Mr Tan shares how he benefitted from NUS-ISS training with more than functional knowledge and theories about Project Management, including career coaching.
When Mr Tan returned to NUS-ISS for training in 2013, there was just one objective in mind – to strengthen his professional skillsets and to acquire deeper insights on Project Management. He was between jobs, and had wanted to make full use of his time learning as much as he could to contribute more effectively as a practitioner in the ever-evolving ICT domain.
In fact, the NICF - Project Management for IT course had not been his first. He was also a participant at the NICF – IT Outsourcing Management for Practitioners course in 2012, where he had been impressed with the breadth and depth of the theoretical contents, which had served to validate his practical experience.
The most indelible part about both his training experiences with NUS-ISS, according to Mr Tan, was getting to exchange views with lecturers who were practicing professionals, “people who truly understood the constraints and challenges we face in the workplace,” he said.
“Just as effective is the NUS-ISS short course curriculum, which is designed in such a way that we could enjoy many opportunities for cross-sharing and learning from other participants’ experiences,” he added.
Knowledge beyond textbooks
Today, Mr Tan is a senior management team member at a multi-national corporation. He is tasked with regional responsibilities, and to improve the firms’ global competitiveness and earnings through his leadership and professional IT advice.
Looking back at the knowledge he has gained at NUS-ISS, Mr Tan credits his course lecturers for being able to extract value and relevance from the various topics for practical application. “Being veterans from the field, they were able to explain how issues often evolve in the corporate context, and how to pinpoint areas where I can create value for specific benefits and needs.
“We were taught to appraise concepts holistically so as to improve on the familiar ways of task execution. For me, this has led to a better appreciation of higher value creation, and how this can be achieved through various roles in a typical organisation,” Mr Tan reflected.
Given the level of practice-based engagement he has received at NUS-ISS, Mr Tan proudly admits that he has become more confident of his skills to lead and create more business value in his professional undertakings.
Value-added career coaching programme
While he was seeking to be employed, Mr Tan attended the career coaching session at NUS-ISS, designed specially for unemployed participants after attending the NICF short course training. He was able to clinch a job after the session. NICF courses are partially funded by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), as part of the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) system. NICF, which stands for National Infocomm Competency Framework, serves as a national framework for training providers to develop and align their training programmes to, and may be used as a tool for businesses to develop its human resource capabilities within the organisation.
Our career coach working with the candidates
“The opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Mr Tan, who promptly took up the offer of the career coaching provided by NUS-ISS. The interaction involved a 2-hour long face-to-face consultation with an independent career coach.
Recalling his earlier retrenchment with candour, Mr Tan added, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life doesn’t always deal you a good hand. What matters is how you play that hand – and that would determine how your life would be defined. Just like in poker, you can end up winning even though you’ve been dealt some really bad cards.”
Going through with the career-counselling session with a professional career coach also provided Mr Tan with some much-needed headroom to refocus on his career goals, spurring deeper insights and self-discovery towards his personal and professional goals. “I like that it has opened my mind to various paths I can choose in deciding on my destiny,” he mused, “and a positive mindset and the right behavioural attitude can make all the difference when it comes to life, learning, as well as career management.”
NUS-ISS Career Services, in collaboration with WDA, aims to help unemployed participants who attended NICF short courses & programmes increase their employability in the infocomm industry. Apart from facilitating one-to-one personalised career coaching, NUS-ISS organises career fairs as well to help participants find jobs.
“After equipping participants with technical knowledge at our courses, we work with external career coaches to offer them personalised career coaching to increase their chances of finding a job,” said Andy Chang, Manager of Career Services, NUS-ISS.
To his peers and juniors who are contemplating the chance to up-skill themselves, Mr Tan is quite the advocate of his alma mater. “Do it,” he said, “we all deserve to get more out of our personal and professional endeavours!”
This article is first published in NUS-ISS quarterly e-newsletter, Issue 7 (Jul-Sep 2014).