V. Oral Practice
Career ambitions/plans
I have been a teacher for almost a decade and meanwhile have accumulated a lot of experience in teaching English. Therefore, my career ambition is to set up a small school of my own and practice what I preach. I understand the risk ahead of me in today’s hyper-competitive education market. But I still intend to take the risk because there are a multitude of English learners in China who cannot be guaranteed adequate teaching from disqualified teachers of English.
My ideal kind of employer
To date, I haven’t believed that I have met an ideal kind of employer. But I expect such person can come up soon. The employer should, in the first place, take on responsibility and be accountable when things go wrong. Also, the employer should be able to communicate effectively with his/her subordinates, either by regular dialogue or by formal appraisals. Most importantly, the employer should walk the talk, doing everything he/she preaches. An ideal kind of employer may not exist but may be the dream many employers pursue to become. There is a long long way away from the target for most employers. Interestingly, I would like to become one of them one day.
employer noun [countable]
a person, company, or organization that employs people
The shoe factory is the largest employer in this area.
Businesspassagereading
VI. Business passage reading
First Person
Sally Lou Ou-lei, 23, completed her bachelor’s degree in medicine at Zhongshan University, Guangzhou. When she returned to her hometown of Macau, she spent eight fruitless months searching for a job. She is hoping to form a medical practice with other young doctors.
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The future is bright for anyone in Macau interested in a career in casinos. Unfortunately, I am not one of them. It’s my dream to become a doctor. That’s why I dedicated five years to studying medicine. When I graduated, I knocked on every door possible to look for a job.
When I couldn’t find anything, I took up a temporary position at the Institute of Sport, doing administrative work unrelated to medicine. My contract ends next month, leaving me at a loss as to what to do next.
I am one of more than 400 medical degree holders caught in Macau’s “uni-dimensional” economy. Many family members and friends have urged us to take up jobs as dealers in casinos. Such jobs are plentiful and they play well.
There is nothing wrong with dealing cards. I have a lot of respect fro people who complete professional degrees and choose to work in casinos. If that’s what they want, I don’t judge them. However, I truly want to become a doctor.
Demand for doctors is limited in Macau’s health-care system. Our two hospitals - Kiang Wu Hospital and Conde de Sao Januario Medical Centre – took in only 70 graduates in total over the past two years. The market for private clinics is quite saturated.
I wish I could go to Hong Kong and find a job there. Yet, without landing my first job in Macau, I cannot receive a doctor’s licence from the government. Hong Kong or other countries will not accept my qualifications without a licence.
In the course of my job search, I learned that about 400 other young people are in my shoes. I know about 60 aspiring doctors working at the border gates – their job is to monitor the body temperatures of visitors entering Macau. Since the Sars crisis in 2003, the government has set up an Auxiliary Medical Service, a voluntary organization on-call for emergency incidents. About 400 aspiring doctors now serve there.
We all know these are just quick fixes, not real solutions.
Some of my fiends joined private clinics. They scared me when they told me they earn $2,500 per month. We studied so hard to become a doctor. Is this really what we deserve?
Even so, I refuse to fill out a casino application. Dozens of frustrated medical graduates banded together and formed a committee at the Macau New Chinese Youth Association. Now I head the committee. We decided to ask not what the government can do for us, we ask what we can do for the government, and for Macau in general.
A few of us are grouping together to form a private practice, a “united clinic”. Initially, we will have difficulty attracting clients because we’re all new doctors. So we might have to charge lower rates. We might have to invite seasoned doctors to provide training for us every month.
Such a proposal will soon be submitted to the office of the secretary for social affairs and culture, Femando Chui Sai-on. Hopefully, the government will subsidize our endeavour. When I raised this at a public forum on March 3, Mr Chui promised to review our proposal. He even suggested there are government loans for young entrepreneurs for which we can apply.
Of course, there is no reason the government should give special treatment to medical graduates. Many in other fields, ranging from the sciences to law and accounting, are having difficulty landing jobs outside of casinos and hotels.
Perhaps, if our “united clinic” works, other young professionals could apply the model to their fields and take the risk of being self-employed. That’s better than forgoing their ambitions and settling for jobs at the casinos.
