Blog post #4: Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

After my GCE ‘A’ level examination, my parents decided to bring the whole family to Australia for vacation. I was delighted to visit a foreign country and experience an entirely new culture there and also to pamper myself after the arduous ‘A’ level examinations.

We arrived in Brisbane and I was immediately taken aback by what I experienced there. The Australians generally were a very friendly bunch of people. Some of them would smile at you if you walked past them. They would even strike up a conversation with you on the bus even though they have never met you before. I vividly remembered on the first day, we had trouble finding our way back to the hotel and we requested help from this friendly Australian man with his wife. Not only did they showed us the direction to take but also painstakingly walked with us along the direction for a few hundred meters, to make sure we did not get lost.

This was a culture shock to me and my family because having lived in Singapore my whole life; I was so used to the Singaporean culture, where you get the impression that everyone is thinking of themselves. Singaporeans can be rather cynical as well and hence striking up a conversation with random people on the bus and going all out to help a stranger, were surely gestures which I have never come across before in my life in Singapore. In general, I observed that the main difference in culture between Singapore and Australia was that Singapore’s society tends to be more individualistic while Australia was more of a collective society. In Singapore, having been drilled from young to be competitive in everything we do, we lost our basic ability to be compassionate towards others. Every other person we encounter is like a competitor to us in this never ending rat race. Hence a culture of individualism arises, where simple things like a stranger asking for help could be perceived as a case of someone trying to con another person. There is always this default mind set among Singaporeans that every other person is always trying to get the better of you or that they are trying to get ahead of you, whether it is in terms of studies, work or even getting ahead in a queue for chicken rice!

If there is one thing I have learnt from my vacation trip in Australia is that different countries have differing cultures and these cultures are shaped by the people as a whole. Given Singapore’s competitive culture and fast paced lifestyle, it is natural for Singaporeans to exhibit such behaviours. However in the midst of staying competitive, we should not lose our basic moral compass and get ahead of others at the expense of disadvantaging them.

Blog post #3: Application Letter Critique

Sean Tan Jui Siang

Alpha Beta Gamma Street

#123-456

Singapore 987654
(+65) 98765432
abcdefg@gmail.com

17 Feburary 2013

Ms Nadia Lee
Human Resource Manager
REC Group (Singapore)
REC Tuas, Singapore
20 Tuas South Avenue 14
Singapore 637312

Dear Ms Lee,           

Application for Engineering internship.

I am writing in to express my interest in joining REC Group as an intern during the summer vacation period from 8^th May to 7^th August.

I am a 2^nd year Engineering student at National University of Singapore (NUS), pursuing my Bachelor’s degree. I find an internship at REC Group very enticing and am excited, at the prospects of interning at a major renewable energy company. This is because I am very interested in the fields of clean energy sources and the implementation of these energy systems in countries like Singapore, where I believe there is a huge potential for clean energy to be exploited.

I learnt about the company after attending a career fair held at NUS earlier this month. I was impressed with the company booth speaker who shared with me the insights into REC Group and how working as an intern at the company would benefit me greatly. This only served to solidify my decision to apply for an internship at REC Group.  As a high tech firm that focuses on cutting edge sciences and technology, I firmly believe that I possess the right hard and soft skills required to work in this company. Despite the fact that I have no experience working in the field of engineering, I have, over the course of my study, read many different engineering modules which I believe have equipped me with knowledge and skills required for an internship at REC Group. Currently, I am also involved in the early stages of the “Solar Decathlon 2013” competition, where a group of NUS students come together to design and build a small house that is powered solely by solar panels.  It is a competition against other international universities around the world and NUS is represented in this competition by the team that I am working with. This competition has given me relevant background knowledge on the workings of solar photovoltaic cells, which forms the basis for most of the products at REC Group such as solar panels.  As such, this competition has given me substantial exposure to the technology involved at REC Group and also imparted to me a sense of teamwork, which will serve me well if I am interning at the company.

In contrast to the hard skills that I possessed, I am a reliable individual who have no problems working with people. I am able to establish effective communication with my fellow staff and have been acknowledged as an approachable person by my former employers. Before beginning my undergraduate study at NUS, I have had taken up several ad-hoc jobs and part time jobs during the school vacation periods. The most recent of which is working as an administrative assistant staff at National University Health System (NUHS).  During my time at NUHS, I helped my supervisor carry out various tasks such as replying to emails, assisting her in arranging meetings for other staff members, delivering important documents to various departments within NUHS, handling logistics for NUS Medicine students’ examinations and other miscellaneous administrative tasks. As my supervisor is not available at all times, I have been at the front line as an administrative staff, representing her on her behalf at meetings and important events. As such, I am required to be able to communicate with other staff members from other departments as well as not get intimidated by major tasks assigned to me. Being an administrative staff meant that daily interactions with staffs from other departments were inevitable, effective communication skills were crucial for me to carry out my role effectively.  In summary, I personally feel that I possessed the required soft skills to work in any job environment.

Aside from my working life, I have served two years of national service as a Combat Engineer in the Singapore Armed Forces which has expanded my horizon on engineering military hardware. Being a heavy plant operator, I have had first hand experiences in operating three major construction vehicles, namely the excavator, dozer and shovel. The two years in the Army has taught me to be discipline, resilient and professional in my duties as a serviceman to the country. It has also taught me the importance of interpersonal communication skills as I am required to interact and work with people from all walks of life, especially when working as a team. 

If this internship opportunity is given to me, I would hope to gain as much hands on experience as I can and of course acquire the necessary skills required to become a practicing engineer in the future. You may refer to my enclosed resume for more information. I welcome the opportunity to discuss any internship opportunities with your company. Do contact me at abcdefg@gmail.com, alternatively you may call me at 98765432 to schedule an interview.

Yours Sincerely,

Sean

Blog post #2: Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

The event took place last year, when I was reading the module “Critical thinking and writing”. For this module, we are required to do a group project in which we had to do research and present our findings in the form of a final report.

 In my group, were two other members, one was a close friend of mine and the other was a student whom we both did not know (I shall name him “X”). Initially, everything went well and we all did our fair share of work. However, mid-way through our project, I started to notice “X” contributing less and less. He did not do his part of the project that we had assigned him, and he was also absent for our weekly meetings. Since he was absent during our meetings, he did not contribute his findings to the project. My friend and I were both furious at “X” because we had to do his share of the workload in addition to our own parts. Prior to the day of our report submission, I decided to confront “X”, to find out the reason behind his lack of participation. If he fails to give a valid reason, I was going to report him to our tutor. I told “X” to stay back after class, after everyone had left the room. Filled with anger, I immediately shouted at him, asking for a good explanation as to why he did not do his share of work. In response, he kept his head down, and remained silent. I asked him again furiously, hitting the table with my fist at the same time. He was startled but again did not reply to my question. He left the classroom shortly after, without giving me an answer. My friend and I had no choice but to report him to our tutor for his lack of contribution.

After the end of the module, I decided to have a serious talk with “X” to find out the reason behind his shortcomings. He revealed to me that his father had passed away some time during the course of the module. With the main breadwinner of the family gone, he needed to do part time jobs to earn some money for his family. His mother was already working full time but her income was not enough to cover the family’s expenses. He told me that he did not want to reveal any personal problems he had during the semester, as everyone has problems of their own. He explained that he had good intentions for our project and tried his best to contribute. However, work had taken up almost all of his free time and he could not find the time to work on his part.  As a result of being reported to our tutor, “X” was marked down for the project and did not do well for the module. I felt terrible that I had caused “X” to receive a bad grade and realized that I should not have reported the situation to our tutor, without listening to the real explanation from him.

My friends, what do you think I could have done differently, to deal with the situation better?

Blog post #1: Why effective communication is important for me

Wow! My very first blogpost! I have always wanted to start a blog and just express my every thought to the outside world. Come to think of it, I think it is rather exhilarating to know that there are readers out there reading your blog post that you will never meet in real life. The fact that they are taking some time off to read whatever stuff you post online kind of makes you feel powerful in some strange sort of way. Anyway, back to serious matters, effective communication! Everyone already knows how important communication is in everyday life. Whether it is discussing with your friends about the latest happenings or giving a presentation to a class audience for a group project, communication forms the basis in which information can be passed on from one person to another. To possess effective communication skills is therefore essential for an individual as there will always be interactions with other individuals throughout a person’s life.

Personally, I find effective communication skills important because I find it difficult to express my point across on some occasions. For instance, I may have a particular idea in my head but I find it hard to present the idea to another person in a concise and coherent manner. Hence, I’d loathe presentations, where I have to stand in front of an audience and give a short discussion of the topic at hand. This abhorrence for public speaking comes from the fear that I will feel nervous prior to or during some point in the presentation itself, causing myself to present the information to my audience in a very incomprehensible and often confusing manner. Therefore, I hope that through this module, I would be able to gain the skills required to give a presentation to an audience with confidence and in a professional manner.

Another reason why communication skills are important to me it’s because as a future graduate who is entering the workforce, having good communication skills will serve me well in many areas of work. Work involves many aspects in which communication is crucial. For instance, in an interview setting, being able to sell your unique selling points like what Dr Radhika Jaidev mentioned, could mean the difference between getting the job that you desire or facing rejection for the job. Thus, being able to communicate across your strengths to your potential employer is vital for job interviews.  Job interview is just one example of the many aspects of work that requires effective communication skills. Other areas of the workplace that require communication includes, engaging with clients, interacting with co-workers and communication with superiors.

Besides the importance of communication in professional applications, effective communication is also important to me in a cultural context. As Singapore is a multiracial and multi-religious society, comprising of different age generation, being able to communicate with different facets of Singapore’s society will help me foster relationships with people of different backgrounds. In a foreign country where I may not speak the native language, communication with the locals through non-verbal means like eye contact, hand gestures and being animated may help me get directions around unfamiliar territory.

All in all, acquiring effective communication skills will only serve to benefit me in many areas of my life. Communication is utilized in almost all aspects of daily life; I think no one can deny the importance of it unless that person lives under a rock his entire life and do not interact with anyone which clearly is quite an impossible scenario.