Intercultural Differences

This particular incident happened to me recently and it really made an impression on me when it happened so it was quite natural that it was the first thing that came to mind when asked to write about an intercutural conflict that happened.

I was at Parkway Parade with a couple of friends on a Saturday afternoon. After our lunch at the food court, we wanted to go window shopping so we went to the lift lobby to take the lift up. There was a Caucasian lady, with her trolley and her two children sitting in it, at the lift lobby when we got there. When the lift came, one of my friends moved forward to try to get into the lift but the Caucasian lady snapped at him for not queueing up. We were all completely stunned!

I think that Singaporeans are generally well-behaved. We (sort of) queue to get onto the bus, we queue to buy food. There is a "first come first serve" mentality. However, in the above situation, there was absolutely no question that both groups of people would be able to fit into the lift. And usually, nobody really queues for the lift right?

A Characteristic That Makes Me Unique.

I would have to say that being passionate about the things I do is a characteristic that makes me unique. I think that this is a trait instilled in me by my father. When I was young, I would watch my father work tirelessly on his computer for hours. He would get frustrated and annoyed but yet he would still be there, in front of his computer, trying to get a formulae right or trying to debug a program.

During the university application process, I asked him for some advice on choosing my course of study in the University. He only had one piece of advice to give and that was to choose whatever I liked to do because if I liked it, it just becomes that much easier to do. And that even if I had to work extremely hard on it, it will seem that little bit more worth it because it is something I like.

I was in the choir in secondary school and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I was so passionate about choral and classical singing that I started attending voice lessons other than just choir practice. I am still taking voice lessons to continually improve my singing technique, vocal production as well as to expand my musical knowledge. After graduating from secondary school, I went on to join the choir in my Junior College and now, besides performing regularly at student recitals, I am also singing in an Alumni choir.

I am not only passionate about the things I like, I am also able to find joy in seemingly mundane tasks. I did some part-time work as a waitress once and although the tasks were simple, like taking food orders, clearing of tables, serving of food, I managed to make the most out of the whole experience and I found it quite enjoyable. I made it a personal challenge to provide excellent service to any customer and tried my utmost to fulfill any request they made.

Apologies.

Hey all, I have been really really busy this weekend and I have a midterm on Tuesday to study for. So I have asked Brad for an extension. I will be submitting my entry on Tuesday night instead.

Sorry for the trouble. =(

Pick Me, PICK ME!!

This is a slightly different cover letter from the one I brought to class on Friday. On Friday night, I received an e-mail from NUS Career Services advertising some vacation internship opportunities. Maybe it was because I have been influenced by this class? I was actually quite interested in what sort of internships they had to offer so I went ahead to check it out. As it turns out, there was one internship which caught my eye! So there I was, at 2330h on a Friday night, trying to modify my cover letter and resume (the ones I brought to class) into something relevant for my internship application.

At 0130h (Saturday morning), I was done and I thought that my final product was actually much more impressive than the one I produced in class. So, that’s what I’m going to show. Who doesn’t want to impress, right?

Right, so I’m applying for an internship as an Analyst in a Investment Consultancy. Its key candidate requirements are:

1. Full-time matriculated students from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Economics) or School of Business (Accountancy, Business Policy, Finance, Management & Organization, Marketing)
2. Preferably in the third year of study.

Unfortunately, I only fulfill one criterion, the lesser one. But I thought, hey, why not just apply? It won’t hurt. If I don’t get it, I don’t get it. If I get it…I get extra moolah in December. Yay! I realize that I’m being extremely long-winded here. I just wanted to explain (to Audrey and Feodor, if they happen to read this) why my cover letter is so stunningly (can mean either good or bad. You guys decide) different. So here goes…

5 September 2009

Director
XXX Pte Ltd
Level 26, South Tower
One Raffles Quay
Singapore 048583

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to introduce myself and express my interest in applying for an internship as an Analyst in your company. I came to know of this Internship through the Career Services website of my school, the National University of Singapore. I noticed, on the website, that you were only looking for Economics majors and Business majors for this internship. However, I believe that with my strong Mathematics background, I would be as qualified for this internship as the Economics and Business majors.

I am currently in my third year of undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore and with my background in Pure Mathematics, I believe that I possess the appropriate mathematical, critical thinking and analytic skills required for the internship you will provide. It was mentioned, in the website, that the learning outcomes you have planned for this internship include the preparation of financial models as well as the preparation of financial memorandums. And although I have no formal financial training nor any experience in financial modeling, I strongly believe that my Mathematics background has equipped me with the skills to pick up these skills on the job. Furthermore, the purpose of an Internship is to learn. I believe that I will definitely learn from such an experience.

I also have the intention of pursuing a Masters degree in Quantitative Finance after obtaining my Bachelor of Science. This internship would undoubtedly give me a thorough insight into the financial industry as well as prepare me for my graduate studies.

I would welcome an opportunity to further discuss my qualifications with you and how I would be of an asset to the company during the internship. I am excited to also learn more about the skills I will be picking up from this internship. I can be reached at the number and e-mail address provided below. I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours Sincerely


Chew Pei En
45 Jalan Taman
Singapore 328991
Ph: +65-91505122
E-mail: chew_pei_en@hotmail.com

Edit: 2244h, Sunday. Thanks Michelle.

Help Me Solve This!

It wasn't hard at all, for me, to find an interpersonal conflict to write about. There has been an incident that has been weighing heavily on my mind recently and I think that it would be a great opportunity to gather some suggestions as to how one should go about resolving such a conflict. I think that this is a situation in which many will sooner or later find themselves in, although it might not be in such a setting or to such exaggerated proportions. So, it will be very useful for everyone to pull a couple of suggestions together.

I have a friend who is the President of some CCA in a particular university in Singapore. One night, I received an sms from her telling me that she has been crying every night and she was afraid that she might fall into depression if this kept up. So I called her to try to console her. When I got her on her phone, she was crying hysterically and was hiccupping in between words. This was what she told me, in brief:

Three nights ago, she was in her CCA studio when she saw a group of people in a heated discussion. She went over to try to mediate. They told her that the event her CCA was supposed to be rolling out the very next day was still not completed. This event was not headed by her, but by her Vice-President, who has never taken a liking to her. However, as they were unable to contact the Vice President at that time, my friend decided to step in and lend them a helping hand.

When they were finally able to contact the Vice President, the Vice President became monosyllabic and cold when she learnt that my friend stepped in to help. My friend mentioned that she wanted to explain things to the Vice President but was never given the opportunity to because the Vice President kept ignoring her.
They still have a couple of months in office before handing over to the new committee and my friend says that she doesn’t want to leave things in such a bad state. She says that their relationship now is worse than before (and it was never good to begin with).

How should my friend go about repairing this broken relationship so that their committee can work well before the hand-over?

What Effective Communication Means To Me.

I’ve never thought about what effective communication meant to me. I mean, I can speak and I can hear. How is that ineffective? Do we need another sensory feedback facility? Somehow, throughout my life, I’ve never thought further than my tertiary education. With two more years left in NUS, I guess now is as good a time as any to start thinking about my future. Regardless of whether it lies in graduate school or in the workplace, being able to communicate well with others will definitely help me to progress in life.

I’ve never been much of a group project kind of person, or a presentation kind of person either. I’d very much prefer to work alone compared to working with others. Also, I’d cringe whenever I have to give presentations. These things are such a big deal to me that I avoid modules with projects or presentations at all costs. I think I’ve always worried about the conflicts that might arise due to clashing personalities or group members submitting sub-standard work or even about whether I can get my ideas across to my audience precisely. Wow, reflecting on that, I think I would benefit lots by equipping myself with solid communication skills. Just the ability to share my thoughts more accurately with others as well as the ability to communicate and deal with people better would help me tremendously. I believe that being able to connect well with people, being able to perform well during interviews and being able to write informative and impressive applications will prepare me for the world when I leave school. It would even benefit me when I start on my final year project next year.

This blog post sort of functioned as a platform for self-reflection. I started out (yeah, this whole post took me about 3 hours to type out) not having a clue what effective communication meant to me. Yet now I see that even in school, I need to have a good grasp of communication skills so that tasks like group projects, presentations and SEP application become smooth and painless processes. It’ll be even more important out in the real world (that’s not to say that while in NUS, we’re living in some Sims-like virtual world) when we get to interact with a more diverse group of people—people from different races, backgrounds, religion, social status; I still want to get my message across clearly and I still want to be able to speak and share confidently.