Finding opportunity in disaster

Well I was supposed to be preparing for my networking session cum careers fair which starts tomorrow evening (10th February 2011) and spans almost the entire weekend. I wasn't aware of the participating companies until after I had applied. Apparently there will be 11 companies:

- 2 of which are banks 

- 3 pharmaceutical/healthcare firms

- 1 Singapore general recruitment firm

- 2 Oil & Gas firms

- 1 heavy equipment manufacturer

- 2 tobacco companies

So I thought I'd give the healthcare firms a shot with my FYP since it IS health related. It appears that NONE of them deal with insulin pumps. After checking the availability of job positions at their international recruitment sites, it seems that all the positions I had interest in would require a degree in Pharmacy or medical sciences! So that's 3 crosses off the list.

The tobacco companies sound to be an attractive place to kick start a career. Supposedly they are quite generous with salary payments according to a few sources. So I thought of giving it a try. But the only thing I can relate to is the manufacturing field so I'd give a shot with asking them about their manufacturing facility. Oh and there goes my dignity since I really do despise smokers. No offence to friends and family, but seriously..... smoking ain't good for you and EVERYONE else.

I've applied to the Singapore recruiter back in September 2011 so that's another cross. Dad used to work for the heavy equipment manufacturer and he's advising me to stay away. Another cross. YAY!

Next up: Oil & Gas. Both conglomerates in the industry. Thing is that I HAVE ALMOST ZERO KNOWLEDGE about the field. So I was supposed to be brushing up on my knowledge on Oil & Gas but things just didn't turn out that straightforward. 

Well firstly I just couldn't get my mind off the fact that I MIGHT be putting myself in a less favorable position  once more. Meaning to say, personally I'm not very confident about attending the networking session as I have not fully gone through my homework. Secondly, I don't want to make a bad impression which might torment me in return sometime down the road. BUT, it's my final year and its a pretty large scaled (regional) group of companies so it probably wont do any harm. It's also good experience before the big show in April. 

Secondly, like all career related agendas, a part of me says that none of these companies would be truly capable of manifesting my passion. I have decided to devote myself towards finding my place within the mobile technology sector and none of these companies offer such opportunities. This kept my focus away from learning about Oil & Gas!!! It was as if I am in the midst of preparing myself for the UKEC careers fair in April! My research kept diverting towards telecoms.

To make things worse, I got a reply from the business school about our Innovation Management coursework. Well we got a C. C C C C!!!!! I was pretty frustrated throughout the day because she mentions that we should have used a systematic approach in comparing patents and compiling them based on the companies. I remember sending the course lecturer a couple of emails stating that for our choice of equipment (the Compound Bow), we were unable to locate any source of financial data or material which states a portfolio of patents based on companies. None of the companies listed any details and even community sites was of no help. Basically, we were unable to list patents based on companies. Nuff said.

But thinking about her comments a little deeper, it was probably possible to implement a systematic approach in analyzing the patents. That was the only flaw which I could think of. On top of that, there were 7 people in the team and only 3 of us actually put in the effort to complete the report! A couple of them even had the dignity to 'copy and paste' information directly off WIKIPEDIA!!!! Fakz..... I mean we are educated men and that's the best they could come up with? Sigh.... On the other hand, it was me who proposed we choose the compound bow. There were a few other products but I was worried about material base and structure. One of which was the Football. I didn't manage to dig out any technological patents (only designs). So that would mean the only technologies worth mentioning are material changes and perhaps a few design approaches. The other was the stopwatch. It took a bit of thinking, but the stop watch is just...... a watch?? sure it may be tuned to suit different sports but how fundamentally different would it be? So I suggested the compound bow, merely because we could split it into components (so we could work in individually) and there are visible changes in the components throughout the years. Well yea everyone agreed in to it but I still feel a little responsible for choosing the topic. So to those who actually put in the effort, I am truly sorry. Truth to be said, I did the most work out of anyone. Peace :)

It's less than 24 hours before the networking session and I'm still trying to read up on the Oil & Gas industry. In the worst case, I'd just pop them a question about the industry, jump to the next company, pop them a question and the next and then the next and then I'd walk out the door and make my way home. Oh and not to mention the weather forecast which says: SNOW IN LONDON on the 10th February 2012. I take that back.... its ALREADY FREAKIN SNOWING  *Prays to got that it doesn't get too cold*

Until next time, I mean tomorrow night ;)