{"id":12647,"date":"2019-07-01T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T07:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/?p=12647"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:42:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T07:42:17","slug":"guided-into-career-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2019\/07\/01\/guided-into-career-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Guided Into Career Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Like many of us did at her age, Ms Choo Hui Jia didn\u2019t think she needed career coaching. Such services, she felt, wasn\u2019t meant for someone a fresh university graduate who is ready and willing to enter the workforce. \u201cMost of my peers didn\u2019t seem to need career guidance to get their jobs,\u201d the NUS graduate shares. \u201cI thought it was mostly for people who are older or wanted to make a career switch.\u201d<\/span>

It\u2019s not surprising she was hesitant to take it on. Yet, the 25-year-old found that during her job application process, she often met with difficulties at interviews. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure about how to present myself and couldn\u2019t build rapport with my interviewers,\u201d Ms Choo says. \u201cMy nerves got the better of me and many times, I fumbled when answering questions.\u201d<\/span>

After a number of unsuccessful interview attempts, she decided to give career coaching a try anyway. Thankfully, she did.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>
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GIVING CAREER COACHING A TRY<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>It was during this time that the mistakes she made came to light. \u201cDuring my sessions with my assigned career coach, we went through my performance at my previous interviews,\u201d Ms Choo recalls. \u201cShe also conducted a mock interview session with me to prepare me for upcoming interviews.\u201d<\/span>

\u201cThese sessions really helped me become more aware of myself and taught me cues to look out for at interviews.\u201d<\/span>

One example she cites is when her interviewers ask her what her weaknesses are. \u201cI used to tell them that I am \u2018na\u00efve\u2019 at times,\u201d she says, which her coach revealed puts her in a negative light. In order to help her portray a better version of herself to prospective employers, her counsellor advised her to use the word \u201cnon-confrontational\u201d instead, which she adds is \u201cmore accurate and positive, turning my weakness into a strength\u201d.<\/span>

With the coaching, Ms Choo has since become more confident in tackling her job interviews. In fact, they went so smoothly that she also received offers from two companies. It has certainly changed her mindset towards career coaching. She says, \u201cWSG career coaches are very experienced and can advise us on how to navigate our interviews.\u201d<\/span>

\u201cI would encourage others to consider career coaching if they are facing difficulties securing a job,\u201d she adds.<\/span>

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Find out more about Workforce Singapore’s (WSG)\u00a0Career Matching Services\u00a0<\/a>and make an appointment with a professional career coach via WhatApp at +65 8814 8261.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ms Choo Hui Jia (Arts & Social Services ’16) had her reservations about seeing a career counsellor. But she\u2019s glad she decided to do it because it taught her how to turn the negative into positive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12647"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12653,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12647\/revisions\/12653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}