Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM steals an outside chance and proved itself a winner after being chosen as the Apex university, a result that will certainly leave its close rival, Universiti Malaya (UM) crestfallen.

Both have been fighting close with each other, with UM seen to having the edge, especially when the world university ranking is concerned.

UM is ranked at 246 in the world table, with USM trailing far in 309.

APEX, or Accelerated Program for Excellence, is an effort to drive the selected university and compete with other best universities in the world of education.

The Apex university is given a time frame of 5 years to break into the world’s 100 top universities ranking. By the year 2020, which is 12 years from now, the same university is expected to be in the best 50, an uphill task to achieve.

Apart from USM and UM, UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia), UIAM (Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia), USIM (Universiti Sains Islam), UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Uniten (Universiti Tenaga) and UTP (Universiti Teknologi Petronas) were also competing to be chosen.

While it is uncertain that the status will propel USM to compete with top universities in the region and worldwide, the joy effect has been rippling throughout the students, staff and its group of alumni barely one day after the result was announced.

Getting a job offer is an exciting experience but be careful not to sign your employment letter hastily without looking into all the important points.

After all, the last thing you want is finding yourself troubled with a rather unfair clause of termination or other terms.

Here are six points you should look into when skimming through your letter of employment letter:

1. Commencement date

Make sure the commencement or starting date is as per agreed between you and the hiring manager. Also check the date does not clash with you other events such as medical check-up, pre-employment orientation and so on.

If you discover that your starting date falls on a public holiday, you know you will be working with a not-so-bright manager.

2. Permanent or contractual?

Is the job permanent or contract employment? In legal terms, a permanent job is referred as contract of service, and contractual as contract for service. This should be transparent in the letter of offer. If it’s a contractual job, how long is the contract period, and is it according to verbal agreement between both of you?

3. Probation clause

Under normal circumstances, a permanent employment will come with a probation period, ranging from 3 to 6 months, and may be extended beyond that. A probation is a trial period that will test your suitability with the company. Similarly, it is also an assessment period for you to evaluate if you want to work for the company for say, the next 5 years.

4. Termination during probation

Both parties can terminate their service during probation period, giving a certain notice period. Usually, it’s 24 hours. However, this can extend to 1 week, 2 weeks or even 1 month, depending on the company. The company can also choose not to divulge the reason of information (normally, they do) but you can also do the same if you want to leave.

Some companies impose a rather weird clause such as requiring the probationer to pay for a sum of money for whatever reason (e.g. as part of the investment in training you) if the probationer wishes to leave. Ensure that there’s no such thing in your letter.

5. Confirmation

Check and recheck, if you will be subject to the same terms and condition upon confirmation of employment. Will there be any salary increment as a confirmed employee? What about the job title? Any changes? Also discuss about other benefits and perks you will enjoy as a confirmed employee.

6. Termination during confirmation

Once confirmed, check how long is the notice of resignation. Is it a common period of 1 month? 2 months? Or 3 months? Only agree with the best resignation period according to your judgment. It is imperative to know that some employers would not wait until three months before a new employee joins, so always have your next job move in mind.

If everything is satisfactory, then sign the employment letter. If not, go back to the negotiation table and state your demands.

Each and every job comes with its very own set of risks. Some risks are much higher than others.

Where injuries and deaths are concerned, some jobs pose different threats and paint horrifying pictures and worst-case scenarios.

In the United States alone, more than 5,000 people died in the last one year from accidents occurring in workplace as well as in the field jobs.

While the 5,000 odd represents a dip of 6% from the previous year (it is actually the lowest fatality since the government started tracking the statistics beginning in 1992), it is still a worrying figure. Some rightly argue that the lower figure is due to lower unemployment in the wake of economic crisis.

Fisherman the most dangerous job

In a research conducted by a team from Forbes, job as a fisherman (and deep sea fishing related job) is found to be the most dangerous, with the worker exposed to all kinds of weather, and help not readily available in case of capsizing and emergency. The slippery surface presents a high risk of members falling off the deck, which could even result the worker being thrown out into the sea.

At times, injuries and death happen due to malfunctioning of gear, with the worker exposed to the danger of entangling into large nets. About 111 deaths occur for every 100,000 workers in this fishing job.

Apart from fishermen, loggers, pilots, steel workers, farmers, roofers and electrical repairers are also named as highly dangerous jobs.

And the deadliest job goes to…

While fishers have the most dangerous jobs, most deaths occur in those at transportation and logistic profession. Truck and bus drivers, crane operators and sailors belong to this category. Last, year, more than 1,300 workers in this industry died from various incidents occurring while they were on duty.