Interview Graduate
Arts & Creative
Lim Sing Hooi, 25 Lecturer, Illustration The One Academy, Kuala Lumpur
Tell us about your job scope and key responsibilities in your company.
How different is the real working world compared to your expectation during your undergraduate years?
I am an illustration course lecturer at The One Academy. My key responsibilities include guiding, educating and assisting students to refine their foundation in art as well as their skill sets. Other than that, I’m also in charge of compiling the basic drawing course.
In the real working life, the working procedures are the same. Students will realise that the difference between workloads in the industry and during the course is not big. However, in real working life we have more responsibilities that we have to pick up along the way, such as communicating with clients, selling our job capabilities and managing our time between various projects.
Tell us about your typical working day. A typical day involves teaching in class, and within that duration, interacting with students, to share some of my experiences as an illustrator in painting, knowledge of art, and drawing skills. Some days I teach more than one class, but on most days, only one class. The rest of the day will be spent refining my skills, mostly done digitally.
How well did your undergraduate course prepare you for your real working life? First of all, the course structure in The One Academy is perfect and stable for students to learn and grow. It also prepares us for real working life, with workloads and deadlines that we have to meet, similar to what we will face in the industry. I scored a high distinction during the three years of my course studies, so I faced no difficulty transitioning from my undergraduate course to real working life.
What are the most rewarding and challenging parts of your work? My responsibility as a lecturer requires me to prepare well for my lessons, keeping tabs on my students’ progress, and structuring lessons accordingly; while lecturing, I need to be quick on my feet, while being prepared as well as being spontaneous, thinking of special methods to maintain students’ interest in my subjects, as well as getting the important messages through to them. Besides the college workload, I am blessed to have the opportunity to meet famous artistes and singers because I need to propose portrait illustrations for them. So I need to make sure my drawings for them are true masterpieces.
What is your advice to arts and creative graduates who aare joining the workforce soon? My advice to them is be focused; concentrate on your present ttask and be hardworking. Always be fully prepared to face vvarious job scopes that you may need to handle. Besides that, ttry to learn from each other within the community of artists aand never cease upgrading yourself.
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