As I approach the conclusion of my third year in the university, all of a sudden, the thought of looking for a job in a year’s time never felt so real and intimidating. For me, my journey through university had been one of discovery and exploration. I took arts modules as well as Business modules to gain a better understanding of the world we live in. To my surprise, I realised that there was a basic similarity to all these subjects, and that is: human interaction. I came across a quote by Albert Einstein, whom once said:
“When we survey our lives and endeavours, we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires is bound up with the existence of other human beings. We notice that our whole nature resembles that of the social animals.” (Albert Einstein, 1934)
Even engineers, who rarely work with large groups of people, are still required to work in smaller teams, as well as with other teams to solve engineering problems. As an aspiring engineer, I think should I possess the skills for effective communication, it would be a cinch to overcome any challenging tasks assigned to my team.
On a more personal note, as a secondary and junior college student, I used to fear presentations and any form of public speaking so much that I would be practically be shaking and perspiring even before the presentation. During the presentation itself, I will probably be caught stumbling over my words and stammering into incoherency. These reasons were what gradually led me to believe learning to communicate effectively via written as well as verbal means, is an quintessential life skill that should prove useful whether I am looking for my first job, or am well into my job as an engineer or otherwise.
Hi Ho Zong, it is nice to read your post and be the first person to comment. Time flies fast and we are approaching our final year before going out there to seek for a job, which does not seem that easy nowadays especially when there is a pool of graduates. Thus, I agree with you that the need for effective communication skills is vital especially employers nowsadays are not just looking for candidate who posses good knowledge and/or technical skills but also their soft skills. In addition, being an engineer indeed requires one to be participated in small teams as to complete a large-scale project, thus the need for communication skills is paramount. However, it is always a challenge for every engineer to be equipped with these skills as it takes time to practice and adapt. Nevertheless, I hope you can share this principles and practices to your fellow engineers or colleagues so as to build a better workplace for all
ReplyDeleteHi Ho Zong:
ReplyDeleteLooking at your presentation today, I believe that you have grown to become a confident and effective presenter as compared to your previous presentations. Since I am not too sure of the requirements for an engineer, the insight on the importance of communication skills to engineers, provided by Kent and you, is quite informative.
Subsequently, I agree with both Kent and you that interpersonal and communication skills are just as important as technical abilities in achieving success in today’s society. As the labour market become more competitive, we would thus need effective communication skills to support and complement the technical skills and knowledge that we have learnt in school. I hope we can learn as much as we can from this module and apply to the profession we would be in.
With regards,
Kar Liang
Hello my fellow team mate!
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel the same way that seeing yourself next time in working, adult life-style feels intimidating. Especially in things such as communicating well with others.
Judging from your post about how you were fearful about presentations before, it's definitely amazing that you have been able overcome and conquered the skill of communicating well. Hopefully I can do the same too.
I strongly agree that engineers too, not just businessmen, needs great communication. It is about handling workers and collegues well to build an outstanding structure. I'm sure you will one day become a successful engineer!
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, thank you for the “cheese-burger” lesson yesterday. It was informative and entertaining (I personally admired George Clooney especially for his role in the movie “Up in the Air”) with the adept use of illustrations and video clips to drive home the learning points.
Fear of public speaking and presentations is but only natural to everyone less a select few exceptional born leaders. But like any other skill, it can be developed to a certain extent, as you surely did not stumble over your words nor shake – at least not explicitly – during the peer teaching yesterday. Well done!
Regards,
Sam
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all your kind and valuable feedback, I really had no idea communication involved this many factors until I signed up for this course.
As Kar Liang, Kent and Jia Ai had pointed out, I think effective communication should not just stop when one manages to secure the job, but is applicable, and in fact a vital skill in the workplace.
Lastly, thank you Sam for your kind words of encouragement, though we were the first group to present, I felt I had picked up quite some tips and techniques for an effective presentation. I will certainly apply them in any upcoming presentations.
Regards,
Ho Zong
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteIt's a very good post, capturing the importance of effective communication to you. However, I would have liked to see a better title, considering you gave much thought to the title of your entire blog.
On Sam's comments in class and in his response,I am wondering if the class were offended by the "vulgarities". The level of tolerance between the west and east is different and the level of tolerance between members of the same society differs.But what should be the acceptable level?
Hi Ms Goh,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind compliments. With regards to the video, we tried to remove the "vulgarities" as best we could, but given the limited video editing options we had and time constraints, we were not able to remove the said segments without disrupting the flow of the video.
Personally, I feel that given the influx of foreign films with liberal use of "vulgarities", our society should now be more accepting of it's usage. However, this is a generalised statement, and perhaps removing those potentially offending words would be the ideal.
Regards,
Ho Zong