Job Interview

Interviews are never that simple. Even if you have gone for millions that you can barely count, it wouldn't get any easier for you. Infact, it is a very complicated process. It can be very stressful to the person being interviewed. Meeting new people, selling yourself as in your skills and your capabilities can be as risky as a poker game. If you don't hit the target right, you might end up losing it all.

Firstly, be prepared. Make sure you know what you are going to face. Going through frequently asked interview questions can be a great way to prepare yourself. The internet is the best source for it. This is a way to expose yourselft to the questions you are likely to be asked. Also, explain real-life experiences in your answer to convince the interviewers of your abilities. Provide clear evidences to them about your success. It is the best way to promote your candidacy.

Next, watch for what you wear. Being neat and tidy is very important. The first impression will always reflect your personality. So, make sure you show a good one. Besides that, always go for decent formals. Wearing something too tight or too skimpy will make you uncomfortable. Skirts would best compliment with closed-up formal shoes with a shirt. It will make you smart as well as diplomatic looking

Another point to consider is punctuality. Being there and showing up on time tells the interviewer that you are really interested in the job and you will remain on time all along. However, you'll leave a bad remark on yourself if you come late or miss the bus. When this happens, it leads to losing focus. Therefore, be on time and prepare yourself well

You are now armed with the right weapons for your interview. Lastly, be yourself!

Compiled by Jasneeta Kaur Bhullar

Stage Fright

"Stage fright is good, and it makes you better looking"

Many people have the greatest fear of getting into public speaking. Speaking in front of few hundred and at times, few thousand people can be very frightening. However, most of us can pull through it easily while some of us find it really difficult. Stage fright can be very critical at times. It will discourage you from showcasing your ideas and it simply kills your focus. This often leads to speech not worth listening to. Feeling anxious is absolutely normal when it comes to your first stage show. On the other hand, stage fright is the most extreme case of anxiousness and nervousness a person feel while speaking a great number of audience and might result it feeling blank and out of ideas while speaking.

Having stage fright doesn't mean it is the end of everything! Infact, there are strategies developed to overcome stage fright. First of all, be confident. The key to a successful speech lies in your confidence. Being embarrassed of your inabilities can be a contributing factor to stage fright. Practice makes perfect. Bare this in mind always that nobody on this surface of Earth is perfect. The more you practice, the better you get. As you get better, it unleashes your confidence as well. Doing it in front of a mirror, family or friends with definitely show improvement. Also, after presenting it to them, ask for honest feedbacks and correct the parts where you think you have gone wrong.

Besides that, when presenting on stage, be focused. When you are focused, you are aware of what you are speaking. Get rid of all distractions. Looking at audience frightens you? Then, the best way to overcome this, is to not think about that. Like said above, be focused on your speech rather than thinking about what others think of you. When you are focused, it boost confidence and everyone will love to see that. It simply brings the best out of yourself.

When you feel audiences are not giving you enough attention, take it from them! Reading a touching poem or cracking a joke will be an instant alarm clock to their ears. Make sure you do it the right way, or else you might end up entertaining yourself instead of others on stage. Having the right amount of rest and water before your show can improve your performance on stage. Also, when you are feeling nervous and your legs start to shake and tremble, start walking. Don't make it too obvious but just do it lightly as it will look like a part of gesture.

Playing with gestures during speech can make it more interesting. It can be your signature look. But, do not overdo it. If so, you'll look as if you are faking it!

With these steps above, I'm pretty sure that public speaking and class presentations will just be like ABC. If it still worries you, keep doing it until you get better. One thing to be noted down is never read from any source or paper. Go with the flow and do it like "freestyle"!

Compiled by Jasneeta Kaur Bhullar

Powerful words

A few weeks ago, I attended an event called the Leo Burnett + Cannes Lions Predictions 2009. It was something like a grammy award for advertisements around the world. (pardon the blur picture, it was taken with a lousy cam) The event was quite interesting. I got to see 51 top advertisements from around the world, all in which are interesting in their own way.

Some communicated humour. Some emphasized on contrasting differences to capture the attention of the audience. But the one that captured me most a Singaporean ad from MCYS. To me, this one communicated the biggest and strongest message.



The woman in this ad made me laugh, made me think, and almost made me cry at the end. In my opinion, if a 3 minute ad can invoke these 3 feelings in 1 go, it must be 1 heck of an advertisement. Obviously, the communication element here plays a vital role. The woman in the ad used a combination of spoken words, facial expressions and funny noises to communicate humour in her husband's sleeping patterns. This is the non-verbal part of communication playing its role it invoking the 1st feeling.

Then, she played with different words to make meaning of the humour she brought earlier. The sentence 'these sounds indicated to me that my David was still alive' changed the 'mood' of the ad, making you think for 1 second. & in another, the music that comes in invokes your emotional feelings.

Its amazing how a simple sentence can turn a whole speech worth of words the other way around and bring about a different meaning, a different context. This, in my opinion, is communication at its best. This is what communication is all about.

Written by,
Goh Keng Yu @ Daniel

Latin Dance Fever!

2 nights ago, I had a wonderful opportunity to witness a Latin Dance Competition held by my college's dance club. The event was a blast. The dance moves were awesome. And I couldn't help but notice the different forms of communication taking place during the event.

First off, I could never have noticed the complications involved in the communication during a dance. Yes, even dancers performing on stage is a performance of communication. And every move communicates something to the partner. Since this was a Latin dance competition, the dances had plenty of sex appeal. The moves communicated romance and passion. The dancers would look each other in the eye when they dance (or at least try to). Just by doing so, it added so much heat and chemistry to the dance, giving it a whole new feel. To me, this is the most unique part of Latin dancing.

But the interesting thing about the dance competition I attended was that the performances weren't pure Latin dances. They were rather a mix of modern day dancing and Latin dances. Purists might object to this. But the average Joe like me who doesn't know nuts about Latin dances found it quite appealing. To me, it further enhanced the communication between the dancers. It gave them more room to express themselves. Everytime their skin made contact, or when they twisted and turned on the dance floor, it wasn't just movement of the body. It was a strong message, making a huge impact.

Which is why I think you don't have to be a dancer to enjoy dancing. Dancing is an art of expressing yourself. Its an art of communication. Even kids can express themselves through a dance (:

Written by,
Goh Keng Yu @ Daniel

In the rain.

(credits to Noferin, http://media.photobucket.com/image/picture%20of%20boy%20under%20rain/noferin/rainwood2.jpg)

How do you feel standing under the heavy rain?

I happened to browse through The Star newspaper today and noticed an article regarding dramatheraphy and psychology.

"Then comes the boy's turn. In his clutch is a picture far different from the rest-a black-and white photograph of African boys holding their mouths open to the falling rain.

"This card represents hope," he says. "It gives me hope."

Before he can furnish the eager crowd with further information, however, Vanitha Chandrasegaram, 39, signals for him to stop.

"Okay,"she says."The media is here. You don't want to broadcast your innermost feelings to the entire world. And even if you do, this is a one-time demo session. We shouldn't open something we're not able to finish."

The first question that pops into my mind was, are we discouraged to express our thoughts to the world or it's dangerous to speak our perceptions in front of media?

However, I was more interested in how people perceive the picture of standing in the rain. In my perception, rain symbolizes obstacles and rain's quantity represents how difficult it is to dissolve. I would also imagine a boy opening his mouth to the falling rain might as well surrender himself to the rain by spreading his both hands. In my perspective, it shows that the boy is willing to face upcoming dilemmas with open-mindedness and courage. Besides, he did not shield himself under an umbrella signifies that he is not afraid of difficulties. The puddles of water on the ground would show his worries for his previous problems still exist.

Dear friends and readers,

Some people might perceive rain as God's beautiful creation. After hearing the music, "Kiss the rain", I felt rain is a pure element and it brings two people closer in a way although rain is cold and creates no warm. Thus, everything under the sun is viewed dissimilarly by humans. Because of perceptions, I think the most important word in our lives is "How", not "What", not even "Why". For examples, "HOW we achieve happiness", "HOW we overcome problem", "HOW we view a situation", "HOW we appreciate people around us" and "HOW we communicate".

As a conclusion, how we view on something, somebody, and some place would generate self-fulfilling prophecies which influences our consequences.

Composed by Ho Bee Ling, Gervenne

What it takes to be a leader!

Can Tyra Banks, Maria Shaparova and Tiger Woods be successful in their respective fields by only being constantly hardworking in their training sessions? I believe every powerful leader was destined to become one. Would their achievements be the same if Tyra involves herself in swimming, Maria in women football, and Tiger in basketball?

In my perception, one's genetic, childhood environment, interest, distinct personality, and fate combine to make one outstanding in a specific field.

One's genetic can help one to craft perfect skills in sports such as high stamina, optimism and techniques which were inherited through DNA from relatives and family. Besides, one is more likely to become a champion in a particular sport if they were brought up in places with sports facilities, athletes and constellations who practices sports activities. Moreover, interest for a sport plays a major role in driving one to improve his performances as well as persevere in this field. Furthermore, a recognized leader would possess various qualities which cover respect for his industry, proper time management, patient, cling to his goal and humble. Lastly, a leader may not need to strive hard to seize opportunities because opportunities will come to look for them instead.

Dear friends and readers,

However, all these aspects are redundant if one has no credible coach who grooms him, motivates him and proceeds to guide him. It is apparent that humans need wise advices as a reference and guidance to avoid procrastination.

As a conclusion, one is able to become a leader because he is very different from other ordinary people and he accomplishes tasks that ordinary people cannot do.

Here comes a fine quote from Theodore M. Hesburgh which might inspire us to become a great leader in future.

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
(credits to http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/leadership-quotes.html)

Composed by Ho Bee Ling, Gervenne

Culture and Conflicts

Culture related conflicts are often very sensitive issues that barely anyone would try to pick on. Culture is one of the most essential parts of conflict and conflict resolutions. Brieftly, culture is a a very unique thing that shapes human beings to be what they are, without culture one would be incomplete. For example, Chinese are influenced by their culture that during the Lunar New Year they ought to dress in red and Malays strongly belief in the power of green. These are all customary principles that were made to differentiate one culture from the other and a way of saying "hey, look we are different!"

Usually when solving a cultural conflict most people tend to bend on strategies of dissolution or compromising. Compromising can be that both parties are satisfied with what they want which is also known as the win-win solution or either both have zilch, which is the lose-lose solution. The strategy of dissolution means solving an issue with a third alternative which might be more attractive than the first and second one.

One of the most strongest way to dissolve a conflict is by communication. Most of us know, communication is device that is used to persuade, attract, communicated and encourage others. With using the right ways of communicating, a conflict can be solved not easily but surely. One of the ways is by using the persuassive language. If you can easily persuade the other party, then you have already won half the battle. Other ways of communicating is by explaining what is right only if you have the right stand and being humble might be a good trick to win the other parties' heart. Playing with communication ways can make you a creative one but can be a little risky. Risk lies in the high-context and low-context languages. Mostly Asians, precisely Japanese prefer the high-context language where it involves beating around the bush and not getting straight to the point. This way has the capability to annoy the other party if they were to stand on the low-context language where it involves no "bullsh*t". A Westerner, one from Canada and an asian from Japan would definitely need to work on styles in communicating as they have a vast difference. This might taking things further instead of taming it and dissolving it.

Also, don't always strive in winning. Relying on "give and take" or "give more than take" would be the best idea to resolve a conflict. There are times when we can't have what we want, so why not let others have it instead. You'll be doing a good deed for others and there goes the flowing bucket of good karma! If it is not all that beneficial, don't waste time fretting about it as it will lead to blood and war without any reward.

To conclude, culture and conflicts are best avoided if it's possible as cultural conflicts are the toughest to dissolve. It often leads further if one party does not agree to stop it. Hence, be peacemakers and not warlovers. This relates to this quatotation:

"Live long and prosper "- Mr. Murali

Compiled by Jasneeta Kaur Bhullar =)