1, Face to face interviews with –
a) Relevant officials in the NUS systems
i) Mrs. Corrine Ong – Director of NUS Career Centre
ii) Dr. Wu – Director of NUS Centre of English Learning and Communication
b) Students with internships in banking and consulting industries
i) Arjun Nagpal – Intern with Merill Lynch,
ii) Snigdha Dutta – Intern with Merill Lynch, Credit Suisse and heading for a full time position as IT Analyst at Merill Lynch
iii) Tejasvi Achar – Intern with Credit Suisse and heading for a full time position
Analyst at Merill Lynch
2. Surveys conducted for students with banking and consulting internship experience – 10 respondents so far.
Plans for the next step of research:
- Conduct face to face, phone and email interviews with relevant working professionals in the banking and consulting industries both
- Gather more survey responses on how NUS can improve their oral communication training for increasing number of students eager to pursue a career in this industry.
Appendix
1. Interview Transcript – Dr. Corrine Ong
Hi Corrine,
How are you? This is Wei Ying and Jasper. Thanks for accepting our request for an interview.
As we had mentioned via email, our project concerns the need for oral communication in the banking and consultancy industries. Therefore, I have some questions which I would like to get your help with.
- What is the feedback regarding communication skills of fresh graduates in the workplace?
· In general, NUS fresh graduates, especially the technical graduates, are weaker in their communication skills. [Technical graduates: Science, Engineering, Computing]
Ø Poor in ‘marketing’ themselves and engaging with the potential employers
Ø Weak in their expression – not concise, long-winded = bored the interviewers
Ø Inflexible in answering the question ‘Why should we hire you?’
Ø Poor performance during interviews
Ø Lack of preparation at the early stage of job seeking process
· FASS and Business graduates are generally better in their communication skills.
Ø More outspoken and expressive
Ø Able to extrapolate their thoughts and link i back to the reasons on why they should be hired
· NUS
Ø NUS graduates are strong technically but not in communication skills, not that prepared in this area
- What oral communication skills do you feel are essential in order to perform well in the company/industry?
Resume, CV’s (writing skills), objective speaking and writing, engaging with people, marketing themselves, performing well during interviews among others
- How well do you think the communication modules in NUS have prepared our undergraduates for their career?
Depends on individual curriculum (probable disadvantage to technical students)
Some students are not informed, unaware of important comm skills.
- From your experience, what possible improvements can be made to the school curriculum?
Encourage students to join ccas (working with other people), communication workshops (at career centre)
Make workshops enticing, promote them
Strong competition faced in the future
Encourage students to do career planning early – increase awareness of skills needed in the industry they want to work in -> know which modules to choose
Thank you so much for your time and your valuable feedback!
2. Interview Transcript – Dr. Wu
Dear Dr Wu,
This is Wei Ying and Jasper. Thanks for agreeing to our request for an interview.
As my friend, Jasper had mentioned in our email, our project concerns the need for oral communication in the banking and consulting industries. Therefore, I have a few questions which I would like to get your help with.
1. How does CELC determine which communication modules are offered within the individual faculties?
2 ways of implementing modules:
Proficiency modules – compulsory for students who fail QET
Requested modules – requested from individual faculties
2. During our interview with the career centre, we found out that NUS science, engineering and computing students are generally weaker in their communication skills than FASS/business students. In your opinion, what do you think is the cause of this disparity?
Not all science, engineering and computing students are weak in communication skills. This general perception causes some students to believe that they are weaker in communication skills compared to FASS/business students. Science, engineering and computing students are not required to have such skills in their curriculum (lack of opportunity in writing, speaking.) Also, how classes are conducted affect how students prepare for them. For example, if a tutor usually expects his students to interact aggressively in class, a student will definitely prepare himself/herself to increase confidence in speaking.
3. According to our interview sources, NUS graduates are not as well-versed in communication skills as compared to SMU graduates. What is your opinion?
No one has really done studies on whether it is really true. Due to the certain requirements at SMU, students who enter SMU get mentally prepared of what is expected of them.
- If the faculty of science or engineering requests for a communication skills course, how long will it take to implement such a course? What will be some of the challenges?
One semester of preparation should be sufficient.
Aspects to consider and plan for:
1) finding the right people to conduct classes
2) finding space/venues for classes
3) developing relevant materials
4) to understand the specific needs of students
- If NUS makes a certain communication skills course a mandate for all NUS students, will CELC be able to provide it?
Not immediately, much planning would be required. Modules can be implemented gradually, not all faculties at once.
- What is some of the feedback received from different faculties/workplaces regarding communication skills of NUS students?
Mixed feedback from workplaces.
There are still a minority of students who really need help in their communication/writing skills. On the other hand, there are also some students who are excellent in oral communication. Conclusion: definitely some extremes on both sides, majority lie in the middle. Many students need to be made aware of the importance of communication skills.
Thank you so much for your time and your valuable feedback!
3. Interview Transcript – Arjun Nagpal
Questions:
1. Firstly, how long have you been working? And how would you describe your job-scope?
2. What oral communication skills do you feel are a) essential and b) good-to-have to perform well in your job-scope?
3. What, among these skills, did school prepare you for? And how - was it via modules, CCA's or friends?
4. From your experience, if there are 3 things you would suggest as improvements in school curriculum, what would they be?
Transcript:
Job and Job Scope
· Attachments to Merrill Lynch, etc for 3 – 6 months respectively
· Attached in corporate banking, project management and project analysis sector
· Had to give presentations to people like managers, vice-president and directors
Oral Communication skills that are essential
· Must have the ability to give concise specific information, no beating around the bush and wasting people’s time
· Must have the ability to identify what is important and address it
· On a scale of 1-10, the importance of good oral communication skills is 8
· Instructions have to be clear
· Not much difference in communication between boss and colleagues
How much does the school prepare
· Zero, not at all
· No modules which teaches a person effective oral communication skills
Improvements
· Modules dedicated to communication skills, example, doing presentations
· Workshops on communication skills
· Integrate teaching of oral communication skills into modules
Personal preference on learning communication skills
· CCAs and modules equally important
4. Interview Transcript – Snigdha Dutta
Job and Job scope
· Attachment for 3 months in Merrill Lynch
· IT division of bank
· Lots of presentation work, training of colleagues in the various IT soft wares
Oral communications skills that are essential
· Communication skill with boss
· Communication skill with colleagues
· People find it difficult to approach others for assistance/help
· People find it difficult to get the information they require to work as they do not know how to do it
How much the school curriculum prepares students for the banking and consulting work environment
· Modules she takes requires a lot presentations which greatly helps to improve her oral and presentation skills, not much of theory and memorisation
· She does not know any module about communication skills
· She has done a start up company in school of computing in her Year1 days which teaches her the leadership and teamwork skills
Suggestions for improvements
· Project which involves working with an actual company based in the field
· Giving comprehensive feedback on the individual’s oral communication skills in modules on top of the usual contend grading.
Lastly, preferred and best way of learning communication skills
· Experience
5. Interview Transcript – Tejasvi Achar
1. Firstly, how long have you been working? And how would you describe your job-scope?
· Worked in accounting firms like E&Y, Credit Suisse about 6 months
· Job scope: Product control, validate transactions, audit
· Mainly liaising with people to validate accounts
· Few presentations
2. What oral communication skills do you feel are a) essential and b) good to perform well in your job-scope?
- Confidence! Must be confident in front of people
- Good listener. Must be willing to learn. When there is nothing to say, it is important to listen as well.
- Good public speaking skills assist in the presentations
3. What, among these skills, did the school prepare you for? And how-was it via modules, CCA or friends?
- On a scale of 1-10: 6
- In engineering faculty, there are no modules which prepare the students
- Having leadership roles in CCA does help. Teaches one to liaise with people and speak in front of people.
- Internships are the best to learn the communication skills from
4. From your experience, if there are 3 things you would suggest as improvements in school curriculum, what would they be?
- Career centre give seminars on communication
- Compulsory modules on oral communication skills for students
- More presentations/discussions in modules
