Reflection

I was talking to my uncle sometime last year asking him what it is that future employers look for in a candidate; this was the period when I was frantically applying for job, trying to get a better understanding of the job environment. He said that the common denominator to all that they are looking for is confidence. To be able express one’s self with self confidence. To present one’s self with assurance, clarity and eloquence. He said that while technical knowledge can be gained through training, soft skills, such as confidence, is much more difficult. Of the gazillion modules I have taken in NUS, I can say with surety that this is the only module where I felt that I was building on my confidence, on my social intelligence. While I did have presentations in my previous modules, the main objective (and this was largely expected of us) was to data-dump. BUT thank god for this module.

From day one, Brad had set such a positive tone for our classes. I could make mistakes, say the silliest things and yet not feel so silly about it. I received so many words of encouragement and an equal amount of constructive criticism, not just from him but from all my classmates. There was never a wrong answer. There was just so much reflection; of one’s self, of one’s project, of one’s presentation, of one’s blog, of one’s past experiences. You can’t help but gain a better understanding of yourself, of who you were and who you are now. For this, thank you.

But of course, when I took up this module, I did not realise there was going to be so much work, soooooo much work.

I wrote my first blog. It took me 3 hours to type it out. I was just so self conscious of every word I was typing. Do I sound too presumptuous? Do I sound too cheesy? Is it too personal? Is it too impersonal? Do I sound too boring? Do I sound like myself? But as the weeks proceeded, I learnt to be much less self-conscious, less inhibited. Writing has always been a problem for me. But this blogging exercise has helped me tremendously. For this, thank you.

I learned so much from the writing of our cover letter and resumes and CVs. I had no idea so much detailing went into it: the addressing of person correctly, the formatting, the structural organisation, following the 7C’s, the spacing, the bolding, the italicing and the list goes on. After multiple modifications I managed to get a cover letter and CVs which, I would like to believe, is compelling. And it was largely this that gave me my interview opportunities. For this thankyouthankyouthankyou.

And lastly the group projects, more specifically the peer teaching and the NUSEU proposal. My peer teaching was with Jiv and Div. The main take away from this project was that even though each of us had our own strong opinion, we were able to accommodate all our ideas and produce a fairly good teaching session. Both of them are amazing team players. And I greatly admire their focus and efficiency. Thank you girls.

And for my NUSEU Proposal group mates, Jon and Ronnie, I enjoyed every bit of the time spent with them. It never seemed like I was “working” and yet we were almost always on track. Jon’s creativity and computer savvy skills and Ronnie’s ridiculously insightful analytical skills were great assets to our project. They were also very supportive, encouraging but also corrected me when I was wrong. Thank you, guys.

And to the rest of my classmates, thank you for being there, for all your comments, criticism, insight and humour.

And Brad, you once mentioned that when you look back at your college days, you most vividly remember those moments when you interacted with your friends, classmates. And you hoped that this Prof Comm mod would be one of ‘those moments’ for us. Well, I am rather positive it would. What we learnt here, we cannot possibly undo. It will be with us. So Brad for this and so soo much more, thank you.