PDW RELFECTION

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Oct 16th, 2023 -  Oct 20th, 2023 (Week 8)
Rusydina Fazlin Athirah Binti Fauzi
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK
Week 13 [Nov 19, 2023]
PDW REFLECTION

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PDW OCT'23 - Class Briefing

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Professional Development Week

Week 8

PDW WEEK (W8) - Self-Reflection Report 

November 19th, 2023 (Writing in w13)

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Professional Development Week was a 1-week event where workshops from various companies, NGOs as well and freelancing teams come together for the week to enlighten and engage with final-year students or students that are early and/or mid into their semester years, assisting them in their next and upcoming steps looking for jobs or to start out their life as fresh graduates. The workshops provided tips, tricks, and advice on many aspects of managing themselves as a graduating student, in terms of financial literacy, professional setups for job applications, and an in-depth of seeking job vacancies based on your graduated profession from your university program.

Workshops that I attended:

1. Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduate by ALLIANZ (Ms. Gloria Swee)

2. KEYNOTE: Career Readiness & Employability Success: 10 Quick Top Tips That Will Help Graduates Get Hired by MBSB BANK

3. Succeeding in a Multi-Role Creative Media Industry by WSVS STUDIO

4. Best Practices in LinkedIn & Professional Online Etiquette” by PwC

5. Careers of the Head, Hand & Heart” by MAKE-A-WISH MALAYSIA

6. Entrepreneurship in F&B, Restaurant & Catering Industry” by D'TANDOOR RESTAURANTS

As a matter of fact, I had the privilege to participate in this PDW program for the second time since I already did back in May of 2023 during my minor intake. So to start off my reflection, I take into consideration of thought on Taylor’s University's efforts to get in contact with various companies and people who are willing to give their time and compassion throughout the whole week from the number of companies participating in the workshop to benefit students in educating and letting in on helpful information for final year students for the future, which I happen to be for the last time, this time.

I will be giving my honest experience and how I happen to reflect my investment in attending these day-by-day workshops during the professional development week. Starting off with the regulations of this one-week workshop event, students are meant to complete 6 learning hours by attending these workshops, meaning each workshop that I registered under and attended would mark up to an hour of learning hour. There were already 4 workshops that students were compulsory to attend and register for leaving me with 2 more workshops to register tickets for, which I did to fill up the remaining workshops throughout the week.

When choosing which workshop I wanted to attend, I really dug down into myself to understand whether these talk titles would benefit my decisions and compassion after I graduated. I will be sharing my experiences in the workshops that impacted me the most.

The four compulsory workshops that I attended during the professional development week, were 4 of the names listed down below:

1. Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduate by ALLIANZ (Ms. Gloria Swee)

2. KEYNOTE: Career Readiness & Employability Success: 10 Quick Top Tips That Will Help Graduates Get Hired by MBSB BANK

3. Succeeding in a Multi-Role Creative Media Industry by WSVS STUDIO

4. Best Practices in LinkedIn & Professional Online Etiquette” by PwC

While the rest were chosen to fill in the extra 2 learning hours. Anyway, let’s begin with the first workshop I attended and sat through the talk for th first day.

ALLIANZ: 

The workshop touched on the topics of financial literacy for fresh graduates, which was passionately conveyed by the speaker MS. Gloria Swee. From my experience, she touched topics on 

• Budgeting

• Understanding Loans and Debts

• Saving and Investing

• Insurance

• Financial Goal setting

-and honestly, the list goes on and on when it comes to being smart and wit about the way we spend, invest, and manage our financials, especially as a soon-to-be fresh graduate. What I learned and what I was able to pick up from the talk is that finance and learning how to manage it is insanely important and having that knowledge to do so, even a pinch of information would do good for an individual in the long run. This is exactly why this workshop was compulsory to attend and to have listened to the information given out so freely. 

Other than that, I understand that financial literacy will be something of our continuous knowledge, it is an ongoing process through the years even as a fresh graduate. But considering the idea of committing to continuous learning and staying up to date on personal finance topics to make informed financial decisions throughout our lives is just as crucial.

MBSB BANK (KEYNOTE):

The next workshop I attended was a talk by the MBSB Bank. The speaker gave quite the aspiring talk as he presented and gave insights about the responsibilities carried out by the government agency that is one of many banks in Malaysia; MBSB Bank, it covers and touches on topics as well as sub-topics that engage an individual especially fresh graduates for this matter to be ready and prepared for their future careers and manage to pull through employability successes.

There was much emphasis on the primary objective of our missions as fresh graduates to position and harness investment destinations for multinational corporations as they seek to establish regional headquarters, offices, or global business services to help their investors. In simpler words, understand the type of career we aim for once we finish university, and understand the way these careers and organizations employ individuals. The privilege to receive offers of information and insights on investment with relevant government agencies and business networks and provide support throughout the investment process was truly good beneficial information for final-year students. 

Hundreds of students registered and attended this talk, to open up opportunities for fresh graduates that have interests or compassion in economics, to provide a better economy for Kuala Lumpur or as a whole of Malaysia.

I’m not too keen on economics or much on the corporate talk, although it was rather intriguing to listen in on how government agencies manage the economic systems and flows in Malaysia, as well as ways of opening up opportunities for jobs within that domain.

Succeeding in a Multi-Role Creative Media Industry by WSVS STUDIO

The third compulsory workshop that I attended had its benefits in enlightenment as well as how appalling the title of the talk is, the speaker that gave the talk was a producer and he shared quite the talk about fresh graduates starting off their careers in content creating with the chances of being their works being noticed or recognized, leading up to a stable income or join an industry right after being fresh from graduating University but what would it all mean if its something fresh graduates end up not finding their passion in it.

Genuinely something I tend to ask myself a lot of the time too, from the talk that was given I was able to understand that temptation and dream of creating my own content and becoming recognizable for my work one day, earning the income enough to feed 4 mouths back at home, me and my four cats. Creating content comes in various domains, there are categories for starting out and creating your content to end up being recognized for your work. It could start with influencers, then we move into documentaries, and lastly entertainment. Except all content is entertainment. But it comes in various forms, budgets, and somewhat in terms of professionalism.

To live that dream of a content creator or to be a producer which was a heavy topic in the talk that was given, I remember understanding that going out into the world and finding the same things as other individuals aligns with the work you create; for say a producer would put a lot of recognition on yourself toward your team, if you are a fan of being IN a team. Something that caught my attention that was mentioned by the speaker is how at times when a content creator knows enough and a lot to create their work it isn't wrong to put a team effort into your ideas, which directs the path of producers into this picture, something I really felt and thought a lot for.

Having multiple roles within a creative media industry is quite a critical thing that's put upon designers, content creators, and a lot that are skilled or talented with ideas, from my understanding of it.

Best Practices in LinkedIn & Professional Online Etiquette” by PwC:

In the final compulsory workshop, PwC enlightened us students on the wonders of LinkedIn, an application or

website or lack of better terms a platform for fresh graduates or any kind of individual to conveniently search

through job vacancies and sooner be an applicant to the jobs they are interested in taking up or are accepted by

the hiring process.

There were multiple useful tips and enlightenments for students on the things that LinkedIn can provide for fresh

graduates that we may never even realize existed within and about the platform. From what I interpreted, there

were several things that Mr. Liew covered when elaborating on the finer details that are LinkedIn, for example:

• Professional Networking

• Job and Street Recruitment

• Personal Branding

• Knowledge Sharing and Thought Leadership

• Professional Development

• Etc…

The insights that were provided gave a sign of wonder and it simply sparked the engagement and persistence within

a final-year student who will soon be a fresh graduate hoping to be able to get by, put food on the table, pay the

bills, and so on. With a drive and ways of navigating LinkedIn, the possibilities are practically endless.

Therefore, knowing how to professionally display yourself online with the proper etiquette was important and

beneficial from the talk that was given to us as well.

Careers of the Head, Hand & Heart” by MAKE-A-WISH MALAYSIA

The fifth workshop during my professional development week had me delve into a topic I never knew I’d be quite invested in listening to which was a talk about how these people that I'm familiar with only through the US has its place in Malaysia, how passionate they are in fulfilling the dreams in these children's lives in Malaysia. 

Ms. Qyaliessa one of the Wish managers of MAKE-A-WISH Malaysia, shared her experiences of helping these children with critical illnesses make their wishes in Malaysia, telling their stories for them, and when it comes to engaging with the children and their families it tends to touch the hearts of thousands, least that’s what I understand from the particular term.

It touched my heart to know, that something so familiar and as big of an organization in the US has its mark in Malaysia and making its difference all around just like the other hardworking organizations that assist children, troubled families, and people in their golden ages, and many more.

Entrepreneurship in F&B, Restaurant & Catering Industry” by D'TANDOOR RESTAURANTS:

Finally, the 6th workshop that grabbed my attention during the week-long PDW was a talk by Datuk Abdul Malik,

the Managing Director and Franchisor of D'Tandoor Food Industries Group where he shared his identity as a

managing director of D'Tandoor Restaurants and franchisor who specializes in entrepreneurship in F&B,

Restaurant & Catering Industry.

The reason why I decided to give this workshop a shot is that I have a few close associations with the world of

F&B and I wanted to know a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes through multiple perspectives.

So what better way to do so is through this opportunity of a workshop covering said topic?

Throughout the talk, it was a little hard to get really hooked in my honest opinion since I am not very well versed,

and the whole F&B association that suddenly stumbled into my somewhat daily life was not planned. But over time

I was still thankful enough to know a few things that could help in expanding the way I perceive entrepreneurship

in the domain of F&B, restaurants, and the catering industries.