How to Decide between Choices

Happy fasting and Ramadhan Kareem!

Ok, hari ni I nak share something beneficial. Actually, this is a summary of the coffee session I attended with my mentor of PDP 2021, called Mr. H.

ISSUE and PROBLEM DEFINITION: When we receive many jobs offers, how do we decide which one to choose?    Note:  this is the same with any situation where we have options to chose from eg to further study or not, to accept a scholarship or not, to marry or be single, to marry which person if have many choices.

TIPS I – Set Your Mental Model and Mindset

·         DO NOT PANIC. Stay calm and relaxed so that we can think well and rationally.  Jangan melatah. Respond, do not react. 

• THINK BACK TO YOUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES.  Know our goals.  We must have our short term and long term goals. That is why it is always good to have written goals as then you can refer to something.  Life is important to leave it to chance.  Rezeki Allah tentukan. But we must usaha.

TIPS 2 – Ask Questions and Answer Your Questions

These are some short questions that we can use and answer so that we can think rationally and not panic. These questions are relevant if you are a PDP 2021 in the first 3 to 5 months of the programme and you have job offers.  After July 2021 or in December 2021, the questions may be different:

1.  What is/are your career objective(s) and goal(s) for the next 3 to 5 years(and if can go 10 years, even better)? Eg: want a good salary(ini pun kena define what is meant by the good), must be in the HR field, be at the top position, want to have a stress free life at home,
2. What is/are your goal(s) for 2021 Eg: have RM10k, secure a good job, exercise more, get permanent at placement place, get job in oil and gas, dapat PTD, tak kisah kerja apa, asalkan aku boleh kahwin, dapat kerja in Sabah, be able to Grad as PDP 2021
3. What is/are your objective(s) when you join the PDP? Eg: enlarge networking, end PDP successfully, rebuild self-confidence, have the name Ekuinas in my resume, start working, be better at English Communication, build a good resume
4. Which is the Best Option? Based on all the options I have now eg PDP, Job Offer A, Job Offer B, Job Offer C, which ones of the offers or options does not bring me closer to all of my goals above 1 to 3?  Eliminate those options.

TIPS 3 – Detailed Comparisons

Should I still have options and choices to make after the steps above, then do a detailed comparison. Since we are on Zoom, Mr H did a simple way to do Detailed Comparison,  For the more scientific and calculative way, we can do it later when we meet physically. 

       The Steps:

1.      List out up to 10 items in terms of what are the job criteria that you are looking for? 

Lain orang lain.  You will have your own criteria.  In our session, all who attended had different criteria.  The mistake most people make is to choose the one with the best pay and benefit.  That would be a mistake. Examples from our session: flexible working hours, utilize the skills and knowledge we have from uni, career development, can teach or train others), easy commuting, good environment, stable pay.

NOTE: Lain orang akan lain. You define your own criteria.

2.      Chose your Top 5 Criteria

3.      Arrange your Top 5 Criteria in order of Priority

4.      Check each of your options left or offers left against your list of criteria

5.      Chose the option that matches most of your criteria.

Dia bukan “Itu nampak macam best.  Tapi itu pun rasa macam best.” You measure your options against your criteria. Lain orang akan ada lain.

Mr H gave examples of what would be seen as good job offers that he declined in the last three years because it did not meet his criteria eg CEO of a public university in Malaysia, COO of a bank and COO of Pos Malaysia.  Those are posts that are higher rank and will pay more.  But Mr H has his goals and his criteria. 

"Making decision is not easy but it is not hard.  What is hard is to define your goals.  When you have defined your goals and values, it is not hard to make decisions.”

We will make wrong decisions.  We will make mistakes.  But that is how we learn.  If we do not make mistakes, we will never learn.

Jika ada masa, boleh baca artikel Mr H: https://www.getaran.my/artikel/kolum/1411/pentingnya-matlamat-dalam-kehidupan