Interest Guides the Career, Success Originates from Sharing--The experience sharing conference...

The experience sharing conference lectured by the new and vigorous cartoonist, Ms. Pan Dahou, and the launching ceremony of the 7th National College Student CSR essay contest was held by the Collegiate Social Responsibility Association of UIBE at 7pm in Room 112 of the Ningyuan building. This conference was held in collaborative style.

Pan Dahou is a primordialism artist, fashion designer, cartoonist and creator of the well-known online character panda “pandaho”. She received her master’s degree of math in Germany, only to give up the ever admirable major and career to become a professional cartoonist.

At the beginning of the conference, many students raised questions based on their pre-understanding, willing Pan to explain why she chose to paint instead of pursuing a math-related career. An enquiring student shared her similar situation of not liking her current courses she is majoring in, but instead feels passionate about painting. Pan Dahou introduced and explained her major in math. What she learned as a math major then is very similar to what a math major would expect to learn today, including topics such as options, the pricing of bonds, the selling and buying in the stock market and financial derivatives. Pan revealed that she was never interested in her major; her major-selection was based on the job-seeking aspect, the same went for the other students at her university.

But her experience of studying abroad changed her view on life. She discovered that the Europeans choose their majors based on the individual’s interest and their expectations of the future. She also stated that the real detour in life is wasting time on the things one does not truly enjoy or want to do. When someone wants to do something he or she likes, it is not stubbornness. Yet doing something one loves is not watching a US TV series or sleeping until noon the next day, but instead finding the things that one really likes and will persist in when facing difficulties.

You can show your lack of interest in present things, but you must find out what you truly enjoy. In order to find out what truly interests you, you need to do some research. It seems many who are big fans of famous stars will find out everything about their lives; this is the kind of research needed to be done on your interests. For example, if your passion is painting, you can use the internet to research that the renowned people are of this profession, their contributions to this area, and the necessary things in the whole process. Do not consider the employment aspect but think carefully of what is interesting to you and find the outstanding people in that field so you can learn from them.

After finding your passion, practice it. It is never recommended that you consider the career you prefer with the attitude that you will struggle for several years with low wages and then possibly give up. She then told us about her experience: in the very beginning, pandaho was very popular, however as time went by, it lost popularity and she got in financial trouble. Yet painting was her passion and she was not fond of doing any other job, so she persisted on through. Some classmates asked Pan how to deal with this situation of reality making it hard to reach your dreams. She responded that reality should never be too depressing or conflict with your dream. Frustrating as it is, if you really love something, you must be persistent, without any hesitation.

It is possible that through your research you find something you like not as charming as you thought before. Some lucky people know what they really like from the very beginning, while others may search for a long time before finding their true passion. If you are lucky enough, you can easily know what you really like, but if not, just enjoy your life at present and try to find something interesting from what you are currently doing. It is crucial for each individual to enjoy the time he or she spends, and of course we must enjoy our college experiences. Regardless of what your major is, it will significantly and positively influence your future. Pan, even though the mathematics knowledge she learned would never be exploited in her career, learning mathematics made her consider things in a logical order, which was a beneficial process.

Students then questioned what the people who do not like their jobs should do? Pan answered that one should not work in an industry without a promising or fulfilling future. Instead, one needs to have a look at what other people do. Even if you are a basic clerk, you may think about what you will do when you become a leader, and then find out that you can do to achieve that goal. Everything is business; you can do business in any industry. During her time of troubles, she contacted publishers, public benefits’ companies and cooperative partners to her greatest extent. Consequently, she is now familiar with these industries and if she were to decide she no longer wanted to paint, she could involve herself in any of these activities she liked.

Lastly, she told all of the girls that they should not forget to dress up appropriately because a good appearance can bring positive energy; anyone is willing to contact people who have a good outward appearance. Using her combined experiences in the roles of interviewer and interviewee, she gave us job interviewing advice. The first and most important thing is the first impression. One needs to pay attention to the details and stay relaxed, not to appear too aggressive. Secondly, one should be knowledgeable about the interviewing company and raise the proper questions during the interview. Last but not least, one should be neither too humble nor too assertive. If you lack experience, you should remain modest, steady and hardworking.

Today there are numerous people who do not know what they are doing even they are busy working every day. Many people struggle with themselves between their dreams and reality, interests and occupation. During this talk, we hope that every participant will more or less, form their own sentiment.