ES2007S - Zooming Back To Where It All Started

Time: Sunday afternoon before Christmas, 2009
Venue: Water fountain at the basement of The Spring, Kuching
Main characters: Stephanie (S), Valarie (V)

While sipping on our canned drinks after lunch...
V: (grumbles) CORS bidding is here again. (groans) I don't know what to bid! What do you plan to bid, S?
S: Oh, I am planning to take one Singapore Studies and ES2007S other than the core modules.
V: (looks up in interest) Hmm... ES2007S? The Professional Communication module? Why that module?
S: I thought it would be interesting to learn how to write a good cover letter and resume.
V: Oh! But there are a lot of oral presentations, right? (cringes)
S: You bet! Are you interested?
V: (takes a sip from the canned drink) I will think about it. Oral presentations are not exactly my forte.
S: Do consider it! I will be choosing the Monday slot with Brad Blackstone. My senior told me he's good!
V: (smiles) Okay.

Two weeks later, I placed 1000 points from my Programme account to bid for ES2007S, determined to win the module. Eventually, I got it with 500 points. Victory!

My main objective in taking this module was to have the ability to produce a professional and impressive resume and cover letter. Also, I felt that it is essential for me to gain some knowledge in preparing for a job interview. These two skills seem extremely crucial to me as I planned to apply for internships during the upcoming summer vacation. NUS Career Centre may provide the seminars to respond to such demands. However, I prefer to have someone else proofread my work and give me feedback instead of merely attending a seminar and being thrown with all the necessary facts. I believe I still have much room for improvement, but I am now not as clueless in writing professionally for job applications, as well as knowing what to expect in job interviews. Obeying the 7Cs in my writing as well as speech would aid in giving a better impression to the employers, too.

Despite the goal I set out to achieve, I walked away with other skills that I realised somewhere during the semester that are equally important in the professional setting. One such skill I actually gained a lot is in the oral presentation. I believe I posess a lot more confidence in delivering my presentation and am equipped with the knowledge to capture the attention of the audience.

Besides that, ES2007S has changed my perception towards teamwork, especially with people I am not close with. Previously, I generally avoid modules that require me to work collaboratively on projects and even if I have to (such as core modules), I would choose my close friends who I am comfortable working with. Now, I would say working with people I don't really know has been an interesting experience. Other than widening my social circle, I have learnt a little bit more about the culture in other countries. Indeed, it was a blessing for me to be able to work with great teammates, all from different places of origin with different cultures.

Now 13 weeks has passed and one semester is almost over. We - the Firebenders (along with other teams) - submitted the final proposal and delivered our final presentation. Reflecting back, this module is one of the modules I don't think I will ever regret. Despite its hectic workload and clash with several other deadlines at times, leading to our sleepless nights and faces full of pimples, I actually had fun and made a lot of friends I never thought was possible within one semester. I left our final tutorial session with a heavy heart, bidding goodbye to all of my classmates. Although I know everyone will part ways eventually, leading our own lives, I do hope that we constantly keep in touch over Facebook.

Before I end this blog entry, I would like to thank Brad and all of my classmates for making ES2007S such an enjoyable experience for me and also Stephanie for persuading me to take up this module. Finally, thank you very much for the cake and sparkling juice, See Chai!

Oh! And everyone, good luck in your finals!

Fearless... Not

Now that I am done with my other deadline (hurrah!), here's a recap of what I feel about my presentation.

I remember vividly that my first presentation in NUS was done with Stephanie during our first year first semester. Indeed, I was not keen at all in presenting. Well, nobody was! Since then, never in my wildest dreams did I think of voluntarily taking a module with a lot of presentations. Well, things do not always go the way you planned!

It was like any other Mondays, except I did not feel like it was a typical Monday. As I approached S9A-0103, the butterflies in my stomach started fluttering. Taking in deep breaths helped, but only for a while.

Class started, The Vans were presenting in front. Initially, it was easy to concentrate, but then I started noticing my stomach churning. I fidgeted in my seat, thinking "Oh boy, I seriously need the washroom." I scribbled a note over to LinHui, "Pssst.... Toilet!" She smiled and nodded in agreement.

Fast forward 20 minutes later, before we knew it, it was finally over! I thought I improved in my presentation this time round as compared to the previous peer teaching. I recalled that I stayed rooted in one spot throughout peer teaching, except for the tutorial sessions. Now, I seemed more comfortable moving in front of the room during this presentation. Also, I thought my eye contact with the audience improved quite a bit. I had my eyes lingering at one person longer than I did during peer teaching, although I admit I kept staring at See Chai and Stephanie more than the rest, which I think the reasons are rather obvious *grins*.

It was also my initial plan to bring my cue cards up while presenting, to say truthfully. It was practically my Bible! I thought that even if I would not be using it, at least it would give me a sense of comfort. That was until I read Deenise's blog Monday morning that totally struck me. I know every single detail of the project at the back of my hand, then why would I even need those? Besides, it would be nice to step out from the comfort zone to learn new things. It proved to be a wise move as it gave me more comfort in moving my hands and engaging myself with the audience. Previously, I had my hands full with one holding my cue cards while the other holding the remote during peer teaching!

However, I have to admit that I feel much more at ease during my peer teaching, feeling more prepared than what I felt during the oral presentation. I suppose the tiny glitch had to do with how nervous I felt at the time.

During the preparation of the presentation, I colour-coded my notes just like what I did for my peer teaching as I am a visual learner. It proved to be useful. As given during the feedback session for the Firebenders, it would be better for us to include some visual aids in our presentation slides. Nonetheless, our team has done quite a nice job in keeping the slides the minimalist style but yet still informative.

Working with LinHui, Ranmali and Ye Thu Win was indeed a great pleasure. Everyone was equally committed to the project, giving ideas, organizing and composing our smashing proposal and our oral presentation afterwards. Late night meetings at Central Forum armed with our laptops would probably be the fond memories I hold dear to my heart.

Legally Blonde: My Feedback on Deenise and Tiffany

This is going to be a very boring post. Other than Brad, you don't have to subject yourself to such torture, unless you need some pointers for your presentation delivery! =)

I will talk on Tiffany's presentation yesterday morning first. I feel that Tiffany has improved a great deal in her presentation skills as compared to her peer teaching! Great job, girl! She was much louder this time and spoke at a rather appropriate speed. Emphasis improved quite a bit as well, although there is still room for improvement. =)

Her eye contact with the audience was generally fine. It must have taken her a lot of pluck to do that. However, she seemed to get nervous towards the end of the presentation because of a small blunder and somewhat lost her poise, but she regained it soon after. So overall, I observed an obvious improvement in her presentation this time round. Great job!

As for Deenise, I noticed how relaxed Deenise was with herself while doing the presentation. She was so comfortable and confident with herself, moving around, putting the spotlight all to herself. It's rather hard to tune her out of my brain system even if I want to. Her voice was clear, loud and shows great emphasis on her arguments. Like I said earlier on, I particularly liked the part where she blacked out the screen, paced in front of it, giving a thoughtful look, acting like she's pondering on a very critical question.

Generally, both of them seem to be rather familiar with their slides.

Update on 11th April: Oh my god! I did not know that I am supposed to comment on your respective blogs instead of writing on my own blog! Very sorry!

Firebenders' Background Information #2

With the rising popularity of processed food among consumers in recent years, it is not surprising that the food and beverage manufacturing industry comprises a significant portion of the economy today. The food industry in Singapore itself is also growing tremendously, proven by the regional growth of local brands such as Yeo Hiap Seng and Gardenia as well as the influx of multi-national corporations (MNCs) like Nestlé and Cadbury's into the country. This proves that there has been a dramatic increase in the demand for well qualified food specialists.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) offers the only degree course in Singapore for the major Food Science and Technology (FST) (NUS: Food Science and Technology Programme – Director’s Message). The NUS-FST Programme is expected to provide competent and knowledgeable graduates for the developing local food industry. However, even though knowledge in the multi-disciplinary sciences is important for food technologists, many employers strongly emphasize on the need of well-developed communication skills, be it verbal or written, as well as the ability to work collaboratively.

In fact, with the shift to the knowledge-based economy, employers from most industries across the world seek graduates with strong communication skills. According to a report by the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America's Promise, more than 70 percent of employers highlight the importance of acquiring teamwork skills in diverse groups as well as proficiency in written and oral communication (2007). Similarly, a survey carried out by Dr. William Koh from the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL) of NUS showed that employers ranked teamwork and interpersonal skills among the top five abilities that graduate employees should possess (2000).

The food manufacturing industry consists of various sectors, which include product development, quality assurance and quality control. Our research specifically focuses on the communication skills required within the product development sector. Depending on the size of the food company, the main duties of a food technologist include product development, quality control and improvement of preservation and transport processes. Food technologists who work in the product development sector are responsible for developing new products and improving existing company products for local and overseas markets. The food technologist then provides technical assistance to the quality control and commercial (such as procurement, sales and customer services as well as marketing and distribution) teams, involving close cooperation between all these departments. Such collaboration is necessary to formulate and establish product design and performance objectives that suit the demands and requirements of the customers. Additionally, the food technologist is required to liaise with suppliers of raw materials to ensure the consistency and safety of the food products right from the raw material stage (Black, F. 2008).

Firstly, food technologists should possess good written communication skills, in particular reports and proposals. This is because they are required to write technical reports, cost estimates of the product design and document their work progress during product development. Besides, writing proposals are necessary for food technologists to propose their plans of developing new products and to convince their superiors the need to improve the existing products. Secondly, it is vital that food technologists have good oral communication skills to introduce their ideas in layman’s terms effectively to their counterparts at the commercial side who may not be familiar with the technical terms. Finally, with so much cooperation involved between various departments, food technologists should acquire good interpersonal skills in order to maintain healthy working relationships with their colleagues. Therefore, it is evident that on top of possessing a degree qualification in the relevant field, food technologists are required to be "team players with good communication skills". This is demonstrated by the list of job requirements by Fraser and Neave (Singapore) Pte Ltd for food product development personnel (2007).

There are three modules offered by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) of NUS to students in the Faculty of Science. They are SP1202: Communicating with the Academy, SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication and ES2007S: Professional Communication. SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication is specifically designed for Pharmacy undergraduates, and thus is unavailable for FST students. SP1202: Communicating with the Academy aims to help students improve their writing skills related to academic scientific texts and develop their critical and analytical skills. On the contrary, the main objective of ES2007S: Professional Communication is to help students communicate effectively – either in oral or written form – in various social settings, particularly in the workplace. In any case, none of these two modules are made compulsory for the graduation of FST undergraduates.

On the contrary, the food science undergraduates of the University of Surrey (UniS) – the leading university in the United Kingdom for Food Science – are required to undertake two compulsory Key Skills modules during their first two years in university. The goal of these Key Skills modules is to help students develop a better understanding on effective ways to communicate, to work with others, to solve problems and to learn. The soft skills that are addressed in these two modules include communication skills and collaborative working skills. Under the communication skills component, students have to demonstrate the ability to produce various written materials and deliver oral presentations. Alternatively, group discussions, group projects and close interaction with external contacts (eg. lecturers, employers and students from different courses) are part of the coursework under the collaborative working skills component (University of Surrey: SBMS Current Undergraduates – Key Skills in Your Degree Programme, 2006).

However, analysing from another perspective, the NUS-FST Programme makes it an essential graduation requirement for every FST undergraduate to complete the Professional Placement Programme (PPP), which entails the students to work in institutions in the food industry for a minimum period of 16 weeks. This programme aims to introduce the students to the working world as well as to improve their interpersonal skills. In contrast, the food science programme in UniS gives undergraduates the option to undertake professional training with leading food companies for the whole of their third year.

In our interview with NUS Senior Lecturer of the FST Programme Dr. Leong Lai Peng, she opined that FST undergraduates are sufficiently equipped with communication competence from the NUS curriculum. This is because students are given the opportunity to work in teams during projects and to gain proficiency in oral and written communication via oral presentations and report writing assignments. Also, Dr. Leong was of the view that undergraduates improve their communication skills considerably during their PPP in third year. However the question remains, is this really enough for employers?

Firebenders' Background Information #1

With the popularity of processed food among consumers in recent years, it is not surprising that food and beverage manufacturing comprises a significant portion of the industry today. The food industry in Singapore itself is also growing tremendously, proven by the regional growth of local brands such as Yeo Hiap Seng and Gardenia as well as the influx of multi-national corporations (MNCs) like Nestlé and Cadbury's into the country. This proves that there is a dramatic increase in the demand for well qualified food specialists.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) offers the only degree course in Singapore for the major Food Science and Technology (FST) (NUS: Food Science and Technology Programme – Director’s Message). The NUS-FST Programme is expected to provide competent and knowledgeable graduates for the developing local food industry. Even though knowledge in the multi-disciplinary sciences is important for food technologists, many employers strongly emphasize on the need of well-developed communication skills, be it verbal or written, as well as the ability to work collaboratively.

In fact, with the shift to the knowledge-based economy, employers from most industries across the world seek graduates with strong communication skills. According to a report by the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America's Promise, more than 70 percent of the employers highlight the importance of acquiring teamwork skills in diverse groups and proficiency in written and oral communication (2007). Similarly, a survey carried out by Dr. William Koh from the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL) of NUS showed that employers ranked teamwork and interpersonal skills among the top five abilities that graduate employees should possess (2000).

Our research focuses on the communication skills required within the food manufacturing industry, specifically in the product development sector. Depending on the size of the food company, the main duties of a food technologist include product development, quality control and improvement of preservation and transport procedures. Food technologists who work in the product development sector are responsible for developing new products and improving existing company products for local and overseas markets. The food technologist then provides technical assistance to the quality and marketing teams, involving close cooperation between these departments. On top of possessing a degree qualification in the relevant field, food technologists are required to be "team players with good communication skills". This is demonstrated by the list of job requirements by Fraser and Neave (Singapore) Pte Ltd for food product development personnel (2007).

There are three modules offered by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) of NUS to students in the Faculty of Science. They are SP1202: Communicating with the Academy, SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication and ES2007S: Professional Communication. SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication is specifically designed for Pharmacy undergraduates, and thus is unavailable for FST students. SP1202: Communicating with the Academy aims to help students improve their writing skills related to academic scientific texts and develop their critical and analytical skills. On the contrary, the main objective of ES2007S: Professional Communication is to help students communicate effectively – either in oral or written form – in various social settings, particularly in the workplace. Nonetheless, none of these two modules are made compulsory for the graduation of FST undergraduates.

In our interview with NUS Senior Lecturer of the FST Programme Dr. Leong Lai Peng, she opined that FST undergraduates are sufficiently equipped with communication competence from the NUS curriculum. This is because students are given the opportunity to work in teams during projects and to gain proficiency in oral and written communication via oral presentations and report writing assignments. Also, Dr. Leong was of the view that undergraduates improve their communication skills considerably during their Professional Placement Programme in third year. However the question remains, is this really enough for employers?

Of Mandarin Oranges: On Intercultural Differences

I would like to start on this entry wishing everyone a joyous and prosperous Chinese New Year! Many would think that Malaysia and Singapore are culturally similar in almost every aspect (if not culturally identical!), but an interesting encounter I experienced last year amidst the Chinese New Year celebration may have you think otherwise.

I returned back to Singapore from Malaysia on the third day of Chinese New Year and was invited by my boyfriend's (a Singaporean) family to visit them. After some brushing-up and preparation of gifts I brought back from Malaysia, I was ready to go. However, I was halted abruptly by my boyfriend. "Where are the mandarin oranges?" he asked. I got puzzled and queried, "What mandarin oranges?"

Apparently, it is customary among the Singaporean Chinese population to bring two mandarin oranges to exchange with the host family when visiting during Chinese New Year, which signifies blessings of prosperity and wealth to the family. On the contrary, this is rarely practiced in Malaysia, specifically Sarawak. Mandarin oranges are merely used for display at home or are served to visiting guests during the celebration.

Fortunately, my boyfriend had some mandarin oranges with him and gave me two before we left. Imagine the awkwardness and embarrassment that would take place if he did not tell me about it! I am certainly much well prepared for the celebration this year round.

Through such incidences, it reminds us of our level of cultural ignorance, leading us to assume that other cultures have similar practices as our own culture. Such ignorance can possibly lead to adverse consequences due to misunderstandings. Hence, it is essential that we be culturally aware and sensitive to various cultural behaviours to avoid conflicts in interpersonal relations between different cultures.

P/S: I asked around my friends from different states of Malaysia. It is interesting to note that while most Sarawakian friends I know are unaware of this tradition, many of my West Malaysian friends do practice this.


Photosource: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/

Application Letter Critique #2

Blk XX, #0X-XX-A
XX Prince XXXXXX’s Park
Singapore XXXXXX.
u080XXXX@nus.edu.sg

2nd February 2010

Ms. Eileen Ho
Senior Human Resource Executive
Wyeth Nutritionals (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
1 Tuas South Avenue 4
Singapore 637609.

Dear Ms. Eileen Ho,

APPLICATION FOR THE POSITION OF ASSISTANT CHEMIST

In reference to your advertisement in Jobstreet.com on 29 January 2010, I would like to apply for the position of Assistant Chemist with Wyeth Nutritionals. Please find my resume enclosed.

I am currently in my graduating year of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons.) majoring in Food Science and Technology (FST) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In addition to my degree, I was attached to DSM Nutritional Products Asia Pacific in the quality assurance and control unit for five months. This opportunity has familiarized me with the operation of various laboratory instruments, which include high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) equipments as well as providing me experience in the nutritional industry. I am eager to apply my scientific knowledge and skills if I am given an opportunity to contribute to your company.

I believe I have the qualities that the job requires – an organized and meticulous individual with excellent analytical and problem solving skills. My position as a temporary clerk in Standard Chartered Bank has improved my organizational skills. As I do not believe that grades are the be-all and end-all of a student’s self-worth, I have taken the time to participate in co-curricular activities and take up leadership roles to develop my communication and interpersonal skills. Such examples include the NUS Rotaract Club and the NUS Food Science and Technology Society. Besides, I feel that I have demonstrated time management skills and self-motivation by balancing my co-curricular activities with study.

I am largely motivated to seek employment with Wyeth Nutrition due to its excellent reputation of R&D in pediatric nutrition. I would find the post of Assistant Chemist a valuable and exciting working experience, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I am available for interview at your convenience anytime.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,




(my name)

Link to job advertisement: http://www.careersinwyeth.com.sg/jobs/jobdesc.asp?type=0&eid=2783794&jid=2212727&did=0&its=0&src=8&itn=