Final Reflection on Learning (Post #6)

It has been 4 months since we started our journey on becoming great professional communicators. And here we are at the end of the semester writing our last blog posts. It feels like it was only last week we were in our first class in a seminar room at the Faculty of Science. Time does fly quickly.

This post is about reflection on the things that we have learned throughout this course. The skills I have picked up are given below:

• Public speaking: The oral presentation, peer teaching and even the elevator pitch all focused on improving our presentation skills. And I think it is safe to say that each one of us did really improve ourselves over the time of this course. I am now more comfortable presenting infront of a crowd. I still have room for a lot of improvement but I guess this module helped me to take the first step towads becoming a better speaker.

• Writing: Blogging helped me improve my writing skills. Writing the blog posts was a lot of fun too.  While reading others' posts was another great way to get new perspectives on the same subjects. Everyone knows you can't be a better writer if you don't read and by reading I did gain some insightful experiences which I would have never gained otherwise. It was interesting to see how each one of us can write a completely different post about the same topic. 

• Job search: The feedback from my peers and Brad has helped me to improve my cover letter. The peer teaching session on writing cover letters was very helpful too. My resume has received a complete makeover after that. I am now more confident than ever before about going to an interview, thanks to the mock interviews.

Throughout this module one thing which was prevalent is peer review. Each and every class we reviewed each other, from our presentations to proposals. I liked how we always got a chance to improve our material after we receive feedback from others. This has definitely made a big difference. For example, my cover letter was totally rewritten after receiving peer feedback. And God only knows what our peer presentation would have been like without the mock presentation feedbacks. So, I think this is something which was very helpful to all of us.

It has been the most memorable module of my NUS life till now and by the looks of it, I can safely assume it will hold that place. When all the other modules in Engineering are so boring and uninteractive this module was like a breath of fresh air. I think two key things made my experience with this module so unique and satisfying. One was defnitely Brad - his unique take on teaching and emphasis on interactivity has worked like a charm. Secondly, all my classmates for this module have been wonderful. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful. Also, as there was so much diversity in class, it really helped us to become more culturally aware. 

Since the first day I had stepped inside this class, I have changed a lot for the better. This module will definitely be remembered for three things: for all the things it has taught me, for all my peers and for Brad. 

Thanks everyone for all your helpful comments and feedbacks on my blog. It was a  pleasure working with all of you. Best of luck with your exams!

Reflection on Oral Presentation (Post #5)

Finally, the oral presentation is over! This was a long week…

As our group was the last one to present, the pressure was on us to deliver. The first two teams, Liberty and Solution Diggers, were very, very impressive. Everyone was so professional and so well prepared that we had to work hard to match their level of performance. We met numerous times within this week to prepare the slides and also to practice.We changed our presentation according to the feedback received from our peer review team and Brad. We also reviewed each other within our team to make the presentation and delivery better.

I have to say, I have never prepared so much for a presentation in my life! And I believe it paid off to some extent, for me personally, as I am not a natural public speaker. Despite of that, I guess I did an OK job. I was glad that I didn’t have to look at the slides and didn’t stammer during the presentation. However, my biggest blunder was to insist on using the keyboard for controlling the slides. As many of my peers have pointed out, standing behind the computer was a mistake as it prevents the audience from seeing the presenter. I should have placed myself where the rest of my team mates stood for presenting their parts.

Now, I have to thank my teammates for doing such a wonderful job. I knew what Gwen was going to talk about, still I found myself listening intently what she was saying because she was just so enthusiastic and fluent in her delivery. Johanna differentiated our presentation from the rest and made it a whole lot more interactive by using the whiteboard. Last but not the least, Jae was naturally so charismatic and energetic that she managed to engage the audience and end the presentation with an impact.

I think our slides were also one of our positive aspects. We were inspired by the slides we see at all the TED talk presentations. We wanted to focus on one thing at a time on each slide. However, after seeing the first two teams’ slides, we wondered if our slides were a bit too minimal because both the Solution Diggers and Liberty’s slides had a professional template and followed a conventional style. In contrast ours looked very basic. In the end though, we decided that we liked the minimalistic look more and chose to go with it. Looking back, it seems we made the right call because it seems our peers liked our presentation slides after all.

At last I would like to add the fact that this oral presentation helped me to learn how to speak in front of an audience. I was the one beginning the presentation, all the more reason for me to be nervous. Practicing really helped me in being a little less nervous because I knew what I was going to talk about. As Amy Cuddy said, “Fake it till you become it” right? Here’s hoping nobody noticed my nervousness, ha ha!

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (Post#4)

I came to NUS around 2010 and I have been living in Singapore for about two years now. It was the first time I had ever visited Singapore. Naturally, many of Singapore’s customs were completely new to me. Take the Hungry Ghost Festival for example. For those of you who don’t know, it is a Chinese tradition of feeding wandering spirits during the seventh month of the lunar calendar and lasts for the whole month. They offer the dead sumptuous meals: meats, fish, fruits, cakes and alcohol; you name it!

The spooky meal...

So, when I first saw these bulks of unattended food just lying around, I was quite surprised. I didn’t know what to make of it. It was clear no one intended on eating it, nobody even spared a second glance at it as if it was completely normal to keep nicely decorated food lying on the sidewalk. Among the passers-by, it was only me who was inspecting the whole situation. I did try to be as inconspicuous as I can get. I was thinking to myself, why would anyone throw away food like that? Was it rotten? It didn’t look like it; the food looked fresh and was well decorated. I also saw little incenses were lit up beside the food. This made me further curious about the whole situation. I didn’t know whom to ask about this little mystery. Suddenly, an auntie came out of nowhere and offered me some of the food! I was taken aback, and refused politely. She noticed I was staring at the food all along and must have assumed I was hungry! I quickly fled from the spot.

Afterwards, I asked a local friend of mine about this. He was the one who enlightened me about the Ghost Festival. Apparently, Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore believe that the gates of Hell open on the 7th lunar month, freeing the spirits of the dead to roam in the world of the living. The living, in turn, must make offerings of food and burnt prayer money to the souls of the dead to appease them.

When I told him about the brief encounter with the auntie, he burst into laughter. He said those food are eventually eaten by the less privileged. And the auntie must have thought I belong to the same group. It was so embarrassing. If only I knew about this festival earlier! A little knowledge about others’ cultures goes a long way. When I reflect back on the experience today, I see how inexperienced I was at communicating with strangers from a different culture. I could have easily handled the situation by asking the auntie what was going on. Instead I just got nervous due to being new to this country and made a complete fool of myself. Well, I guess that’s the price you pay for being unable to communicate effectively.

Cover Letter (Post#3) [UPDATED]

MOHAMMAD HASAN

25 Prince Georges Park, #02-07, Singapore (118424) | +65 84095154 | mohammadhasan@nus.edu.sg

19^th September, 2012

Human Resource Manager

Credit Suisse AG (Investment Banking)

One Raffles Link, #03-01/#04-01

Singapore 039393

Application for internship at Credit Suisse as a Summer Analyst

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a 3^rd year Electrical Engineering student at National University of Singapore, doing my Bachelor’s degree. I am eager to join Credit Suisse as a summer intern because I believe I possess the necessary qualities required for the job. A senior of mine recently shared his working experience at Credit Suisse with me; with these new insights about the working environment and overall culture of the company I was very impressed. In addition, I attended a career talk organized by Credit Suisse on NUS campus. This career talk propelled me to apply for this internship.

In the career talk, the presenters specified they look for characteristics like leadership, effective communication, analytical skills etc. in candidates. With my engineering background and programming experience I am certain that I possess the problem solving skills that your company is looking for. During a university project, I built a working prototype of an automatic artifact protection control system for museums by programming a microcontroller board, which required me to analyse and solve problems on a daily basis throughout the project.

Besides analytical skills, I am also highly competent at communicating and dealing with people. I am able to communicate and articulate my thoughts effectively. I have scored 8.5 out of 9 in the world’s most popular English language proficiency test, called International English Language Testing System (IELTS); which goes to show the validity of my claim. Moreover, through doing many projects at university and holding vital positions at different clubs, I have gained invaluable interpersonal skills and grown accustomed to working in a team to achieve a common goal. For instance, I was the IT Director of Bangladeshi Students Committee and had to fully coordinate the production of the club’s T-shirt from designing to printing under a strict timeline. Just before two days of the launch of the t-shirts, the manufacturer informed us they cannot deliver on time due to some technical problems. I had to think on my feet about my next course of action because I had to meet the deadline. I called multiple manufacturers and had to negotiate the pricing to fit my budget. Although I had to stay up all night, I was able to meet the deadline and deliver the T-shirts right on time.

Additionally, at NUS I have also taken multiple business modules such as Accounting and Economics to have a fundamental idea about the financial world. Your company’s career talk really sparked genuine interest in me and I look forward to working at Credit Suisse. I am sure that I can add more value to your company by offering my range of technical, analytical and social skills. Moreover, I know Credit Suisse strives to have a diverse workforce and has employees from more than a 100 countries. Being a Bangladeshi, I would be able to add to the diversity of the workforce and enable the company to leverage on my unique perspective and talents to achieve its business goals.

I have enclosed a copy of my résumé for your reference. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss my qualifications with you and learn more about Credit Suisse at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at 84095154 or via email at mohammadhasan@nus.edu.sg. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Mohammad Hasan

Enclosure: Résumé

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Post #2)

Last year I joined the NUS International Relations Committee as a publicity officer. In addition to gaining valuable experience, it would also secure on campus accommodation for me. There was a big event coming up and everyone in the committe was working hard towards making that event a success. For two semesters I attended all meetings discussing on ways to promote the event further and worked on designing posters, banners and t-shirts for it.

I worked under a friend of mine who was the publicity team’s head officer. During meetings sometimes we had our fair share of differences. There were a few times when I questioned his ideas and pitched some of my own ideas instead, which were granted by the higher officials. After a few of these disagreements, I could feel his behaviour was getting colder towards me. But I didn’t pay too much attention to it as I thought they were only temporary and became busy with the event instead. In time, the event was successfully held and we were done with our roles in the committee.

At the end of the semester they released the names of the members who got their accommodation confirmed. My name was not on the list. I was stunned and couldn’t understand the reason behind this as the committee had enough quota to recommend everyone who needed housing. I was upset because not getting accommodation meant I had to move out of campus. It meant I had to stay away from all my friends on campus and also meant long dail commutes to and from the university, not to mention the added expense of transportation and higher rent for off campus housing.

I contacted the committee’s director himself and informed him about the situation. The director told me I wasn’t offered accommodation because according to him, I hadn’t even applied for it! After a bit of investigation I found out my aforementioned friend “forgot” to include my name on the list of people who needed accommodation. I couldn't believe he could do this to me! It seemed pretty evident at that point that he did this on purpose just to put me in trouble. It was then when I understood he hadn't forgotten about those disagreements and held a grudge against me all this time.

So, how could I have avoided a situation like this, where my own friend sabotages my housing arrangement? 

Effective Communication Skills (Post#1)

Effective communication skills are important to everybody. From formal job interviews to personal conversations, it is imperative to be able to communicate with others clearly. To me the most important skill that I hope to pick up during this course is definitely oral communication. Most managers are very proficient in communicating effectively in work environments, which I think is the key to success in career development. In this day and age, competition is huge in the job market and this skill will definitely help me out during interviews.

For example, in an interview you have to be confident to get selected. That confidence comes from knowing that you are good in communicating with others. Stuttering and hesitating while answering a question doesn’t leave a very good impression. Moreover, how do you deal with problems at the workplace if you don’t know how to connect with your colleagues or even the boss?

Moreover, it is also a tool for personal growth to me. By conversing with people we can share our experiences and grow as individuals. How much can you experience the world by yourself anyway? It is always interesting to learn about another person, and if that person is from a different culture its even better! And there is no better way to hear it from his/her own mouth.

However, I think oral communication is challenging because you have to think on your feet. During a sms conversation you can just think and articulate your replies before hitting the send button, whereas during an oral conversation you have to just keep talking and responding promptly. Moreover, being a person with English as a second language I am not much fluent and confident in talking in English as I am in writing it. But I hope to change that this semester!