How this graduate delayed his University and made it to Unilever.

Check out episode 16 of 1 Foot In now where we learnt how Juden, a Business Development Assistant Manager at Unilever, delayed his graduation to work on his portfolio in detail or read our summary below to find out more!

For most of us, delaying our graduation by taking a year off from our studies has never crossed our minds. It has also been stemmed deeply into society that taking a gap year is something uncommon.

“Why will someone take a gap year and not just finish their studies?” is a possible question that one may ask. Here is a graduate who chose to delay his graduation by a year because he felt inadequate compared to his friends.

He started later than his peers in general. While his friends were embarking on their second internship in their second year, he barely had one on his resume. At the end of year 2, he chose to take a gap year to build up his portfolio and set his path right.

Today, we have Juden, who shared why he chose to take a gap year and what he did that guided him down the path to where he is now at Unilever.

Play to your strengths.

One thing Juden emphasised strongly throughout the sharing was to play to your strengths and build upon them.

He ended his first year with a terrible GPA that neared the borders of a 2nd Lowers, yet he was able to secure an internship as a Research Analyst intern at a Japanese marketing consulting firm. For Juden, he was aware that his academics were his down factor compared to his peers, and he did not want to continue fighting a losing battle. As such, he decided to focus on other areas such as leadership, internship experience, and case competitions. He identified other strengths such as his strong leadership where he helmed the role of President in the Accountancy & Business Club (ABC). Tapping on that, Juden left a good impression that secured his first internship despite his low grades.

Have you identified your strengths? If yes, how do you build upon them? Spill some tips of yours and let us learn from one another!

Focus on what matters to you.

For some of us, GPA is very important, and it is also our goal to achieve a First-Class Honours upon graduating. But to Juden, he felt that grades only matter to a certain extent. They matter only if you want to enter specific industries in the future with GPA being one of the criteria.

 But for him, he was satisfied with his 2nd Upper grade (which he managed to pull after the wake-up call in year 1). Juden felt it was not worth his time to raise his GPA to a First Class. As such, he shifted his priority to gather more work experience through internships. Since his first internship, he has been constantly working and doing something that would benefit him in the long run.  

 If your priority this break is to intern, check out one of our partners, InternSG, where there are numerous opportunities for you to start beefing up your portfolio!

Treat interviews as a practice and relax.

A statement that contradicts what most people will advise, here is Juden’s tip ? treat interviews as a practice and try not to care too much. However, he clarified that preparation is still essential. So when he said ‘try not to care too much’, Juden meant to enter the room with a relaxed and calm mind.

 With a calm mindset, one can perform better as the pressure is not present. Juden shared his own experience where he fumbled during the interview with Grab. His nerves got to him and he made a mistake along the way. Whereas, compared to another interview where Juden entered in a chill and relaxed state, he ended up performing way better than he expected.

 Was there a moment where the pressure and nerves got to you which led to fumbles during the interview? Share with us your experience and what steps you take to improve yourself!

Know yourself well during the interview preparation.

Here is another preparation tip from Juden is to know yourself well as you prepare for the interview. Apart from the technical preparation, there is also mental and emotional preparation.

 As an emotional person, Juden was aware that he needed to reel back his emotions otherwise the nerves or stress can get to him. Hence, apart from focusing on the technical aspect, he also focused on the mental/emotional aspect. He shared a few tips of how he simulated the interview atmosphere, and what he did to prepare. From there, he was able to gather his emotions well before entering the room. Therefore, it is important to know yourself well which can help better prep yourself for the interview.

Have the discipline.

Freshman Juden was a happy-go-lucky guy who did not focus much on career progression. His focus then was to have fun and socialise. But when he looked back at his memories during the sharing, one thing he said he would have done differently was to have the discipline.

 Instead of focusing on just having fun and chilling, Juden said he would have focused on striking a balance between his studies and making friends. He revealed that he could have started thinking about his career progression, and how to prepare for internships in his first year. Despite that, Juden was still glad to experience the feeling of failure which woke him up and set things straight. He advised us to have the discipline to understand that university is not all about playing, but also, to be serious and focus on our studies & future.

 Work hard, play hard. How do you balance between these two? Share with us and let’s learn from one another!

 This was shared by Juden at the end:

 “It really doesn’t matter. Whatever you want to do, just do it. Act fast, pivot quickly.”

 It is alright to enter university being unsure of what you want to do. Use the opportunity during your studies to figure out what you like and go with it. But bear in mind that you must act quickly so that you discover your interest earlier instead of realising it at a later part of your studies. If you realise that what you are doing is not for you, do not beat yourself up. Just keep trying, and you will find your place eventually.

 Do you agree with this advice? Share your thoughts with us and let us learn from one another.

If you find this article useful, do help us out and share it with your peers so everyone can benefit from it just like you! ??

 Tune into this week’s episode of 1 Foot In to hear more about Juden’s university life, his various internships’ experience, the culture and his position at Unilever. 

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