With honours or without?

Teo May Lian | may.t30@gmail.com
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

Jan. 29, 2008

Employers want to hire people who are able to set themselves apart from their peers, with honours or without.

This was the key message, which a roomful of eager-faced undergraduates took home with them after the talk that was organized in conjunction with the third annual Communications and New Media Industry Advisory Council forum on Jan. 25.

“To land a good job, you must be able to differentiate yourself. And you have to start now,” said Jimmy Tay, senior vice president of Hill & Knowlton, who was one of the three speakers present.

Another speaker, Teo Chor Guan, executive director of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, also agreed.

“We want students who can distinguish themselves. Students who are good communicators and are able to rise above the occasion,” she said.

Teo also added that given a choice between a candidate with honours and one without, she would still refer to the way they distinguished themselves from each other, their portfolios and the way they communicate.

“It’s the quality, not the quantity,” she said.

Nonetheless, the speakers encouraged students to pursue honours; reason being school days were the best time to do things that would be impossible once they entered the workforce.

However, they also added that an honours certificate would be more applicable in the government sector and that it did not matter among private companies.

Yamada Kei, a third-year CNM major who is still considering if she should pursue honours, said that the choice also depends on the individual’s career interest. Many of her friends, who have graduated with honours, have gone on to teaching.

“According to them, it’s like honours equals to civil sector,” she said.

Huang Xueling, another CNM major who has just finished her last semester with a grade point average score of 4.3, also thinks the same way.

She plans to have a career in the advertising industry and thinks that hands-on working experience would be more pragmatic as compared to an honours certificate in this area.

In addition, she also thinks that most modules offered by the CNM department revolved around theories, which she thinks are irrelevant to her field of interest. Huang dismissed any fear of losing out to students with honours, reiterating what was highlighted earlier during the talk.

“We have to differentiate ourselves from the others,” she said with a laugh.

Hu Phui San, a third-year CNM major who is currently in her last semester, also does not wish to pursue honours as she plans to have a career in TV production. She also thinks that most modules offered in CNM steer towards the new media and are not applicable to her career advancement.

However, others have chosen to look at this from a different perspective.

Ivy Lam, a CNM major who is currently in her honours year, have decided to do so because she thinks education is more than just securing a job but an avenue to develop the self and mind.

“I like the way education in NUS humbles me, thus I decided to stay on,” she said.

Related story:
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CNM organises career forum