Lessons For Life

Fear of failure should not hold you back from pursuing your dreams. SOLOMON LIM talks to a volunteer career counsellor on how he reinvented his skills in the new economy.


He spends three to four hours each week listening to executives who have lost their jobs. He hears them out, lets them air their anger and advises them on what to do.

And he doesn't charge a cent.

Mr Kamal Kant is a volunteer at Singapore Professionals and Executives Cooperative (Spec.)

He also runs a own small career consultancy. He holds workshops, gives talks and writes articles concerning human resource and business matters.

He, like many of those he counsels, he was in the line of fire in 1999, after Singapore Power (SP) corporatised. "There was a real possibility that I would lose my job," he said," so I left when I could."

New Economy Woes

While at SP, he also noticed many people were unable to pay their bills because they were jobless. He wanted to volunteer his time to help as he noticed many are insecure about their jobs. Many have also forgotten how to apply for a new job!

Many of the people Mr Kant meets are angry and disgruntled. These often have given years of loyal service and feel cheated when they are let go when their company downsizes, or when their bosses find a younger cheaper replacement.

"What they don't realise," said Mr Kant, "Is that it is a new economy now. In the past, employers took care of their workers for life; now, companies concentrate more on getting talents and cutting costs."

"This means," he added, "workers have to be responsible for themselves, and have career planning, career management and job-hunting skills."

Re-inventing your job

Take the example of a single woman in her 40s who was let go after spending seven years with the company.

She was initially confident that she could get another job easily but she soon realised that she would have to compete with younger women for a job.

Said Mr Kant: "She had to realise that the world has changed and she needed to have some kind of marketability to remain employable. She had to re-invent herself."

She came to that realisation and has now gone back to school, while taking a part-time job.

Mr Kant said: "After going through retrenchment and a period of uncertainty, she has regained her confidence and is more than determined to make things work for herself."

Sadly, not all of the people he meets take this step of self-realisation and move on to getting another job.

Mr Kant explained: "These people don't want to give up their old life! They are still in their comfort zone and expect that any job that she takes now should at least pay as much as her last. I worry the most for people like that."

Even Mr Kant himself had to adapt to a new mindset when he finally decided to start his own consultancy. He had the idea in the early 1990s. But as he had doubts if he could make it, it wasn't till 1999 that he finally took the plunge.

Though the responsibility for his work is bigger now, he also derives great satisfaction from it. He said: "When the people that I talk to make it back on to their feet, regain their confidence and get another job, it is always a good feeling for me.

"It is not easy to get out of your comfort zone, to realise you need to adapt to a new world. After all, it took me almost 10 years to get out of my own comfort zone!"