Category: COMM299

so the question is:

What you have learned about yourself in class (Comm 299-Career Fundamentals)

This class’ been a bittersweet one. It should worth more than 1 credit… but at the same time it’s risky if it’s worth more because if you don’t do well it’s going to affect your overall average. Anyway, I learned a lot about myself as well as other people in this class, but I’ll focus on what I learned:

I learned that I actually have lots of things that I can use to ‘sell myself’. I never knew that my involvement during high school makes it way easier for me to write down my resume. All I have to do was to open my CAS folder (creativity – action – service, for those of you who didn’t do IB) and take the relevant activities from there and put it on the list.

I learned that it is very possible for me to work in big companies as long as I know how to search for the job, how to bring myself during the interview and what answers I should give during the interview. I also learned that I actually already know how to network, it’s just that until now I never knew that it’s called networking.

Finally, I figured out the reason why I’ve never been a good public speaker. It is because I dislike the topic that I have to talk about. I always thought that I’m just not born with that ability so I avoided public speaking… one of the reasons why I hated the first half of COMM299 — because I have to deliver a ‘speech’ every week. It was a torture, until the fourth week, where we get to talk about some ‘how-to’. I chose the ‘how to pull an all-nighter’ and that was the best speech I’ve ever done in my life, and I had this great feeling after I finished. I was surprised at first on how well I can talk about it, until I realized that it’s because I’m so pro in pulling an all-nighter (again, thanks to IB). It’s like an enlightenment! I never expect any courses I take in university to teach me more about myself — but this one-credit-in-two-term course sure prove that wrong! 🙂

I learned lots of things from other people I get to meet… but the greatest thing I learned from others will be from my parents and their story in building their company. They started their business 20 years ago almost from scratch. My dad worked in my uncle’s company as a warehouse manager, then after two years my uncle decided to give the company to my dad. The company, with lots of debts. It was a rough start, I remember police coming to our house so we would pay for the debt every once in a while. However, in twenty years time, they managed to not only pay the debts, but they also open a few other branches and are connected with buyers in all over the world, more than ever.

A few years ago when I found out the history of the company, I asked them how they could  grow that fast and survived during the economic crisis in between which shuts down lots of similar companies, and they told me that taking risk is the thing that you have to do in order to go to the next level and not stop when you face troubles. I was never interested in business of any kind, but from that one short conversation, I see a whole other side of business. I never thought of any good things when it comes to business people. However, from that point on I learned that to be a businessman is to be a person with a strong will and high determination. I also learned that that trying, falling down, standing up and trying for the second time is something that I have to do constantly to succeed — not only in ice skating or biking, but also in life.