Liberate Your Career

Finally, we are coming to the final month of the year 2018. Are you feeling excited? relieved? Anxious about what will come next? Change is definitely in the air, whether it’s on a personal level, on a collective consciousness level, on the technological breakthrough level, or on the global economy level. We are all preparing, in…

What do you do when you come across an inspiring piece of writing or video online? You Google that person‘s name. That‘s it. Then, when you Google your own name, what do you get? Here‘s Come Your Personal Branding 101 – Owning Your Online Presence! 1.Claim the Domain of Your Name I mean – what?…

Black Friday is coming! Have you started researching the best offers in town, reading every holiday gift guide you can found, and preparing your to-buy list? Although I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, in Asia we’ve just experienced a HUGE online shopping event on 11 Nov. So I get it – the entire sales season feels like…

Reading your old diaries and writings could be an embarrassing experience when you tap into the brain of a more naive version of you. What bothered you when you were 10 years younger? How did you find the solution back then? Do these issues and struggles keep coming back to your current life? Why?   As I’m…

A Month for Recalibration! As we are approaching the end of the year, I’m sure many of you are working on tying up loose ends, and getting yourself ready for a brand new start! For many, 2018 is a year of BREAKTHROUGH – earth-shaking, chaotic, lots of deep lessons learnt, and the uncovery of new strengths in…

Good Enough vs Perfectionism? How many times have you abandoned a work-in-progress project, because you think it is not good enough…yet? How many email drafts sit in your mailbox after endless polishing and still never get sent? When was the last time you took a selfie ONCE and post it on Instagram immediately without editing?…

What Is Money Anyway? A Quick Money Mindset Discussion When we talk about career freedom and happiness, money plays a big role in it. Yet, money topics are so seldomly discussed other than from the Personal Finance angle. If we see this from a broader sense of how money flows around the world and throughout our everyday...

Can We Invoke FUN Into Our Work? Happy August! How’s your summer going? I really miss my summer holidays back in the school days – the fun and openness for having the free time to explore, to travel, and to do something different. Are you able to initiate a relaxing summer holiday for yourself this…

Happy July! We’ve been half-way through 2018, how has it been for you? For me, I would use Disruptive to describe what I’ve been through in the past 6 months. Course-correcting in the sense that I have too many ideas to implement that on some days that I don’t know what exactly I’m doing, and where exactly I’m heading lol…

Do You Choose your Soul Purpose Or It Chooses You? Last Sunday I met with Jane again, my 1st ever coaching client, over a coffee chat. It was 3 years ago in May when we first met. Back then I was still the Career Advisor at a University, and I was giving job hunting advice…

A Written Guide For Multi-Passionates by a Recovering Procrastinator Monthly Career Mini-Guide Series – August 18     Answer me first – Do you have more than ONE browser tabs opened right now? How many? 9? 17? 23? 52??? Same here! And there is nothing wrong with it  In fact, almost everyone has some ADD…

Emotions have potent power. Whether you label them as “positive” emotions or “negative” ones, they are there for a reason. Most people (including myself) tend to suppress or repress the so-called “negative” emotions over the years, and reject to acknowledge that they are indeed part of who we are as human beings. We are not robots nor…

When Silence Is Not Golden “Speak up for yourself; Because if you don’t, no one would.” Growing up, have you ever wonder why we need to adhere the social standards to be a “good girl” or “good boy”? For kids, “being good” usually means being obedient to authorities, peace-loving, nice and friendly to others, polite, attentive, having…

Life is very much like building a castle with legos; we work hard, take one step at a time, and build things up towards your goals. Earlier in life, you might think a castle will eventually make you happy. But mid-way through it, you realise that what you really want is a cottage house by…

Clarity is becoming a buzzword nowadays; To me, it means being able seeing things exactly as they are in essence. When the water in a pond is clear, you can see the stones (maybe jewels) underneath. When the water is muddy, however, all you can see is the muddy water! Most people who stay stuck…

  There are many courageous people out there, wandering aimlessly like a Roomba vacuuming robot, trying to find the right career/life path for them using a “trial and error” method. There are EVEN more people who have been saying “I’ll quit!” or complain about life for 6 months more and still not doing anything about…

Do you really know WHERE exactly you are heading to with CLARITY? Clarity is becoming a buzzword nowadays; To me, it means being able seeing things exactly as they are in essence. When the water in a pond is clear, you can see the stones (maybe jewels) underneath. When the water is muddy, however, all you…

I get it. You hate your job. You know what? Actually, you are one of the majority. — According to Gallup’s latest  2017 State of the Global Workplace, 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged or are actively disengaged in their job. The figures for East Asian cities are even worse. But taking the leap to…

  Multipotentialite Renaissance Soul? Or in other words, do you have many interests and creative pursuits and do not want to be pinned down to one job? Maybe you are not having ADHD in your career choices; rather, you just would not have “one true calling” the way specialists do. There is nothing wrong with…

If you type “free resume templates” in google, there could be over 90k results return. However how many of these templates are tested to be effective in getting you job interviews? Moreover, we all have different career strengths and situations, how to choose a resume format that best fit my current situation and highlights my…

The “Pre-Birthday Depression” Syndromes My birthday is in August. So every year during summer when I officially get one year older, I would have a sudden surge of panic to make a checklist, and measure my life and see if I’m “on track”. It is the kind of feeling that we know our youth won’t…

We, humans, make decisions based on 2 directions: Either to MOVE AWAY from something we don’t want or to MOVE TOWARDS things we desire. When it comes to making a career decision, what is/are your trigger (s)?   Love this post? Share to your friends and subscribe below to get the latest Career Insights direct…

“Speak up for yourself; Because if you don’t, no one would!” Growing up, have you ever wonder why we need to adhere the social standards to be a “good girl” or “good boy”? For kids, “be good” usually means being obedient to authorities, peace-loving, having good manners etc. I recalled vividly a day in school when I…

  Are You In The Wrong Career, Or Simple Burnt Out? Job Frustration of the young, aspiring professionals Time flies. It’s graduation season again and when you see college students on the street, you feel like you are getting old faster than you think. Your colleges days seem like a nostalgia of the “good old days”. It…

"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use." ~Steve Jobs Very motivating right? When we are working our way up trying to make an impact on...

How to Leverage Linkedin Research in Your Next Job Application Before applying for any job position, do you google the company and see if it fits your interest and competencies? Most people do. To stand out from the crowd, conducting an in-depth company research will strategically help take your Career Marketing to the next level. Let’s…

A Day In Life of a Recruiter As job applicants, we are only familiar with one side of the story in recruitment. Have you ever wonder what recruiters are thinking? So, let imagine you were a professional in-house recruiter and your typical workday goes like this: “You have 10 vacancies on hand, and hiring managers…

  Do you drag going to work on Monday mornings? Are you one of the walking zombies who feel tired all day long? Here are 3 simple tricks to boost your energy level and stay motivated: Here are 3 simple tricks to boost your energy level and stay motivated: Going to Work on Monday with…

Get A First Job In Your Dream Career? Who wants to get a first job in a role you’ve been always dreaming about? That ONE DREAM JOB  which when you get it, you will be “happily ever after”?   Let me be upfront: I don’t believe such a job exists on earth.   Because just like every…

  When it comes to job search, have you ever wonder why getting job offers are so difficult, even though you are smart and talented? You have read tons of “hacks” on how to crack a job interview, but when you finally meet the interviewer in real, your anxiety gets in the way. Or you have downloaded many…

I was browsing through my Facebook Newsfeed the other day and this image, "Be who you needed when you were younger", stirred my heart in a profound way. This is exactly why I began my Career Coaching & Education journey back in 2013. (My Story) I was at a crossroad in my career development at 27. I've...

“Tell Me About Your Weakness.” Recruiters are like Investigators, and they would love to know the REAL you. Asking “What are your weaknesses?” is a way for interviewers to find out if you are self-aware, and a proactive learner who makes improvement plans. So the Key Focus here is on Your Self-Management skills. That is,…

Your Self Introduction is just like a movie trailer – short yet intriguing, so your audience wants more! Your answers to the “Tell me about yourself” question is a high-level description of who you are in less than 2 minutes. It is YOUR STORY that sets the scenes that associate you with your positive qualities, captivates…

We all know that as a student, GPA is the core metric to measure how much you’ve learnt academically throughout the 4 years. You might not be a great student, but hey, it doesn’t mean you can’t be an outstanding employee right? Well then, how are you going to explain this to your future employers?…

Have you heard of the Gig economy? More and more people nowadays are diversifying their work portfolios. Whether it’s a hobby, a side hustle, or a passion project during a career break, there is a way to showcase that to your next employer. For example, many graduates got impressive extra-curricular activity achievements. They are definitely…

Recently I got questions from students on how should they approach your interview follow up when it has been 1-2 weeks after the last interview session. I hear you. The interview went well, and the hiring manager promised to get back to you as soon as they can. You’ve sent a simple and sweet thank-you…

How to Have Radiating Confidence In Job Interviews? Myth: The best person for the job gets the offer Reality: It is the person who performs the best in the interview gets the offer. Don’t you think it is quite ridiculous? I mean, an employer invested many resources finding the right candidate, but end up getting…

What if we all see ourselves as the CEO of our career?   In the book “The Start-up of You”, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin, introduced a concept that in this current age, to get ahead in your career progression, we have to think and act like an entrepreneur. “All humans are entrepreneurs not because…

Have you ever encountered this embarrassing situation? You’ve got a call to invite you for an interview; while feeling very excited, you forgot what that job was about… What’s worse, when you tried to revisit the job advertisement, the page has already expired! Time To Start Tracking Your Job Hunt Progress! Your job hunt is…

Job Interviews have often seemed frightening, especially to introverts. As an introvert, the idea of opening up and sharing my thoughts with a total stranger is not very appealing. Let alone it’s a job interview that the other person has the power of making a hiring decision! Introvert Guide to Job Interview Yet, no matter…

It’s that time of the year again – May, the graduation season! My social media newsfeeds are filled with happy faces in graduation gowns, and playful snapshots in classrooms and around campus. If you are one of them, big congratulations to you! Looking back, do you realise how much you have accomplished over the past…