Sunday, September 24, 2006
Hey everybody! Finally booked out to taste some bit of freedom after 2 weeks being confined in that miserable island. Everyday we see SIA aeroplanes flying in and out of Changi Airport and I visualise, IF ONLY it could be me on any of that flight. haha. Being in NS made me appreciate every little things that we used to take for granted from the washing machine to home cooked food. Just 2 weeks in Tekong made me miss Ngee Ann a bit... even though we study relatively lesser here (still do attend lectures on various topics like team building, first aid, national education etc) but in terms of peer-to-peers relationship, it is much more complicated in NS as being in the leadership batch and many people are trying to fight for that exclusive slots into command school, often resulting in actions that aren't very nice at times.
Anyway 2 years of my life shall now be dedicated to serving the nation (talking like this due to the national education lectures, i supposed) and the first 2 weeks had been great. Saw familiar faces here and there, saw long lost friends from secondary and primary school days and even met one of my commanders whom we used to club together!
Ms Fong, haha, you are so anxious! i think the sex of the baby still cannot be determined at 15 weeks right?
Thanks to the lecturers who had kindly helped us pay for the chalet, we had great fun playing dumb games overnight (esp Matte rite?) =)
Take Care
Thursday, September 21, 2006
News flash
Sorry for being out-of-date with the news..
they're really keeping me bz here with the workload leaving me with no time to skive.. :P
Ms Fong..
what preview did I give?
Y do I not know that I was giving a preview?
what module will you be teaching?
Oh..
and..
I can help give names too.. :)
Just tell me whether you want boy or girl names..
haha..
I hope you all will enjoy your holidays..
or whatever's left of it..
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Hi students, what are all of you doing now during the vacation? Working? playing? or sleeping most of the time?
Hope all of you who were at the BBQ sharing session have enjoyed yourselves and also learnt much from the seniors and from Mr Nazri (Ms Fong's hubby).
Thank you to everyone of you for making the function a success - organising it, preparing the food, etc and also attending the function.
I enjoyed the food and also your company when watching the Singapore Idol. So now the competition is between Hady and Jonathan. Who will win? What says you?
Mabelline: How are you? Any bruises after that fall in the BBQ sharing session?
Thank you for the news flash.....!
hi hi,
So I guess the news is out (courtesy of Mabelline again!) :)
Currently, I'm about 15 weeks already, so you all better beware of this pregnant lady's mood swings during the next semester. I'm also still waiting for Qinhao to give me a few potential baby names as promised.
Deborah - nice to hear you're enjoying yourself and learning alot during your attachment. You also gave a very nice preview of my module for this coming semester. So maybe we can get you to come back and be guest speaker during one of my lectures. (hee hee...)
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Phew i passed my exams
YAY!!! I am finally out of Ngee Ann Poly! NO MORE SCHOOL!!! Haha.. you must be jealous that i have graduated aren't you? Geez.. I am overjoyed and super-relieved.
But before i take my dip cert, i wanna thank this sem's lecturers for helping me to pass my exams.
Ms Rosa Koh
Thank you for your wonderful HRMS notes, it made the CT and exams so easy to study.
Ms Jocelyn Soh
I wonder what results i would get if i hadn't come for the last minute consultation with her.
Ms Jacqueline
I had a great time getting to know her on our 'one to one' tutorials for IEMP. She is a really nice friend and tutor. Our 'one to one' tutorials were very spontaneous. Heyyy...I was the first person to found out she was pregnant.. haha! Anyway.. take care, Jacqueline!
So long.. Ngee Ann Poly. BYE!!!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Hi there, I'm back....
Hi everyone,
I'm back! Just came back from the iDARE camp in Bintan..... I did the 'flying fox' there, you wouldn't believe, would you? : )
Now, I 'owe' some of you some replies as I read the blog..... (Yes, I've been reading the blog).
1) First, thanks to the BBQ committee..... for doing such great job at the BBQ. I know you've been working hard & I certainly appreciate the 'extra miles' you've gone for your fellow cohort eg checking in early, carrying & preparing all the food, arranging the place & BBQ-ing the food for all of us.... I can see that you are also being 'BBQed'. Thanks a zillion! I have registered for your CCA points.
2) Mabelline, it's great to hear that you are learning & gaining good experience at your work. It's true that life at work & in school can be very different .... there are certainly more to work. I am sure you'll be able to overcome all difficulties. Here's a big beary hug for you..... *muck muck*
3) Deb, it's wonderful to hear from you too!! It's a pity we were not able to meet you at the BBQ. You are indeed privileged to be with PWC, and I am happy that you are learning more aspects of HR & at the same time enjoying your work. Do continue to do good work & keep us updated always. We will miss you for 1 long semester.
4) Back to the BBQ event. I hope all of you were able to enjoy yourselves at the BBQ & get to know some of the seniors. They are already in the workforce. I hope their sharing was helpful to you too. You have also made an impact on the seniors.... ... go & see how much they have blogged on the BBQ event ( www.hrmconnect.blogspot.com)
That's all folks...... my whole body is aching after the iDARE camp.... need more rest..... but I am definitely following the blog..... hope to see your fair share of contribution too!
P/s: What happen to the profiles of our individual coursemates? Where are my feature writers?
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Attachment
Hi all!
Sorry for being unable to turn up at the chalet..
as a form of apology, let me briefly tell you all what I've been up to all this while.
I've been on attachment to PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), a large organization - one of the big 4 accounting firms in Singapore. The work load here is ok (it's actually quite slack for now- probably to let us get use before they throw all the work at us) but I have actually learnt a lot.
The department that I'm attached to is under the Tax department.. under Human Resource Services.. dealing with global mobility. It is a totally different aspect of HR. The HR that we've studied so far deals mainly with corporate HR - HR within the organisation - and that might seem mundane and to many "just-another-load-of-paperwork". I would have to say that being in PwC has really opened my eyes as to what HR can cater for.
In doing global mobility, we actually have to do a lot of cost calculations to see how much it will cost to relocate an assignee, liasing with the assignee and our people that are on-site over at the client's office, constant updating of the database as the database can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
All in all, it's a totally different perspective of HR. Although it does feel that whatever learnt in school doesn't seem to be all that useful here, I'm glad I did pay attention.
HRMS proved to be very important! The company does not use Times HR Software but uses some other HR software that will keep track of your time - the no. of hours you do a certain task.
Training & Development is one of the main focus here - they have a unit set aside for training purposes and even a level of classrooms to accomodate trainees!
Compensation Management was useful - in relocating any assignee, you must know the compensation and benefits allocated to them (eg. difference between expatriate and one on international assignment)
Industrial Relations didn't really apply to my work scope but it aided me to know my rights and entitlements.
Therefore, although many say that whatever learnt in school and whatever practiced outside is totally different, there will definitely be some parts that are more applicable than others.. it only depends on which.
My colleagues are a friendly bunch of people and the managers are real nice as well. They're extremely helpful and warm.. I love them! :)
That's about it for my attachment..
On a lighter note..
I'm still going back to school for dance lessons. Although it's real tiring to be rushing from work (Raffles Place) to school, I think it's worth it.. at least it's a form of relaxation after a long day of work.
We'll be starting on a new latin dance coming tue - Jive and we've done the basics for waltz the past tue.. You all are welcomed to join! If dance is something you're interested in and have a passion for, just come join us. The "seniors" (more of experience than age) are helpful and the instructors patient in teaching.. besides.. it's cheaper to take it in school than outside.. :P
I'll end here..
Enjoy the holidays!
All the best for tomorrow's results!!! *hopes*
Deb
Work and Worries
Updates of myself since the last week i met you guys.
My buddy mentor at work left and I am taking over her portfolio. I must say that it has been very tough. I have a tendency to assume things and think i would know the answer. Sometimes i would be a bit paiseh to ask.. and in the end i got it all wrong.
Working life is so very different from school and i am trying very hard to understand the works of it. School is informal and casual but in working life, i have to learn to adapt to the protocols and different levels of hierachy. Directors and managers are very status conscious people. I am just not used to calling DD/HR(Deputy Director), Mgr HRM and all the position names. But i have to adapt to it. No excuse.
Many a times i feel very down when i made a mistake and my boss have to cover up for me. There are so many things passed on to me and i have so many things i do not know how to do. There are tons of very short and quick deadlines to adhere to. It is definitely worse than the deadlines set by our lecturers. I am sometimes scared, so much so, i could not sleep and worry about work at times. I over-time at least 6 hours a week. But then again..more money.. haha..
Haiz..
I have learnt that it is very important to prioritise work. I have also learnt that it is very important to have a personal meeting with my supervisor every morning to discuss about the tasks given to me. My mgr is very willing to teach and help me prioritise my work. And now i have to get into the habit to ask for my managers' direction and instruction for every single task.
Really not easy.
This period is just a very difficult transitional period.
I need some consolation. May i have a pack of tissue paper please...
Ms Koh.. I need reassurance and hugs.. HELP!!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
lalala...
after reading aquaeccentric's entries, it really kind of made me wanting to go into the hr line. seems interesting! especially the part where he/she wrote "it really amuses me to see how people are so damn polite and 'obedient' at your presence during job interviews." similarly, i think i will feel so "wow" as well, especially when we are so much younger than the applicants. however, personally, i wil be quite reluctant to ask questions. yeah, i have to do it still. it's better than i get reprimanded for doing things wrongly. but in my own experience, sometimes it's better to figure it out myself than to ask. quite bad huh...? people do get impatient at times, even before we ask a single question and they get annoyed. of course, not all are like this. there are still nice colleagues around. or maybe, we could just approach others for help. don't worry, be happy. =)
am really looking forward to the hr bbq! see all of you guys there! Ciaos.
loads of love,
tzechi
BBQ get-together
Hi everyone,
Don't forget out BBQ appointment tomorrow evening.
I certainly hope to see all of you so that we can all toast to good luck & great health.
See ya!!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Work
Working life is mad. You get scolded. So much to do and so little time.. Bloody overtime always.
But well.. nevertheless, it has been a good working experience. HR can be quite interesting. Yes.. all of you may complain that there is a lot shit HR theory to study..
Internal equity, external competitiveness, merit pay, avc.. and all the blah blah blah theory.. i never thought what i have studied would be so applicable to work. Suddenly, what i learn in school comes to life.
Well.. the most interesting part of HR for me is meeting applicants of all walks of life.. fat, old, skinny, handsome, pretty, ang mo and what not.. all shapes, sizes and types. It really amuses me to see how people are so damn polite and 'obedient' at your presence during job interviews. Haha..
I feel weird interviewing older workers.. cos i am so young.. and they are as old as my mother.. they are just ordinary folks like you and i.. i feel sad when they take time to come for interviews and are rejected as unqualified applicants.
But well, for this one week, i have seen and learnt a lot... and well.. more to come. Thankfully, i have a supportive boss and buddy to guide me. Everyday is a learning experience.
Cheers!
