“Living life to the fullest” is one of the many adages over-churned enough to lose its true definitive value to most people. But at only 25, Celestine Chua, founder and principle coach of The School of Personal Excellence (TSOPE), aims to bring back purposeful living and help extricate others from the common rat-race towards secular goals.

“Many people have goals and dreams which they are not pursuing. One of the most common examples is people working in jobs they are not fully passionate about,” observes Celestine, who has been coaching since the beginning of the year. “They may have big goals and dreams before, but they choose to settle for lesser instead, opting for what’s already before them. Some refuse to dream as they think there is no place for dreams in the real world.”

Launched just this month to encourage personal excellence amongst its individual clients, TSOPE is a business that, in fact, settles for nothing less than the best quality of life development. Each programme is designed by Celestine’s own coaching philosophy, frameworks and tools, all unique to her own personal experiences.

With new features, a bigger marketing budget, and a refreshing approach to publicity, the JobsCentral Career & Learning Fair 2009 is truly in a league of its own.

In its fourth year running, the annual fair, brainchild of online career portal JobsCentral, has gained increasing recognition from both employers and jobseekers since its inaugural launch three years ago. One might expect such events to be fairly quiet of late, considering that the economy is still recuperating from the aftermath of last year’s financial crisis. However, the JobsCentral Career & Learning Fair tells a different story.

This year, despite a placid job market, the event has successfully garnered the participation of more than 70 leading employers and education providers, and expects to receive at least 50,000 visitors across the two-day event.

New features
This year, the JobsCentral Fair is excited to introduce three new elements to the event – a by-invitation-only networking session, seminars conducted by industry professionals, and a new engine on the event website.

Held on the morning of the first day, the networking session is a closed-door event, exclusively for a selected pool of JobsCentral portal users. The invitation criteria are set based on the exhibitors’ general recruitment criteria. In addition to the opportunity to network with recruiters before the event is officially opened to the general public, networking session attendees’ resumes (for those who RSVP online before July 31st) are compiled and given to the exhibitors to facilitate further career discussion between the parties.

The manufacturing industry has received praise for its part in contributing to Singapore’s economic growth in the second quarter this year. Two Panasonic employees tell us more about their careers in the dynamic industry.

By Nabilah Husna A. Rahman

When you think of “Panasonic”, the various appliances and gadgets scattered around your house might come to mind. But behind the brand equity and its strong market positioning lies a team of hardworking individuals who do their best to unleash only quality products into the market.

Unsurprisingly, diligence is a noteworthy ingredient of Panasonic’s long-standing accomplishments in the industry. It is a valued attitude appropriate for a successful career in manufacturing, as Chew Hung Rhen and Chan Yi Yan both proclaim.

Both employees and their teams play crucial roles in the development of Panasonic as a quality brand and service.

Down to the nitty-gritty
Hung Rhen, a Senior R&D Engineer from Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore was attracted to Panasonic because of its stead as a Japanese company. “First of all, it’s a big organisation with a lot of products,” he says. “It’s very prestigious and since it’s a Japanese company, I have a good impression of the product quality and services.”

For a practice as imperative as nursing, the quality of nursing is of paramount importance. With the commencement of a novel academic nursing path, the diversity of options is now greatly enhanced.

By Nabilah Husna A. Rahman

If you happen to have set your sights on the nursing or healthcare industry, you’re in luck. You’re also possibly imbued with rare immunity against the cyclical ups and downs of the economy, quite unlike your peers in the workforce.

Not only is the industry perpetually robust, dispensing a regularly high demand for healthcare staff, the Ministry of Education has also approved a niche path for those keen on obtaining higher academic qualifications in healthcare.

The East Asia Institute of Management (EASB) recently joined forces with Queen Margaret University (QMU) in Edinburgh to launch its inaugural nursing degree course – an ideal opportunity for practicing registered staff nurses to enter Singapore’s healthcare industry. The programme hopes to further their nursing career in Singapore and eventually help the country grow its reputation as Asia’s healthcare hub.

ITE CAREER SERVICES CENTRE:
A one-stop centre for ITE graduates & employers

It’s all negotiable. Whatever job you are looking for, there is always some way to negotiate the base salary, bonuses, overtime payment and other non-monetary benefits that add to job satisfaction and provide financial security. Every new job gives you the opportunity to negotiate your rewards for your performance. However, there is something else to be taken into account besides your financial and non-monetary benefits: HAPPINESS. Are you prepared to negotiate for happiness?

The time has come when you are thinking about the next level of education you want to pursue. You think about joining the accountancy profession, and you ask yourself what does the term “accountancy profession” mean? More importantly, where will an accountancy qualification bring you?

Location. Location. Location. It appears that nothing else matters.

Having been exposed to economics for the first time during my days in Anderson Junior College, I have grown to love this subject, which to me, is everywhere in real life.
Therefore, on completion of my full-time National Service, I took up the Singapore Power scholarship to read Economics in the National University of Singapore (NUS). I had chosen the Singapore Power Scholarship because the company is a leading corporation in Singapore. At the same time, the energy market is undergoing a process of liberalisation, which beckoned to me as a dynamic and exciting industry.