I met this amazing guy Alvin Chia,
when I was at Bangkok, Thailan. Who is Strategic Planning &
Marketing Manager at Weatherford. There are things we, as young
engineers, can learn from professionals already working in Oil Industry.
With an impressive background and countless achievements under his belt, what can this guy teach us? What lessons can we get from him that we can apply in our engineering careers?
I talked with him about a lot of things like, Current Scenario of Oil and Gas Industry, Job Market, and Online Marketing but here are some advises. Quite possibly the best advises. I’ve ever heard about selecting the career, that literally changed the way I used to think about the Recruiting Process.
Sir... I was about to say other words, but he stopped me by saying, don't call me sir, My name is Alvin, you can call me that (with a smile).
Okay Alvin! I've just graduated what would you suggest me to do? Something, maybe I don't know.
Alvin: Ahhhh! Well, Don't look for salary, or maybe company, look for a boss, you're about to make the biggest choice of your life. Do yourself a favor choose a good boss. By focusing on who your boss will be above most other criteria (e.g. total compensation, responsibility, advancement opportunities, location) changes how you pursue jobs and how happy you’ll be once you select one.
Me: but Alvin this is challenging because the process we use to find the work is designed to work the opposite way; the boss picks us and you only get to talk to your boss during the interview process, how can one predict? what he/she will actually be like?
Alvin: There is where the Internet and Social Media comes my brother. Do research, find out who is interviewing you rather than finding how much they're going to pay.
Me: Would you tell me why graduates fail to get a nice job? Even when they're deserving? Where do things go wrong?
Alvin: I'm not an expert on that but I'd tell you what I do myself and it has worked for me yet. I never apply online. What's even a point to apply online? They get Resumes daily like, 30 or more. I go by myself and hand it over to the HR or Manager myself.
Me: Why not applying online? Does it makes a difference?
Alvin: They only see your CV for like, 6-10 seconds. If you're applying online that will only put your application into a Black Hole, and that is the worst place for it to be.Use online platforms, like, LinkedIn. To find job openings but don’t apply for those jobs directly through them. If you can't visit them then call them, make sure they know you with your name. Make sure your CV is attractive
Me: Okay One last question. You said something about "making your CV attractive" How to do that?
Alvin: First of all go through the formal CV patterns, don't make it too short and don't make it too long. They don't have the time to go through all the details. Make sure the whole stuff is on one page. Just include the most important things they wanna see, it means it shouldn't be irrelevant. Try to give a slightly change to your CV everytime you for a job. Print it on a good quality paper. So, If I'm the manager, I won't throw that paper away, because it looks so good. So I'm just gonna put it somewhere in my drawer or desk. So, even if they aren't selecting me for the job but still I'd be somewhere on the desk. That's gonna give me another chance for the future opportunities. Maybe they'll consider my application at that time.
I've learned a lot from this 2 minutes conversation with Alvin Chia. I hope you got something to learn from his experience. I couldn’t be more excited about the future after meeting him.
With an impressive background and countless achievements under his belt, what can this guy teach us? What lessons can we get from him that we can apply in our engineering careers?
I talked with him about a lot of things like, Current Scenario of Oil and Gas Industry, Job Market, and Online Marketing but here are some advises. Quite possibly the best advises. I’ve ever heard about selecting the career, that literally changed the way I used to think about the Recruiting Process.
Sir... I was about to say other words, but he stopped me by saying, don't call me sir, My name is Alvin, you can call me that (with a smile).
Okay Alvin! I've just graduated what would you suggest me to do? Something, maybe I don't know.
Alvin: Ahhhh! Well, Don't look for salary, or maybe company, look for a boss, you're about to make the biggest choice of your life. Do yourself a favor choose a good boss. By focusing on who your boss will be above most other criteria (e.g. total compensation, responsibility, advancement opportunities, location) changes how you pursue jobs and how happy you’ll be once you select one.
Me: but Alvin this is challenging because the process we use to find the work is designed to work the opposite way; the boss picks us and you only get to talk to your boss during the interview process, how can one predict? what he/she will actually be like?
Alvin: There is where the Internet and Social Media comes my brother. Do research, find out who is interviewing you rather than finding how much they're going to pay.
Me: Would you tell me why graduates fail to get a nice job? Even when they're deserving? Where do things go wrong?
Alvin: I'm not an expert on that but I'd tell you what I do myself and it has worked for me yet. I never apply online. What's even a point to apply online? They get Resumes daily like, 30 or more. I go by myself and hand it over to the HR or Manager myself.
Me: Why not applying online? Does it makes a difference?
Alvin: They only see your CV for like, 6-10 seconds. If you're applying online that will only put your application into a Black Hole, and that is the worst place for it to be.Use online platforms, like, LinkedIn. To find job openings but don’t apply for those jobs directly through them. If you can't visit them then call them, make sure they know you with your name. Make sure your CV is attractive
Me: Okay One last question. You said something about "making your CV attractive" How to do that?
Alvin: First of all go through the formal CV patterns, don't make it too short and don't make it too long. They don't have the time to go through all the details. Make sure the whole stuff is on one page. Just include the most important things they wanna see, it means it shouldn't be irrelevant. Try to give a slightly change to your CV everytime you for a job. Print it on a good quality paper. So, If I'm the manager, I won't throw that paper away, because it looks so good. So I'm just gonna put it somewhere in my drawer or desk. So, even if they aren't selecting me for the job but still I'd be somewhere on the desk. That's gonna give me another chance for the future opportunities. Maybe they'll consider my application at that time.
I've learned a lot from this 2 minutes conversation with Alvin Chia. I hope you got something to learn from his experience. I couldn’t be more excited about the future after meeting him.
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