1 YouTube tutorials turn global skills teacher
(Benson Ang in Straits Times) Do not know how to do something? Chances are, you
would turn to YouTube these days. People worldwide have turned to the online
video-sharing platform in droves to master tips that make their lives easier.
Even professionals - from chefs to leather crafters,
music instructors to photographers - have picked up a trick or two. Mr Yeo
Chern Yu, 22, the chef and co-owner of Stateland Cafe in Bali Lane, learnt how
to make the cafe's signature dish, its classic honey toast, from YouTube last
September. The dish, comprising bread baked with honey and salted butter that
is served with berries and a scoop of honey yogurt gelato, costs $11.90 at his
cafe.
Thanks to these 24/7 tutorials, some have been able
to hone certain skills without formal training.Part-time guitar instructor Ian
Kwan, 21, has been giving lessons at music school Drumstruck Studios at PoMo
shopping mall in Selegie Road since March. Four 30-minute lessons with him
costs $150, and he has six regular students.
Wedding photographer Ida Marz, 39, who runs
photography and videography company Ministry Of Moment Singapore, turns to the
platform almost every day for inspiration on how to create various looks, such
as a glamorous effect or a tender moment.
YouTube was founded in 2005 and these tutorials
started mushrooming soon after. They cover almost every topic one can imagine
and are uploaded by almost everyone, from individuals to companies and organisations.
Assistant Professor Jude Yew, 42, from the National University of Singapore's
department of communications and new media, says some people may upload videos
to show off their skills. Companies may also want to promote their brands and
create communities around specific interests.
2 Lots of education without jobs means nothing
(Katie Allen in The Guardian) Ed Miliband was trying to make a simple argument
when he braved the subject of welfare reforms. "Britain's young people who
do not have the skills they need for work should be in training, not on
benefits," he said last week, as he outlined proposals to end jobless
benefits for roughly 100,000 18-to-21-year-olds and replace them with a
means-tested payment dependent on training.
Fair enough: if someone needs help getting ready for
the world of work, better to provide that help than hand out benefits. The
coalition is trying to do this too, with its traineeships, and has been
supporting apprenticeships. But neither those schemes nor Labour's proposed
reforms should distract whoever wins the next election from a much bigger
question: why are there so many young adults who need training before they can
get jobs? How did they get to 18 without gaining useful skills?
There are still a staggering 922,000 people aged
18-24 not in education, employment or training (Neet) – one in six of that age
group. Before anyone dares to hope the recovery will eventually filter down to
them and solve the problem, let's clear two things up: First, youth
unemployment may have been severely exacerbated by the recession but it was
already rising before the crisis struck. Second, a large group of
school-leavers have been let down by the education system for decades. But it
was not until recent changes in the labour market that this shortcoming was
exposed.
The changes in labour market have left some people
with a deep, and justified, sense that school did not help them prosper in
adult life. Gone are the days of leaving school on a Friday and walking into a
long-term job on the Monday. With the rise of service sector jobs and decline
of manual, unskilled manufacturing work, this trend risks intensifying. The
education system urgently needs to catch up. Schools should be a training
ground for work, not just a launchpad into further education.
3 Learning from career mistakes (Kim Thompson in San
Francisco Chronicle) Making mistakes is a part of life and can serve as a great
teacher if you pay attention to what you learned from the experience. A
business professional once described a painful lesson in making a decision to
accept an offer based on wishful thinking versus the gut feelings he
experienced when talking with his future boss. He had heard so many good things
about the employer and the leadership that it overshadowed his reactions when
the prospective boss was disrespectful to him during the interview.
In spite of the boss’s arrogance, he went right
along with the interview process by ignoring the awkward signals. He was
offered the position and accepted it on a hope that things would change. Six
weeks later, he left the company when reality set in. While the misstep didn’t
destroy his career, it did create a situation where he had to explain the
sudden departure not only to future prospects but also to the colleagues who
had cheered him on. He will never forget
that lesson and since then has accepted a really good offer based on
acknowledging both the intuition and the facts.
The takeaway lesson: never discount your inner voice
of caution in exchange for hoping and wishing; what others think is important,
but it may not work for you. Here some common career mistakes: Accepting a job
without conducting due diligence. Not saving at least 3-6 months of living
expenses in case of an unexpected change in employment. Not asking enough
clarifying questions (assuming rather than communicating). Using the “hoping
and wishing” strategy that someone will give you another job.
Mistakes will inevitably happen at some point in
your career, the key is learning from them instead of repeating the same
mistakes over and over again. Career
mishaps will make you stronger by acknowledging areas of growth and trusting
your instincts.
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