Final Reflection

I must admit I was a little apprehensive about this module initially, in particular about doing group work, since I was joining the class 3 weeks late and did not know anyone in the class (it was only later that I realised Pauline was also in the class).

But thank you everyone, including Dr Radhika, for giving me such an enjoyable semester in this class! I have also learnt a lot about different aspects of professional communication from Dr Radhika and the peer teaching. While I have picked up bits and pieces of some of these before this semester through project work, talks, workshops and the Internet, this class really consolidated everything for me and also taught me interesting tips here and there that I did not know about before. For example, I never did learn the finer points of proposal writing. The practice we had writing a cover letter, a proposal, and especially for oral presentation was also very helpful, given that I had few chances for such practice as a Science student. Better to have more practice now than to fumble at the workplace!

Going back to my first post on why I chose to take this module, I must say I have definitely honed my professional communication skills in the course of this module. More importantly, this module has impressed on me that I still need a lot of practice before I can say I have effective professional communication skills. While lots of work is still needed, I think at least I will be able to avoid major faux pas whenever any of my skills are called into use.

On group work, I had a very easy time working with Pauline and Melissa for the research proposal. Our biggest hurdle was at the brainstorming stage when we came up with many ideas but none very workable. After that, all was pretty smooth once we came up with a working timeline for the project and delegated the work. Everyone made sure to do their best for their own parts, kept to deadline and helped out the rest if needed. I think another reason why we worked so well was that we accommodated each others' schedules, for example, if one of us had a mid-term coming up then we would shift the deadline for a certain task accordingly.

Technology was another important factor. In principle, wiki.NUS would be perfect for group collaboration. Firstly, it was user-friendly, so much so that Pauline picked it up quite easily despite missing the peer teaching session. In practice however, it was usually down on weekends, which was when we did the bulk of our work. In the end, we mainly used Google Documents for our purposes as it had no downtime and allowed us to all work on the document at the same time. Its in-built chat function was also very useful. It was however not without its flaws. The formatting would alter slightly when we upload or download a document, so we always had to edit the formatting after downloading the finalised version. So far, we still find it to be the best platform, at least for a small project like this without too many people in a group. Other than that, we also used emails and smses for quick updates, and MSN Messenger for group meetings when we could not find a common time to meet.

Now that we've come to the end of this module, once again, thank you everyone for a really great (or should I say, AWESOME) semester and all the best for your exams! Have a great summer vacation!

Reflection on oral presentation

The oral presentation is finally over! With that, we have come to the end of our project, beginning with brainstorming, then the writing of the proposal and finally this.
P
reparation for the oral presentation began with the creation of our slides and deciding on the points to include. Our slides were initially just black text on a white background, before we added in some photos to spice them up a bit. Our group also wanted to include a video to make our presentation more interesting, but could not find one that suited our purposes and so decided against it in the end. Overall, I think our slides looked quite neat, but still lacked that bit of oomph. Our proposal was first used as a working script, which was then tweaked such that it sounded more like a presentation script then a written proposal as we rehearsed our parts. When I rehearsed, I realised that simply reading out the proposal was not enough, as some words and structures that worked on paper did not work when spoken. Editing the script as I practised allowed me to make it sound more natural, persuasive and convincing.

Preparation is indeed key to a good presentation. I did not have much time to practise for the dry run. As a result, I was very nervous, unfamiliar with the content, spoke too fast and constantly referred to my script instead of establishing meaningful eye contact with the audience. With practice, I improved for the final presentation. I was visibly less nervous and made more eye contact with the audience. While my speed was okay at the start, I still sped through the last part of my presentation. As I have a natural tendency to speak fast, this is something I need to be more aware of for future presentations. I also need to be more composed when faced with an oral presentation. I think I'll definitely need more practice to become more natural at oral presentations and more able to engage the audience. This time though, I did learn to engage the audience through simple things like asking a question and getting answers from them.

Other than my oral presentation, it was also helpful to watch everyone present. There was a whole range of presentation styles. Some were relaxed, others more uptight; some had to rely on cue cards, other comfortably did their oral presentation without any cue cards. It was definitely useful to learn from the good points of everyone's presentation.

This oral presentation has been helpful for me to get feedback on my presentation skills and made me more aware of the areas I need improvement in. I will remind myself of the things to take note of for future presentations!

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

When I was on exchange in Paris, my hostel neighbour M was a friendly guy from Chad who would randomly knock on my door and start a conversation with my roommate T (also a NUS student) and me. During one of our conversations when we were nearing the end of the semester, he invited the both of us to visit him in Chad next time. The conversation went something like this:

M: The two of you must come and visit me in Chad next time!
T: Haha yeah maybe!
Me: Would love to, I've yet to have the chance to go to Africa! When I find the time, and money... I think air tickets from Singapore to Chad would be pretty expensive.
M: If I pay for your air tickets would you come then?
Us: No, how can we make you pay for our tickets?

At this point, T and I were thinking that M was probably joking, since the air tickets would definitely not be cheap. Moreover, even if we were friends, there was no reason for M to be paying for the air tickets.

On the other hand, M sounded a little disappointed to have his offer rejected. He probably thought that we were not interested in looking him up after our semester on exchange was over, or that we did not have a good impression of his country and so did not want to go there.

Later on in the conversation, M explained that it is in his culture to provide the best hospitality to his guests. He told us that in Chad, if you invite someone from abroad to visit the country, you will pay for all your guest's expenses, including air tickets and hotel. My roommate and I were quite surprised at the hospitality extended by the Chadians. Adding that to the fact that Singapore is comparatively a much wealthier nation than Chad, I was greatly humbled by the generosity shown by M, and Chadians in general.

In the end, we explained to M that it is not really in our culture to accept such an offer, though we would definitely appreciate having him show us around his country, and would keep in touch until the next time we meet, whether in Chad, in Singapore, or elsewhere in the world.

Application Letter Critique

This application letter is in response to this internship.

New Jin Rou
Blk --- Jurong West
St --- #------
Singapore ------
Contact: --------
Email: -----@gmail.com

13 February 2011

Human Resource
Nomura

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Application for the 2011 Global Markets Summer Analyst Internship

I am interested in applying for the Global Markets Summer Analyst Internship with the Research department. I am a third year student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) pursuing a degree in Statistics (Finance and Business Statistics). As I aspire to both learn from and contribute to the best in the finance industry, Nomura, renowned both within Japan and internationally as a global finance house, is the obvious choice for me. I believe that interning in Nomura will be an invaluable opportunity for me to gain a global outlook of and deep insights into the industry, to experience a challenging and dynamic working environment and to meet and work with diverse individuals.

My interest in Research in Global Markets stems from my analytical nature and desire to learn the fundamentals of finance. A rigorous training in statistics has equipped me with strong quantitative, analytical and problem-solving skills necessary for a role in Research. Moreover, working on research projects in school has honed my ability to synthesise information into a coherent report as well to communicate effectively even with others outside the statistical field.

Outside of academics, I participate actively in extracurricular activities. I am an active member and was the secretary of the NUS Nihon Buyo (Japanese dance) Club. In this capacity, I participated in various performances within and outside of NUS. In particular, I organised and performed in Japanese Cultural Night 2009. This involved working not only with other Japanese clubs within and outside my school but also external organisations and companies. I also served as Vice Programmes Head on the committee of Social Entrepreneurship Forum for Youths, directing a team to organise a two day carnival which showcased social entrepreneurship and brought 13 social enterprises to the school campus. As these two events were inaugural events, I had both the privilege and the challenge of pioneering the direction that both projects took. This has tested my ability to think of creative solutions and to think on my feet to deal with situations on the ground. In the fast-changing financial environment, I believe such skills would be essential.

My experiences have helped me to develop mental resilience, through learning how to juggle academic, extracurricular and voluntary commitments. In addition, my interpersonal and communication skills have been greatly enhanced through my opportunities to meet and work with people from diverse backgrounds. All in all, these experiences have given me a comprehensive set of skills which I believe will be necessary for a highly demanding internship at Nomura.

I thank you in advance for taking the time to consider my application. I hope you will give me the opportunity to demonstrate how I can contribute to your organisation.


Yours sincerely,
New Jin Rou


A question: If you're applying for an internship through the company's online portal that handles applications from all over Asia-Pacific for instance, what would you put as the company address? Or is simply putting the company name adequate (as I did) in this case?

Constructive criticism will be highly appreciated!

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

Here's an anecdote my friend, M, shared with me.

M was, like me, on exchange last semester. After term ended in December, she travelled to Belgium and the Netherlands with four friends, including a girl K. For a few days in Belgium, the five of them stayed at L’s (a Belgian) house. All of them met on exchange.

K developed a cough when they reached Belgium, so she decided to stay in at L’s house while the rest went to tour the city. When they got back and asked K what she did, she replied: “I was surfing the net and watching videos the whole day!” This was despite L asking the rest to not use too much water and electricity as her mother was already quite concerned about bills with five extra people staying over. The next day, K felt slightly better and went out with the rest. L offered to bring them around but had to rush to school to settle some stuff before that so they had to leave the house by ten in the morning. K not only woke up late, but also took a long time to get ready, so L was nearly late for school. When they were touring, K walked very slowly, so they could not go very fast. At mealtimes, K insisted on having spaghetti while the rest wanted to try local specialties. In the end, they would split up for their meals before meeting up again. Finally, when they reached back to L’s house, L’s parents opened the door and asked how the day went. K walked past them without a word and went up to the room they were sleeping in.

Needless to say, M was highly annoyed with K, not only because K was not making full use of this travel opportunity to experience the life and culture in another country, but also because of her self-centred behaviour. M felt that a mere cough was no excuse for K’s behaviour.

On the other hand, K might not be used to life in a different country and also to travelling with people she didn’t know very well. This might have been worsened by her cough.

If you were in M’s shoes, what would you have done to make this a more enjoyable travel experience for everyone?

Why effective communication skills are important for me

If experience builds competency, then having spent our entire lives communicating, we should all, by now, be experts in communication. Yet the existence of this module shows how the first statement does not apply.

The answer to the question of why effective communication skills are important for me is simple: because I feel that I have yet to acquire effective communication skills, and yet, understand their importance to everyday life. In particular, having less experience in professional communication, I find my skills lacking in this area, be it composing business letters, preparing a resume and application letter, facing a job interview or giving a formal presentation. Each time I am faced with any of the above situations, I find it a hair-tearing and nerve-wracking experience, which should not be the case. Having gone through my share of workshops and talks on professional communication, I have learnt a bit of the theory and some do’s and don’ts. However, such a structured course with plenty of opportunities to apply the knowledge learnt is a first.

For me, not being able to communicate effectively is a letdown to myself and to the other party involved. Communication breakdown prevents the other party from understanding your true self, thoughts and ideas (if not true, then perhaps what you actually wish to transmit). On the other hand, communication is always the beginning of everything, be it a friendship, relationship or career. It is a pity if such potential is destroyed by the inability to communicate well.