Fujixerox Singapore Pte Ltd

Day 1: 2nd Dec 2009, Wednesday

Today is the first of 'work' at Fujixerox for the six of us; Shobana, Hui yi, Kimberley, Wei cheng, Mariah and I. By 9.00am, all of us were assembled at the Epi centre where we were greeted by Ms Sally Pang. We each collected a verification tag and proceed for an introductory presentation. Following this, we gathered in The Haloid, a curved meeting room for a talk about information security, more on the company's core values and its efforts in helping to save the environment.

The Haloid

The group of us in the Haloid

After a lunch break, we joined the new hires-new employees-in their orientation programme. It was very interesting to see the many different machines with varying levels of sophistication and functionalities. Before we call it a day, we sat in on another talk by HR personals regarding the company's historical origins , achievements to date, and its aims.

Tour; wide range of high-end machines

Tour;show room

Mariah, hui yi and Kimberley

Day 2: 3rd Dec 2009, Thursday

It's my second day experiencing office life, and, like the day before, the morning crowd going towards the city is really bad. Nevertheless, the six of us manage to report at the Epi-centre by 9.00am. There, we were brought once again to the Haloid where we were briefed on the company's idea of 'Dream Service'. There was also a Q&A session whereby we were allowed to clear any of our queries. I learnt that the company places strong emphasis on work-life balance; there are even childcare facilities within the vicinity of the building itself. Also, employees are encourage to take part in national sporting events like marathons as a corporate group. In addition, the company sends selected staff members for work attachment in its overseas branch on a regular basis. This is interesting in the sense staff members are given the opportunity to immerse in a foreign culture and at the same time pick up some valuable lessons and experience.

briefing room

After the lunch break, we were each sent out with an engineer on duty for field attachment. The engineer that i was suppose to 'shadow' had an assignment to attend to and had to rush back down to the company as a result. After a short introduction, we headed off to ST electronics in the fujixerox company van. The engineer was very friendly and provided a lot of information on the procedure and rules of his job. At the second company, he met with a more complicated machine error and we had to wait for a spare parts delivery. All in all, the field attachment had really been an eye-opener.

Day 3: 4th Dec , friday

The 'Heart-beat'. That's where we will going today, which is also the last day of our work-shadowing stint at Fujixerox. The 'Heart-beat' is an apt name for this section of the office as it is basically the finance department of the company. The sight of people hurrying in all directions, leading across cubicles for discussions and the murmured whispers of telephone conversation all projected a fast-pace and intense atmosphere. If this was busy, then it will be difficult to describe the scenes we observed in the call-centre. Although the employees were not required to be mobile, each were seated at a cubicle, making or receiving calls after calls, cross checking customer information and never letting slip their professionalism. As mentioned by the manger, Ms Jennifer, it is not a job that anyone and everyone will be able to undertake.

The 'Heart-beat'

After the lunch break we were given a chance to sit in to listen to the tele-sales people at work. These employees only come in for part-time work in the afternoon daily. We were even able to listen to one of the two-way conversations between the caller and the customers. While some customers are firm but polite, many are brusque and impatient. Again, this is not an easy job to handle as one must be able to handle the wide range of customers and have enough 'stamina' to last through the long list of people to call. I was particularly impressed by the employees' patience, politeness and persistence. In conclusion I learnt a lot about how an MNC like Fujixerox operate . Hopefully, i will be able to apply what i had experience these few days to the right context in the near future. Last but not least, I am also glad to had made new friends over the course of 3 days =)

Me, Kimberley, Wei Cheng, Hui yi and shobana

Singapore International Foundation

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the super late update about my 2 week experience at Singapore International Foundation. Rather than bore everyone with words. I shall let the pictures do the talking as well they do say that pictures tell a thousand words.

The office where I 'worked' in for 2 weeks. I was posted to the Corporate Communication Department.

The first thing i see whenever I step into the office at 9am every day.

Irene and Stella ( from left)

Two NUS interns who joined me in my second week. I learnt so much from them as they guided me through writing articles and keeping me company during long meetings. It was really awesome to have these two around as I was feeling a bit lonely during my first week as I was the only intern there.

Irene, Me and Stella

All 3 of us had to help around as much as we could in preparation for the charity toy drive ( 11-12 dec)the CC department was organizing. Meetings during the 2nd week ( 7th to 11th) were often long and tedious. While the two of them spent most of their time writing articles, ( I contirbuted one too! ) for the website the staff were maintaining, I did mostly the minor things like buying name cards and keeping check of stock.

Posters near my cubicle


Daisy, Irene, Priscella, Stella at the Bishan Library Toy Drive


There were 9 people (excluding interns) in the Corporate Communications Department and all of them are very friendly! They mostly deal with media and publicity. Needless to say, they are very creative and sociable ( a very important skill they need to have as they interact with people all the time) There were so many projects ongoing when I was there and the environment there was very encouraging and supportive.

My cubicle!

I was given my own cubicle and computer the very first day i arrived! I did a lot of research on the computer! I had to look for various charity organizations that were interested in collaborating in the toy drive project plus make 50 over calls to Singapore Publishing Holdings and Mediacorp to enquire and update the corporate database. I do not like desk jobs =(

Toy drive at Bishan library !

If you have tuned into 91.3fm during the 7th-12th of december, you would surely have heard trailers regarding this toy drive! It was even on Warna 92.4fm and the trailer on the malay radio station was done by me (:

I was really happy that my Malay language skills were put to good use! During the meeting one day when they had to translate the trailer from english to Malay, the Malay staff weren't quite sure of it ( all of them admitted to only being fluent in english!) so I volunteered to help! Although I had to refer to my classmate for help at times ( thank goodness for MSN, and yes we are allowed to log in during office hours) I am proud to say I made changes to it and translated it MOSTLY by myself (:

I'm glad the toy drive was a success! I still keep in contact with Irene and Stella and hope to meet up with the rest one day!


I also hope to volunteer with SIF as I have first hand knowledge of the programs they offer and they are quite meaningful as well!


That's all from me. Happy new year everyone!


Melanie Tan. 09A04.

Work Shadowing at NUH, Nursing

(ZiHan 09S05)

Hi all! This is the speech I prepared for my presentation for my last day for nursing tomorrow and i have decided to post it here for you all to see too! (: Enjoy!
And please pardon me if my English is bad. Thanks!

5 days ago, if you were to tell me the word nursing, the first thing that comes to my mind would be: bathing sickly patients, changing soiled clothes, cleaning dirty stools. But during the course of my work attachment here, when I see nurses obtaining medicine through highly sophisticated machines, nurses busy all day long buzzing like busy little bumblebees and nurses who keep their sunny-side up despite their real tiring roles, only then did I realize that nursing is not as simple as what I use to think.

One of the things I observed during the last few days is that to be a nurse, you must be really responsible. You have to give the right patient the right drug at the right dose through the right route and at the right time. To give the wrong patient the wrong medication could lead to disastrous consequences and you will be held responsible for it. Also, you have to remember to turn bed-ridden patients routinely to prevent them from getting pressure ulcer and to ask patients to sit up every morning to expand their lungs to prevent Pneumonia. How fast your patient recovers, whether complications will occur, will largely depend on the nurses in charge.

In our work shadowing experience as nurses, we are not required to do anything except to observe, ask questions, and be curious. So, I am actually quite happy poking my head into all the unfamiliar stuff around me, throwing random questions at the nurses and staffs.

We are also allowed to see the “behind the curtain” scenes when the nurse draws the curtain. While attached to ward 57(oncology-dealing with cancer patients), 56(cardiac) and 54(bones), one of the most interesting thing I see is on Thursday morning when the surgeons are making their rounds.

While the surgeons are opening up a patient’s dressing to check her wound, I actually saw two deep holes on her chest, like those that are made by the drills along the road works. There’s one on her thigh too! And when the surgeon presses hard on her chest, some squishy, bloody stuff will ooze out. The shape of her ribcage is quite visible as well.

When I enquire about the patient’s condition, Nurse May told me that the lady had just done a by pass surgery due to a blockage in her heart’s blood vessel and they had to take a blood vessel from her thigh and put it in her heart. Something like when the PIE is jam, you use KPE. Doctor Charlie also told me that they sort of sew up her ribcage with wires to let the bones grow back together and the 3 surgeons on their rounds seem rather please with the lady’s improvement…

Nursing has many essences, healing patient, to change their dressing is one of them, but there’s also compassion. I guess everyone would prefer a cheerful, smiling nurse to a “frowning-all-day” nurse. During my attachment, I see plenty of nurses smiling at patients, assisting them with courteous, and even joking around making their patients livelier.

In fact, even the doctors are rather humorous as well! While making their rounds, one of the surgeons told me that it’s really great that I want to work shadow the nurses because most Singaporeans nowadays would shun nursing. He added on saying that nurses are really great people that have really big houses in heaven for doing so much and he only have a small house in heaven… (:

In conclusion, throughout my few days here, I have realized that to become a nurse requires a great deal of passion as they have super long working hours which can last up to twelve hours and very heavy work load. In most of the wards I went to, you can really feel the passion, the motivation and the drive they have for nursing. To me, nursing is a very special job and nurses are very outstanding and noble people. They have always been over shadowed by doctors despite their hard work and effort. I feel that for me, it is very difficult to walk in their shoes. However, I will always respect this team of white shirt “guardian angels” and I feel relieve to know that we have all these really great people who will take care of us when we are in need.

THANK YOU NURSES! :DDD

pictures of the crossroad youthcentre

the youths was watching a movie organize by us:) we made popcorns too!

with the youths:)

Work Shadowing Programme at World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd

Hi all, I'd like to blog about my personal work shadowing experience at World Scientific Publishing Company.

Day 1

We started our work shadowing programme with an orientation and a brief tour of the entire publishing company. It was a surprise to see how many departments and manpower are needed to run this company. I learned how the pre-press and accounting departments operate and the type of expertise needed. This allowed me to look forward to my attachment at the various departments the next day.

Day 2

There was more hands-on learning experience at the editorial and marketing departments. It was really novel to try being an editor or marketing personnel. Today's learning experience had allowed me to understand that no department is isolated from one another as everybody has to work together to ensure the smooth operation of a company. Applying this to real life, one must understand the essence of teamwork and that it is imperative for all to work together and stay together, even in times of difficulty.

Day 3

Today was our last day of attachment and it was probably the most enjoyable day.

One of my favourite attachments was at the Global Publishing department. Our task was to think of ways to promote and sell some Chinese books. A friendly mentor explained to us more about their department and shared some interesting facts. Also, she introduced some Chinese books we (youth) may like to read. I truly appreciate her sincerity and warmth.

Another memorable experience was at the WS Printers department. We interacted with very nice and friendly staff who were open during their sharing. Moreover, they were concerned about how we feel thus far and their genuine interest in interacting with us really struck a chord in my heart.

Conclusion

Although the programme eventually came to a closure and it was sad to bid farewell to everybody, I feel that I have acquired valuable knowledge and learned life skills which would allow me to hold them close to my heart and venture into the working world in future with my head held high.

The cross application of skills and knowledge across various disciplines is so important as it will allow one to be a better problem solver. In addition, no man is an island and all careers would require people to cooperate with each other.

That's all! : )

Maria Ng of 09S25 xxxxx

Workshadowing In SGH-Mel :)

(Melissa Tan-09S06)

Firstly,I would like to warn everyone that I have no pictures as all pictures are with my other SGH buddy,Arif. I'm really thankful for the school providing us with this wonderful 3 days of experience in SGH which provides me enough information to help me make decisions for the future.

Day 1:Occupational Therapy and Radiology

I was firstly attached to ZiXian, an occupational therapist(OT). Despite the early hours in the morning,she has already attended to no less than 8 patients. Most patients come into the clinic with work injuries and are undergoing occupational thereapy to be able to regain their regular living and even going back to their old jobs. There was a patient who didn't regularly exercise his fingers as he was suppose to and hence got a earful from ZiXian. I was also taught the basic exercises to do for a hand injury and had to make sure that patient was consistently doing it for 30mins. There are also various machines which plays a part in recovery(eg Fluidotherapy). There are also some patients which have mental barriers and the OT have to be creative and flexible to remove this barrier.
The second OT is a senior OT specializing in renal and respiratory departments. What I have experienced was an eye opener. Moving through the wards, I realised how difficult a simple action,such as moving from a bed to a chair. The OT has to regularly check on these patients and provide useful advices.

Its was really fascinating on how the radiographers operate the 2 machines. The program was really sophisticated and the radiographers were kind enough to explain what the numbers and figures were. Moving onto the MRI scan, it was a different story. Instead of using xray, magnetism is used. As there were no patients then,I got to experienced how strong the magnetism was and even had the opportunity to go into the machine. It was really enclosed and very compressing. Fortunately I'm not claustrophobic.

Day 2: Institute Of Medical Simulation And Education

We had a briefing by Dr.Fatimah from the Emergency Medicine. She gave an overview on the various situations that happen in the ER and how mind boggling, think-on-your-toes each situation has to be. Its a matter of life or death.One wrong move may result in the death of an individual.
Next,we were brought around to view state of the art mannequins which can be used for doctors to train and update their surgical skills. We were able to also bombard Dr. Fatimah on medical questions and what to specialize in if we were to enter the medical field.

Day 3: Internal Medicine and Wounds

Arif and I had made our way to Ward 57-Internal Medicine. While we were at it, Prof Surrun (HOD of Internal Medicine) was teaching a group of medical freshmen. What struck me the most was the high expectations which the Prof placed to his students. He expects every answer to be given immediately and more proactiveness. I was also impressed on how he was able to draw diagnosis on a patient just by looking at her. This shows how knowledgable and insightful he is in his field. The doctors there were also warm towards us and even invited us back to visit all of them again.

Next we were also given the opportunity to follow a senior nurse clinician to various wards to change the wounds and check on the patients. due to the biohazardous nature, we had to suit up first. It was really eye opening and stomach-churning. The wound was badly infected till the bone and muscles were exposed. the bacteria had to be removed. As the wound was covered up for 2 weeks,there was a terrible smell.

Indeed,it was not all smooth flowing to be a doctor. Everyone knows how difficult it is to enter med school,how prestigious it is to become a doctor. But it requires alot of commitments,compassion and you must really be passionate about it. As each and every doctor has mentioned to me -

" A lawyer or a broker is just a normal person out on the street,
But a doctor will always be a doctor everywhere he goes.
To be a doctor is not a job,
It is a commitment "

Thank You.

What to do if you are unwell and cant make it to work during WSP!?

Dear all...

If you are unable to make it to 'work' for any day during your attachment, I should think that you are responsible enough to inform the liason officer regarding your reasons of absence. If you are feeling unwell, besides informing the person i/c in the company, you should see a doc and provide the MC to your company's liason officer. Do let teacher mentor or myself (Ms Chen, 92979261) know about your absence too.

The reason being that you are now representing our college to participate in 'work shadowing program', and you are expected to behave just like anyone of the employee in your office.

I do hope that you understand the purpose of this 'work shadowing program', which is to expose our students to actual working environment and experience the working life that is very different from schooling...

Enjoy the rest of the attachments!:)

Ms Chen