Discourse on career locations

Dr Foo interacting with the audience

Where would you choose to kick-start your career? That was the question raised at a discourse titled “Let Your Career Shine: In Big City or Your Hometown?” organised by the Centre for Economic Studies on 1 April 2016 at UTAR Kampar Campus.

Invited to speak was industry advisor for UTAR Financial Economics programme, Dr Edward Foo Loke Min who is the head of Anbound Malaysia Office, an international think tank.

The career planning talk shed light on how best to choose the appropriate location to develop one’s career. Using comparisons between a major city and one’s own hometown, Dr Foo allowed the audience to be well informed of the pros and cons of working in a big city. 

“When you graduate, are you going to join thousands of others to look for jobs in the big cities in Malaysia or in neighbouring countries? Are you going to return home to your hometown to find a job or start a business? Which is a better choice for your career and your life?” asked Dr Foo.

According to the speaker, major cities offer opportunities and promise a higher income, but with a price to pay - a congested city that entails a higher cost of living, unaffordability of owning a property, longer commuting time due to high traffic volume, and the increasing use of information technology for business endeavours.

“An alternative to the choice of workplace to develop our career could be a shift back to our hometown, or a semi-urban area to serve our business associates at the big cities,” added Dr Foo. Positively, there are individuals opting to work in their own hometown, citing the disadvantages of a city life as reasons for their choice. This new generation of manpower and entrepreneurs, as Dr Foo coined, is called the Neo-Urbanites. They are mostly involved in the services sector and Techno/E-enabler businesses. They face lesser congestions on the roads, at work place and a lower cost of living.

The talk aimed to educate the audience in their career decisions-making, and to enhance their understanding on the current labour market condition and the living standards in big cities. “It is important that audience are able to develop their careers without compromising the quality of life,” mentioned Dr Foo.

The talk was an eye opening experience for students as they were presented with discoveries, opportunities, and challenges of city jobs and lives. For the course of two hours, students were prompted to consider judiciously on the choices they make for their future – to start a new life in the city or otherwise.

The talk ended with a presentation of souvenir to Dr Foo by the Faculty of Business and Finance Deputy Dean for R&D and Postgraduate Programmes, Dr Mahmud Bin Hj Abd Wahab.

Dr Mahmud (right) presenting the souvenir to Dr Foo (left)