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| Distinguished business coach and renouned book author Francis Kong shared his take on the effects of the pandemic virtually during De La Salle Lipa's Virtual Career Expo held last April 14, 2021. (Image Source: De La Salle Lipa) |
De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) staged its first virtual career expo last April 14, 2021 with the theme "Preparing For The Jobs For The 21st Century" which aims to provide guidance and motivation to Grade 12 senior high school (SHS) students as they embark on their professional careers amidst the continuing threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Attended by over 500 SHS students, parents, school administrators, and teachers from different parts of the country, the web-based career expo is DLSL's way of motivating 21st century learners to prepare for the challenges ahead and learn how to formulate real-time solutions to real world problems.
Distinguished business coach, book author and communicator Francis Kong served as keynote speaker. In his talk, Kong pointed out how the outbreak has affected peoples, nations, and the entire society. “Every person on this side of eternity is fighting a war for personal and economic survival. Businesses are closing, jobs are becoming scarce, your parents are scared,” he said. To young jobseekers, he cited that nowadays, entry-level jobs pay lower while screening processes for potential employment have become very stringent. He suggested that young people should look for entrepreneurial opportunities such as sales provided these are legitimate and not the networking scams that have victimized many people in the past.
“Our lives are the summary of choices we make from day to day. Work on intellectual discipline. Read books that can uplift you and your minds and thinking. Let your will master your mood and emotions. Develop your fiscal discipline. Likewise, do not forget to develop your spiritual and relational discipline,” Kong told the audience. Before he ended, Kong enumerated the essential critical skills that the younger generation must learn to develop. These are problem-solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, value and ethics, resourceful resilience, creative processing, leadership perspective, managing ambiguity, and effective communications.
On the other hand, serving as plenary speaker is Kalibrr co-founder and chief executive officer Paul Rivera. One of the minds behind an online careers platform for more than three million young professionals in Southeast Asia stressed that “hard work manufactures opportunities to become lucky. At the same time, life networks matter. So, plug into the right ones.” He also mentioned that failure is part of our lives. “You will fail. It is part of the process, get over it, learn from it and move on,” Rivera said. The head honcho of Kalibrr urged young people to be ready to take a calculated risk at some point in their careers. “Don’t overestimate the possibility of failure. Be patient for it will take 10 years to build relationships as well as develop grit and resilience. Be curious and never stop learning,” Rivera stated.
After the talks of both Kong and Rivera, interested participants were given a chance to ask the guests for additional advice and guidance. The forum was eventually followed by a series of raffle draws with several major and minor prizes at stake. Towards the end, there was a presentation of DLSL's programs including College of Business, Economics, Accountancy and Management (CBEAM); College of Education, Arts, and Sciences (CEAS); College of International Hospitality and Tourism Management (CIHTM); College of Information, Technology, and Engineering (CITE); and College of Nursing (CoN).
With Words By Celine Bernadette Francisco, De La Salle Lipa
