so much more that keep me happy. Well, its no point going into details how the university is, neither I have the time and energy to spell it out one by one. It is just too many to be described, and some are just beyond describable (the bad way, of course). So kids, if you ever thought of joining, please I beg you to apply to any other medical schools like Perdana University or best still, universities overseas.

Life's short, we should make full use of it. 

Time really flies in this semester. I would say this semester is really a hell for me, owing to the fact that I spent almost half a semester preparing for IMU Cup and freshers orientation. The highlight of IMU Cup is me being a cheerleader, it was an amazing experience. I never regretted being a cheerleader, training almost everyday in the evening. As for the freshers orientation, well, it was OKAY for me, partly because IMU Cup has already started during the orientation. 

Alright, cheerleading. It is the best part of the 2 months long IMU Cup. I didn't join this event just because my friends joined or whatsoever, it's not me. I really wanted to try all sorts of stuff out in my uni years, before stepping out into the real world. It was a great experience. Although it is the toughest time of the year, juggling between studies, lectures and training, I enjoyed it a lot. For at least that two months, my life revolves around studies and training. There weren't any social life for me, I skipped all the birthday gatherings, catch ups with friends just to make sure I excel in both fields. It wasn't the most pleasant time of my life. Frankly speaking, at several points, I felt like giving up both but the amazing people I met in cheer kept me striving harder and moving forward. That's what we call great friends.

All our hard work really paid off when we were crowned the champion for the cheerleading event. The moment cannot even be described just by words. The flood gates for the tears of joy in some of us just can't hold back anymore, streams and streams of tears started flowing like waterfall. Some of us were in disbelieve, asking " is this for real?" I guess we were so ecstatic that we forgot we were supposed to get down of the stage.

Enough for now, got to get myself prepared for the upcoming trips. Signing off.  

Six months down the road.

It has been six months since I started my life as a medical student in IMU. Well, honestly speaking, I wasn't really pleased. It wasn't my choice to go IMU, but somehow, I was forced to go IMU. I didn't go down well with the idea initially, but my hands were tied at that time. I really regretted why I didn't I take up the offer by University of New South Wales.

Six months down the road, I've seen how poorly IMU is managed. Lets start with my admission process. Firstly, IMU got my offer letter wrong, not once, but twice. Offer letter is the single most important document to a student, besides the certificate of graduation. I was offered to a wrong course. To make things worse, someone from the Admission Department phoned me up months later to ask why didn't I submit certain documents, which I have submitted earlier. Apparently they lost the documents that I have submitted in and tried to put the blame on me.

Well, that's the admission part. When I started classes and upon some comparisons with friends from other medical schools, I was pretty shocked with IMU's teaching-learning modules. I would say out of all the learning modules, only two are aided by lecturers, and the others are just on your own will. Apparently again, IMU said this is the most effective way of learning. I now see why IMU has marketed that way, because lecturer's payroll should be the largest expenditure in IMU's account. But hey, I'm not paying a small sum of money too!

So now, we speak of the lectures, which is the most value for money learning module that we have got. Although yes, most of the lecturers are experts in the content, but they simply are not expert in teaching. Firstly, they are not trained how to use powerpoint effectively. They often either chuck everything into one slide, or there is simply no sequence in the slides, which totally defeats the purpose of having powerpoint. It was a struggle for me to comprehend those powerpoint slides. Secondly, time management is something some lecturers lack of. Lecturers can cancel the morning lecture, by putting a simple reason saying he/she overslept. Where is your professionalism? Otherwise, they would drag the lecture on for another 10 or 15 minutes, which quarter of the lecture is not related to the topic concerned.

Carrying on with cancellation of classes, the Academic Affairs Department will keep you in the dark for the entire semester when it would be replaced again and only let you know the day before it, that the class would be replaced the next day. I was irked by how the way they handle all these class cancellations. To make things worse, when you try to ask the lecturers for replacement of certain cancelled sessions, they fault you for not going to other sessions. Come on, we are just asking what we are entitled for, not anything extra. What is it so hard for you to just go there, sit down and let the students to see you? Are you that busy that you don't have time for your students? Again, where is your professionalism? We might be at fault for not attending other sessions, but please if you want to scold us, please get us a room and scold us there, not somewhere so public. In addition to that, DO NOT POINT THE FINGER AT US WHEN YOU'RE SCOLDING US. You are a lecturer, not hooligan. It was so humiliating when everyone was looking at me, when I'm not wrong at all. I'm just asking what I'm entitled.

I'm stopping here as of now, I guess there is a long list of things that could be included here but it's way to long for a blog post. I guess I will stop here for now.

Driving in Malaysia for Dummies

It is amazing to see how Malaysian drivers are. Generally speaking most of the drivers are OK, but there is a little fraction of drivers that create havoc in Malaysia's road. Hence, if you are a newbie or have not driven on Malaysian roads, these are the general rules that some Malaysians follow.

Traffic Light

Have you ever wondered what is the meaning of blinking green? Green light means go, blinking green means go faster and amber means go as fast as you can. It can be observed in most major roads, most of the time of the day.

No Parking/No Stopping

It is common to see the both sides of the road are painted with single or double yellow line, but what does that mean?

Here are the answers to it. If you see a single yellow line, it means parking is allowed. If you see double yellow line, it means double parking is allowed. Then you would ask, what about triple parking? Oh right, triple parking or quadruple parking is allowed when you see double yellow lines.

Random Police Checks

Malaysians, are nature lovers. We protect our environment so well that our police spend lots of time protecting trees along major roads. Police can be usually seen protecting these trees and enjoy communicating via its walkie talkie. Watch out for these nature loving police, check out what lies ahead.

Emergency Lane

Most of the highways in Malaysia are so well designed that we have a lane dedicated for emergency use. If you came across any emergency, e.g. late for meeting, did not turn off the gas stove, please use the emergency lane, at even higher speed.

Indicator Lights

If you wish to change lane, you are not legally obligated to flick your indicator lights. Just change your lane as you wish. If it feels better to turn on your indicator light, do it while you are changing your lane as turning indicator lights on before changing lane means something else. Turning on your indicator light before you switch lane means please fill up the gap.

Yellow Box

Yellow box or box junction in Malaysia carries a different meaning depending on traffic condition. If the road is highly congested, yellow box is the waiting area before the traffic ahead moves. Otherwise, the normal yellow box rule applies.

-To Be Continued-

Stupidity

Emirates Business Class.

Application goes on.

Hey, now I know some people are seriously lousy in making up stories. Throughout my tenure in the recruitment division, I have heard thousands of lies and if I were to list it out one by one, I think I need a few days to compile everything.

Some of them are just so lousy that a person like me, who is pretty gullible would detect the loopholes in their lies. To be honest, I like people who are honest and direct to me, and not making up some stupid dumb stories.

I remember there was once, when I phoned up someone to ask why this particular person did not attend the interview. The person was in panic, I know because he doesn't know what to answer. I guess he randomly made up some stories and told me :

I'm not X, I'm his brother and my brother was admitted to hospital while on the way to your office because he met an accident.

I believed in that guy at first, because he sounded so real. But somehow, the later part of the conversation sold him off.

So I asked : So how is your brother now? and he answered :

It is quite serious. He's currently in the hospital now, still not awake. But my brother told me he is still interested in the job. I will call you back.

I was thinking, if it is so serious, your brother wouldn't even be able to tell you he is still interested. To make matter worse, he said I call you back. It doesn't make any sense right?

So I said : Oh okay, hope that your brother get well soon and I look forward for YOUR call.

--

It was somewhere around mid November, a pretty sunny day. Again, someone did not turn up for an interview. It's a she this time, falls in the majority group. I was extremely irritated by this girl.

The reply for not attending the interview was that she fell sick, so she need to rest. Over here it might sound real and you might believed it. However, this girl is so stupid to give me such reason where I can hear giggles and laughters from the background, I presume is some eateries.

Maybe she really need a total brain transplant and she is a perfect choice to define Stupidity.

--

Signing off.

Insights of HR Department

Venice, The Doges Palace - 2010

-Continued-

So we have interviewed some people, and the application processes goes on internally.

Seriously I do not know how some people think, respectfully, the 65% majority. Promoting themselves as outgoing, interactive and able to take up responsibilities in their resumes, I don't even see any of them from them. I am not going to put a blanket on the entire 65%, but the true fact is that most of them are not as what they have described in their resume. You would expect one university graduate to speak, at least fluent, understandable English with occasional errors. I now know why public universities in Malaysia never be able to make into World's Top 50 or even 100. How would you expect public universities in Malaysia to produce quality graduates when the graduates are sub-par graduates.

Once I heard, that graduates from local universities have entirely no problem looking for a job, and employment rate of these graduates are almost 100%. Indeed, this might seem to be a good news to both the country and the university, but upon researching further, you realise it is not the case. Companies sometimes says, that they have no choice but to take these graduates and provide them with further trainings, before they can join the company. Imagine the additional costs incurred by the company to train these candidates. In summary, companies have no choice but to take these below par graduates, and they are hired not because they are capable, but because there are no better choice in the pool of graduates.

So this is what happens most of the time if you encounter such sub-par graduates :

"You are having a conversation with graduate X in English, but graduate X replies in other language and this graduate assumes you understand it. The conversation proceeds and graduate X finds it difficult to cope and reply in English, without hesitation, graduate X tells you WAIT AH! conveniently and hangs up the phone."

This is what happens most of the time if you call a graduate, offering them a job.

There are two distinct group of graduates present currently in our society, the low self-esteemed, and the group that looks highly upon themselves. The earlier description was for the low and now comes the arrogant ones. It is always reasonable to have an expected salary in mind, you and I do have that as well.

What irks me, when you are making an offer to a graduate, regardless of local or foreign university, they turns down your offer because the salary of the job you are offering is half or even three quarters of what they are expecting. I was once told, that lecturers in local university T often tell their students that they are WORTH RM 2,800 or even RM 3,000 per month. Come on dear lecturers, your students are fresh graduates with no working experience or barely a few months of working experience, how would you expect an employer to offer your students RM2,800 per month? I do not rule out the possibility that there are employers that offer that, but majority don't. RM 3,000.00 is considered as high income range as per stipulated by Malaysian government as of 2011.

Some are worst, they often tell you that they are graduates from so and so University in UK or Australia. SO WHAT? Unless you are extremely brilliant, or else you are just as bad as some graduates I mentioned earlier.

-To be continued -

Three Kinds of People.

Hong Kong 2010, with my amazing friends.

When I was young, I was told that I would be able to see the real world only after I start working. I thought I have seen enough, hence I never believe in that. Now, I will be telling the younger ones, that you would only be able to see the real world after you start working.

I decided to take up a job after rotting at home for about three months. After some searching and contemplating, I made up my mind to work in one of the biggest contact centers in Asia, based in KL, as a recruitment associate.

The job itself is not hard, because the responsibilities you have are not that many. It might sound easy and relaxing, but the true fact is that you are working in one of the most demanding department in any corporation - the Human Resources Department. It is horrible.

Let's skip the existing staff part and jump to the massive recruitment drives that the contact center has. Since young, I'm pretty sure that each of us are taught to take interviews seriously and be punctual for interviews and I thought the same too. I assume that each of us takes it so seriously that people would not want to miss it, or even be late for it. After working for just one week, I beg to differ.

Speaking of taking interviews seriously, you will meet three kinds of people. I am not going to go further on who are they, but lets name it A (65%), B(26%) and C (7%) . The As would sound extremely enthusiastic about your job offer and ask you instantly "Interview, when?" over the phone. The Bs would at least pause momentarily and think, and usually you will get this reply "Would you mind sending me some further details to my email?" and you never get replies from them. Well, for Cs, you have a good mix of the As and the Bs, so it balances off.

So everything went on smoothly till the interview day, 30% of the As would actually turn up and the remainder will not. Going further, out of the 70%, 60% would actually prefer to be absent and not telling you, perhaps to keep you waiting, like creating some suspense over it. The 10% would usually either email you or call you and inform you, like half an hour before the interview and inform you that they have :

1. Personal Problems

2. Emergency

3. Motorcycle/Car broke down

4. Aunty passed away

5. Grandparents passed away

6. Back to hometown due to problems

7. Combination of the above, like having an emergency due to personal problems.

*They really have loads of problems, I wonder why.

The Bs will usually turn up after scheduling them for interview, but for those who never turn up, they will inform you and tell you:

1. I have better offer

2. Personal Problems

3. Someone offered me 100 bucks extra

4. I'm interested but salary too low (Which literally means you are not interested -.-)

*They think they are so great that everyone is fighting for them and pay them sky high salary.

The Cs will usually tell you that they would be coming, even you gave them a call like 2 hours before interview to remind them that there is an interview. They will add in nice things like

1. Thank you for giving me this opportunity

2. I'm so glad you called me up

3. Thanks for the reminder

4. I'll be there right on time

After confirming attendances, the Cs will not turn up for the interview. When you do a follow up, you will get reasons similar to the As.

*The group that gives you false hope the most.

-To be continued. -

Journey

Singapore Airlines Business Class.

It's September people. To all, it might be just another ordinary month, but to the Brits, it is a new academic year. In some ways, it is still related to me as most of my friends are leaving for their future education in the United Kingdom.

To all my friends who will be leaving soon or have left, all the best. There is something that I will never forget, the friendship that we've forged over the years. It doesn't matter if it is just a few days old or a few years long.

What matters most is the journey we have been through. The ups and downs of life that we've shared and the joy and laughter we had. It is hard to come by a friend who is willing to listen to you diligently when you are down or to share your achievements and not be jealous of what you have achieved. That is what we call true friend. They are the ones that you should cherish, not those who chose to turn 360 degrees after several disagreements.

Specially to all my friends in the United Kingdom, time zone is never an issue. We can still keep in touch via so many channels. We've got email, Facebook, twitter, Myspace, MSN and the list goes on. (Look Victor! We've got so many choices).

Finally, I wish everyone leaving well and all the best in your future endeavours. God bless.