This was originally published on LinkedIn as a LinkedIn article, but I thought I could republish it here on the blog as well. Head over to LinkedIn if you would like to share your thoughts ya! 🙂
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Last week, I had the opportunity to spend two days at Sekolah Seri Puteri for a Young Employable Student (YES!) Explore, where Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) ran multiple sessions focused on career exploration and industry exposure to over 350 Forms 4 and 5 students.
Some of the activities we ran included:
- Introduction to MyMahir AI Skills Passport
- Introduction to Career Roadmap
- Sharing session on how SSP students can rock the future of work
- Industry visits to some of the top industry partners
- Utilising AI for career and studies
This program is super close to my heart, not only because it focuses on career awareness with young students, but also because Sekolah Seri Puteri is my alma mater. Being back at school, after leaving it 17 years ago, and standing on the same stage to share my own story and life journey with fellow PUTERI sisters, makes it extra memorable.
This program then made me wonder about how we’ve been approaching career guidance for younger generations.
For years now, the dominant narrative in career development has been, “Find something that you’re passionate about, and everything will be just fine.“
Not sure what you want to study in university? Well, what subjects do you enjoy studying, and just do that.
Not sure what jobs would suit you after graduating? Well, what do you enjoy doing?
No wonder there are lots of students and graduates burning out in university and in the workplace, just because they’re lost and not sure what to do or where to go.
Maybe, just maybe…
The problem is not that they don’t know who they are or what they like.
Maybe it’s just that they have never really been in a place or time that allows them to explore and figure that out.
Think about it.
No child wakes up one day and suddenly say “I want to work as a Data Scientist at Microsoft,” or “I want to specialise as a neurosurgeon,” or even “I want to be a lead actor in a Broadway musical.”
For many of us, passion is cultivated through repeated exposure.
Much like how a child learns how to speak, walk, and act by seeing their parents and siblings do the same, this same principles apply to one’s passion in life.
Nobody can randomly say they have a passion for something if they’ve never even know if its existence. Passion is often discovered and cultivated, not pre-determined from birth.
This is where exposure plays an important role, and where parents, teachers, lecturers, and the whole ecosystem comes together.
It’s all about how much of the world do you get to explore.
When I talk to students, either in high school or in university, about their career aspirations, their answers are mostly general. “Oh, I want to be a lawyer / doctor / teacher / accountant / engineer.” Occasionally, I’d get the rare and unique answers like “I want to be an event planner” or “I want to be a businesswoman with my own cafe”.
When I probed further to understand how/where these career aspirations came from, it’s almost always fall under these two options:
- Family (My dad was a XXX, or my cousin married a YYY, or my Mom wanted me to run the family business, etc)
- Movies and TV shows (I watched Grey’s Anatomy so now I want to be a surgeon, etc)
Students with limited exposure to different industries and career choices would have limited job paths, as they are not trained or equipped with the knowledge to think beyond the norm. For them, what other options are there when they are asked “follow their passion”? They don’t know that because they’re not aware of that opportunity.
But students who can easily ‘follow their passion’? These are students who are privileged enough, like the students at Sekolah Seri Puteri recently, to have the opportunity to:
- visit multiple industries, or listen to different career sharings from different industries
- explore creative spaces or activities
- participate in various activities and programs, either through school or at home
- have different role models, from successful alumni to people in the industry
With these opportunities, of course they are then able to make a more informed decision about their life choices, and choosing their passion would be a much easier choice as they have had the time and space to trial-and-error different things.
Exposures and experiences expand your imagination. And when your imagination expands, so do your choices in life.
Would 17-yo Syaza Nazura dreamt about being where she is now?
Reflecting back on 17-yo me, sitting for my SPM and thinking about the pathways that existed for me back then, I knew I was lucky as hell.
I was surrounded with Bank Negara Malaysia and PETRONAS scholars who were pursuing their A-Levels, so they shared access to multiple scholarship opportunities to me.
Both of my parents went to university, which also opened up a lot of networking opportunities in terms of their connections in different companies and industries.
I participated in multiple random projects and activities throughout high school. From playing multiple sports to forming the English Literature club, from writing newspaper articles through The Star’s Starstruck program to going to Beijing to attend a Model United Nation conference, from performing a Malay dance to creating blogs for both personal and school use – the opportunities were endless. And the skills I developed? Priceless.
I also attended an international school and pursued two degrees abroad, which then further expanded my perspective on life and allowed me to experience things that not many have the opportunity to.
Even so, with all the exposures and opportunities – I have never thought or dreamt about working for a government agency. But, here I am now, all started off with a coincidence that I got connected to Nazrul Aziz on LinkedIn many, many years ago.
If passion is tied to exposure, then what’s next?
Instead of asking the younger generation, What are you passionate about?, perhaps it’s time for us to ask, What would you like to explore if you were given the chance to try?
Because sometimes, to find your passion, it’s not about looking internally within you, but to explore different environments and find out what speaks to your heart.
And when you find that, your passion will follow.