#4 - Application Letter

Dear Dr. Tang,

I am writing to apply for the position of Research Assistant (Neuro-Oncology Research Lab) offered by National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) which I came across on www.jobstreet.com on the 5^th of September 2011.

I am a graduate from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a specialization in Biomedical Sciences. My interest in research grew after my first two years in University and it prompted me to take up an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme in Science (UROPS) in my third year. I learnt many laboratory techniques during the course of my project, including flow cytometry, cell culture and western blotting. I believe that this knowledge would be a vital guide for me to ace in the position offered by your organization.

Also, for my UROPS project, I had the opportunity of working with three other researchers, and teamwork and good communication skills were required out of me. I believe these are crucial skills for researchers as we are all working towards the same goal of broadening knowledge. Furthermore, with a thirst for new knowledge, I asked many questions and learnt a lot from the other researchers who were more experienced than me. The desire to learn is another critical assets I possess which would enable me to achieve great heights in NNI.

During the span of my Final Year Project (FYP), a different set of skills was essential as this time as I had to work independently. Planning ahead was important and so was the ability to think critically on the spot. I had to pick myself up in times when the experiment did not go as planned and to think of ways to improve my experimental set up. Even though I lack a few years of experience in the working world, I strongly believe that what I learnt and developed during my University years would make me someone who could make valuable contributions to NNI.

Thus, with relevant academic background, passion in research, the necessary skills of a researcher and a desire to learn, I believe I would make a delightful addition to the NNI family. If you have any further queries, feel free to contact me at 92XXXXXX. I would really appreciate to have the chance to meet up with you for an interview at a convenient time. Thank you for your precious time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours Sincerely,

Le Minming

#3 - the one with the lesson learnt

We all have different personalities and different ways of expressing our emotions. It is not possible for everyone to accept another's personality and agree with all those around them and ultimately conflicts occur because of these differences. In order to avoid conflicts, one needs to develop EQ which is “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer). With time and practice, we master this tricky skill. However, it is easier said than done, sometimes emotions run high and things get ugly.

Here' s situation I faced:

A group of friends and I arranged to go Malaysia for a trip. We were supposed to board the bus at 1.30pm and therefore decided to meet at the station at 12pm to give us sufficient time for lunch and the necessary buffer time. Only B was late and when we called her, she said that she was on her way.

But, after waiting for 45mins, she was nowhere in sight so we gave her another call. She did not sound like she was in a rush and when we asked her where she was, no specific answer came. As the bus was going to leave soon, we were all panicky. She, however, sounded calm and said that she was reaching. With no idea how long she would take, we waited like cats on hot bricks. Realizing that we were going to miss the bus if we waited any longer and we had to pay extra charges to change the timing of the bus, we decided to take the bus first. We called B and found her still far from the arranged destination, so we told her that she could take the later bus and meet us there straight. She agreed.

When we met her in Malaysia, she was obviously cheesed off. When we asked her what was wrong, she said that she was very dismayed that we left without her. We were surprised because not only did she not apologize for making us wait for more than 1 hour and caused us to miss lunch, she turned the tables and blamed us for leaving her behind when she had agreed to our plan. We felt that it was her responsibility to be on time, hence we did not apologize.

If you were me, how would you have resolved this conflict without directly confronting her and making things sour?