Sunday, November 11, 2012

Final Reflection

As the semester draws to a close, a mental review of my past 12 weeks in this course showed that I've learned a great deal of useful skills. From the first lesson on communication models and active listening techniques to the last lessons on crafting business proposals and oral presentations, all of them have been immensely engaging, informative and relevant.

I want to give special mention of my experience of the lessons on job interview techniques. When I first took this module, I was aware that my interview skills were sorely lacking for various reasons, not least of all the lack of practice and the lack of heart. My resume and cover letter were amateur efforts, and I never gave much thought to my repertoire of cliche question responses. After all the peer teaching sessions, lessons, blog posts, submissions and peer reviews of my cover letter and resume, I am glad to have emerged with  respectable application documents. The mock interview sessions put me in the hot-seat and let me see the interview from HR's point of view.

After this series of lessons, I am more prepared than ever for future interviews, and what helped me the most was the peer feedback process. Having multiple people critiquing your work and giving honest feedback is an amazingly effective filter. When it was my turn to take a critical eye to the work of others, often that review process also gave me unexpected insights. My greatest difficulty was moving beyond the basic 7 'C's in my writing and expressing my personal branding. I also had to do a lot of backpedaling and rationalizing during my mock interview, because my diverse experiences are not relevant to the sector I applied for. I'm not sure if I put my best foot forward during the mock interview, but at least I learned my lesson and now I am more prepared to face a real HR panel.

That was merely my experience of the job interview series of lessons. A thorough treatment and reflection of my experience with the other parts of the module will not fit in a blog post. This has really been the most useful course in my academic life. Having said that, I need to remind myself of the importance of continual revision and improvement. These last 12 weeks, while productive, could only bring me so far. Now, the rest is up to me. Brad told us at the very beginning that how much we took out of this module depended on how much we put in; this actually rings true for any life skill. Now that I've been given these communication tools, I owe it to myself to continuously maintain and refine them.

I am really grateful
to my classmates, whose contributions in-class and out-of-class have spurred my learning,
and to Brad, for the dedicated guidance and heartwarming encouragement along the way.

Everyone in the class is an industrious and illustrious character, and I look forward to the day when our paths cross again in the future(hopefully not in front of the same interview panel nor across an interview table).

Thank you for reading and for being with me through my learning journey, I am glad to have been part of yours.

EDIT: This remains the most value-for-money course I have ever bidded for, 1 Programme point for an amazing experience. I don't understand why the rest of you all spent so many points! Wasn't it underbidded in 1A?

12 comments:

  1. Hi Bro,

    I am glad to have taken this module with you and the other classmates. I could still remember myself being so surprised when Yea Wen told me she saw your name on the class list when we went for the first lesson and subsequently you walked in. Certainly, we all learnt and enjoyed along the process. Through all the activities such as peer teaching or proposal writing, we became proficient and also developed the communication skills when we interact with our team mates or the various stakeholders during interviews. You are definitely on your way to become a successful communicator! Like what you said, hope all of us have our paths cross again in the future but not in the interviewing setting! Haha! See you around!

    Cheers,
    Yong Sheng

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    Replies
    1. Hey bro,

      Yeah, I felt the same on the first day, what were the odds? By the way, you should put 'WE are definitely on OUR way to become successful communicators!' Haha, thanks for commenting, see you in school!

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  2. Hey Han!

    Glad to have known you through this module! I certainly agree with you that this is undoubtedly one of the more sensible modules in our school. Being able to learn not only from a professional communicator, but also through meaningful interaction with one another during all our class activities have made these past 12 weeks really rewarding.

    You've got what it takes to be a communicator, no doubt about that, so you might just need to hone your skills a little more with consistent efforts, as you've mentioned it yourself, and you can definitely get the HR team on your side! Like what I told Eric, I've learnt a lot from you too, so thank you for the (mindblowing, haha!) learning experience!

    All the best for your future interviews!
    Hope to see you around school!

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    Replies
    1. Hey Huiyun,

      Glad to have known you too, I learned from your approach to writing as well. You were more quiet in the first few lessons, but in the occasions you do speak up in class, you're always very sensible. Quite encouraged to see your improvement in many aspects actually. Take care and see you soon!

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  3. Hello Han the man,

    I think that you are an individual who not only portrays yourself very well, but one that takes really good care of the others. I am really thankful to you for all your encouragement and help throughout this module. And the awesome ride home after our late night rehearsal. This course is truly very useful to each and every one of us and I believe with your level of discipline, you will be able to continuously and gradually refine your communications skills along your way in life. I am thankful that you have been part of mine and I am glad we were there with you along your learning journey. And I really love the quote that Eric have quoted in his blog

    "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." – Dr. Seuss

    I am glad ES2007S Group 7 had happened in my life and I hope you will too, smile and look back on the great times that we had. See you around in Science and Regression Analysis class next semester!

    And same as you, I was wondering why it cost the others so much for this module when I got it for 1 point as well.

    Regards,
    Shiying

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    Replies
    1. Hey Shiying,

      Thanks for your kind words. We all contributed to the team effort and you took on a great deal of the work too! I hope I can live up to your expectations, you're really more disciplined than I am. Don't overbid please, haha, see you next time in regression.

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  4. Dear awesome Han,

    Here you mentioned the mock interview again. That time I joined your interviewing group once, in the interview with Yong Sheng. I still remember your cold attitude and the way you kill the interviewee. Next time if you want to scare some body, just stare at him and he will run away immediately!
    In round 1A, I remember I bidded with 3 more CEG students. One of them was scared by our high bidding points, so he jumped to another slot. That's why we just had to pay 1 point instead of 1200+ =)) The 3 winners were you, Rohit and me :))))
    Next time if we bid some modules together, remember to tell be your bidding points haha. Just kidding!

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    Replies
    1. Hey Thao,

      Thanks for unravelling the plot! Hahaha no wonder we got this module on the cheap, thanks to our mind-game efforts.

      Was the mock interview a key experience for you too? I put on an act for the interview, I'm not like that at all in real life! I certainly hope none of us ever meet a character like that in our real interviews. It's a shame that it's vanishingly unlikely we will take the same module again, but I do hope to see you again in school!

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  5. Hi Han,

    It is good that you have chosen our mock interview as your last post for the module. It was enjoyable experience to see you grill Laura (wicked pleasure, I know). I could not stop laughing since your acting is amazingly good and you take your role play extremely seriously. Throughout the module, I have learnt that you are an amazing individual both in terms of academic and non-academic skills. hope the ES2007S have taught you another skill that will be useful i your life. I expect that your future will be a great one and if we meet again in the future, I hope both of us will be a better comunicator. After all, real learning should not stop with the end of a module.

    Regards,

    Eric

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    Replies
    1. Hey Eric,

      It was an unforgettable experience for all the people at that table, I'm sure, haha. My mock interview act really struck a chord with a lot of people, I must do something about my karma soon. Thanks for having such high expectations of me, with any luck, we will meet at the top! May we never stop learning and excelling!

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  6. Thank you for the succinct and yet comprehensive response to the final blog assignment, Han. I appreciate the way you have detailed your experience with/impression of the search process. You articulate your ideas effortlessly in the description, and of course, it warms my heart to know that you found the course and this segment in particular relevant and engaging. All in all, yours is really an excellent post.

    You've also made a major contribution throughout the term to the classroom discussions, debriefings and the various activities. The nature of the feedback on this post also bears witness to how well you have inspired your classmates.

    Thanks once more for all your effort. And all the best as you continue your life journey!

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  7. Han the man!!

    For sure! It has been a joy having this module with you. And I have learned so much from you, you were the one correcting my english and I really appreciate it, and you were the one helping me out with the econ!! I have learned so much from you, and I was glad that we ended up in the same group for the project.

    You are just amazing!! I see this blog post, how well written it is, I look at your last presentation how well delivers it was. Everything you do is with perfect results. You have to stop being so perfect, you make it difficult for us other deadly.

    I will miss you allot! Wish you all the best in the future in the "corporate life" haha! Joking, I know you will succeed no mater what you do!

    Best regards, Sumea

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