Here’s what PwC Malaysia’s Managing Partner wants all students to know

Sridharan Nair, Managing Partner of PwC Malaysia (or Sri as he is commonly known) met with nearly 30 students at a Corporate Leader Session organised by TalentCorp in March where he shared his thoughts on the attributes that students should have in order to start their careers on the right note. Here are some key takeaways from the session:

“As a student who is starting out in his or her career, it is very important to have medium-term and long-term goals,” Sri advises, describing medium-term goals as accomplishments over one or two year period whereas long-term goals are measured over the course of ten to twenty years.

Sri advises students to achieve their medium-term goals and then, re-assess themselves from there to set the next goal.  The constant re-evaluating and re-assessing of medium-term goals help people achieve their long-term goals. Further, he feels that people should not make short-term decisions because “it gives short-term and immediate reward”; instead, they should place more weight in focusing on the long-term decisions.

When it comes to balancing work and study, Sri emphasises that it is difficult but do-able.

You have the energy. You have youth. This is the time where you can balance a few things.” 

However, he warns students that there will be times when one will need to make hard choices between work, study and personal life. 

Sri tells students that these choices will have an impact on one’s career and more importantly, once a choice has been made, students should not look back with regrets. “Making some sacrifices…will help you in the later part of your career. So, if you have to sacrifice a bit of your party time because you have to do some studying for that two or three year period, please do so.”