Analytics | Process | Strategy | Innovation | by Tan Wei Xiang

Category: Management

  • 4 Internship and Work Rules to Succeed in Management Functions

    4 Internship and Work Rules to Succeed in Management Functions

    November is coming to a close and it’s winter internship season for many students. While still relatively fresh to the working world, I have consolidated some working rules which I have learned from my previous internship experiences and current working experience.

    Rule #1: Always Address your Customers’ Needs and Wants

    The first rule, which I have always stuck to as much as possible. My first internship included a UI/UX design of a system for users across South-East Asia. The first set of designs, while sophisticated and theoretically sound, it was not user friendly enough for ease of implementation. My first internship boss shared with me the importance of always serving the customer, which I have borne in mind since then, even joining my current company where serving customers is a core value. If you are implementing a new project in HR, then your stakeholders are the HR people. If you are presenting to management, then they are your stakeholders.

    Rule #2: Always Keep Things Concise

    Another of the workplace mess ups I had been guilty of during my first internship. I did up my first research task, the topic which I can’t remember. I was really proud of the work I prepared. I was about to send in a 10 page Microsoft Word text report to my manager. My manager came to check in, so I showed the report to her, hoping to get some positive affirmation. She was clearly shocked, but she explained to me why the working world is different from business school. There is no luxury of time, especially as one moves into middle or upper management.

    To keep things concise, she told me to do some annotations with pictures so that information is broken into bite size pieces in order to be more readily visualised and understood. Moving forward, I transited to using slides which were more concise and bring the key point across. (Sometimes I presented everything in excel too, especially when doing information gathering.)

    Rule #3: Always Observe the Situation

    A third rule I have is to spend time understanding the situation. On two separate occasions, on hindsight I could have observed better but guess it was nice to have colleagues pointing out to me.

    I once had the chance to dine with the senior vice president and the team. I got asked to suggest a place to eat, and my manager and one colleague went off to the washroom. Not realising that the SVP does not like coffee shops, I actually suggested to walk to one, without realising some of the expressions on the other colleagues faces. Everything went downhill there, never had a chance to suggest lunch places with the SVP again during lunch hour. (Although we still had team lunch treats for a few times at some posh places. Lucky me!)

    Anyway lots of other things to observe too and not going to spoil the fun for you. It’s a learning journey after all so we are all still learning! Try to spot things which you don’t usually notice when outside of work!

    Rule #4: Always Speak to Your Colleagues

    Some may be caught up with the mentality that spending your time churning away with the computer is the best way to manage workplace relationships and show that you are a hard worker. I do not agree. I personally believe that a large proportion of your time should be spent on aligning with colleagues, talking to them and knowing what is going on, and where the project you are working on fits into the bigger picture. As an intern or working adult, speaking to working colleagues with more working experience also gives you various perspectives on the working world and help with the big picture of things.

    These are just my personal opinions and there are no set ways to succeed in management functions, Hope these rules I collated will get your started and propel you to further success in your career journey.

    Still looking for an internship? This post may help!

    https://tanweixiang.com/ntu-nbs-internship-hunting-guide-tips-from-an-nbs-graduate-with-3-mnc-internship-experiences/

    Working from home during your internship? Here’s my work at work turned work from home internship experience!

    Key Takeaways from my In-office turned Work-from-Home Internship

    Image Credits: Photo by K8 on Unsplash

  • Why I decided to return to University while Working Full Time

    Why I decided to return to University while Working Full Time

    I found myself back on campus again, not as a full-time student, but an adult learner. Just last month, I made the decision to enrol in the MiniMasters in Marketing Management at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. For those who may be contemplating whether you should return to campus for lessons while working, here is 3 of my reasons.

    Awareness of Knowledge Gap

    First of my reasons for returning to school was that I felt that I did not have enough knowledge in my current industry and interest in management. While in the retail and FMCG industry, the conversations tended to be along the lines of consumer behaviour, marketing strategies and trends. While I had taken some marketing modules before, as well as did two marketing internships, I did not have a deep enough understanding of the full picture of marketing. I decided to sign up to improve my understanding of marketing strategy, marketing research, branding and digital marketing.

    Networking Opportunities

    Going back to campus also gives me the chance to interact with people from various backgrounds and settled into different professions. This provides even more opportunity for an early career professional like me to understand the perspectives of both early career and experienced professionals and in my field and other fields. Honestly, in retrospect, I also found out after the first lesson there is so many different cultures which students from different schools in my university had both in class and outside of class! This meant even more room for intellectual growth and understanding of the whole business environment!

    Application of Theory into Practice

    One benefit which I realised as a working professional back in school is also the application of theory into practice. Having the context to think of (despite being just four months at work) is a really good chance to really look at my experience at work through a theoretical lens and understanding why certain decisions are being made at work.

    Contrary to popular belief, I believe that both my MiniMasters experience so far and undergraduate experience is highly applicable to the working environment!

    I’m sure that it would be a pleasant experience for me to immerse in the marketing space.

    Let’s all continue prospecting forward in our journey of lifelong learning!

    Looking forward to sharing more about my MiniMasters in Marketing Management journey! Here are some takeaways from my experience!

    If you are interested in taking the Mini Masters in Marketing Management too, do read our course reviews here.

    While I have this opportunity to do both business analytics and marketing, if you are faced with a choice between either, do read this post!

    Which Major to Pick? Business Analytics vs Marketing (Ex-NBS Student)

    Don’t think you can commit to part time courses in university? Self-paced learning might be for you:

    Reflections from 3 Months of Distance Learning on Coursera

    Image Credits: Photo by Wengang Zhai on Unsplash

  • COVID-19 Pandemic: Should I Start Work or Go Back to School?

    COVID-19 Pandemic: Should I Start Work or Go Back to School?

    Looking through social media pages of many of my friends, it seems like it is another round of the job search season for the graduates of 2021. This brings back fond memories of my job search season last year, and I thought that I should write a post like this for those who are unsure of whether to start work or go back to school, especially during this pandemic. (For context, I started working recently at a Retail and FMCG Multinational Company, and turned down my full time masters degree offer from NUS, losing $100 in administrative fees in the process.)

    Go to Work

    It is a good choice to choose to go to work for some reasons.

    If you were to look at the Job Descriptions of multiple jobs, you would realise that many of the jobs would require X number of work experience. That seems to imply that in order to even get a good job, you would need to have work experience. What better way than to just get started and join the working world right after graduation? If you have the skills which could let you succeed in your first job which you are interested in, by all means, you should go to work to see a brand new perspective and start building the career you wish to have.

    Another reason to head out to work is to be able to earn an income. If your finances are tighter and you would like some financial freedom, going to work is the best way to start paying off the student debt and start living the life of an adult.

    Building your network can also be one of the reasons to head out to work. By going out to work, you stand the chance to start building relationships with your co-workers, which can potentially be a chance for you to bring your personal brand out there into the industry.

    Go back to School

    Especially since it is a pandemic, and opportunities may be scarce out there, going back to school may be a good option.

    One of the reasons why you should go back to school is if the career of interest requires certain prerequisite knowledge to enter. For instance, you may be interested in full-time research. If so, a PhD may be the way to go. If you majored in engineering, but would like to go into a different sector, for instance in business consulting, a graduate degree in business may help you gain more knowledge and keep you better positioned for an opportunity in the sector.

    Another reason to go back to school is getting more opportunities in the process. When you are back in school, there is likely a dedicated career office available to provide career guidance for students. You would be able to access the various internship portals to acquire more experience.

    https://tanweixiang.com/ntu-nbs-internship-hunting-guide-tips-from-an-nbs-graduate-with-3-mnc-internship-experiences/

    Go to Work, while still up-skilling yourself

    For myself, I decided to go to work, while still up-skilling myself. This is the way to stay relevant in the future economy. This way, one could get the best of both worlds, learning while also gaining precious work experience, in order to better position oneself in future.

    The different ways to up-skill oneself while at work includes taking a part time degree in university, doing online courses, or just doing new things, for instance doing volunteer projects.

    For more on why I decided to return to university while working full time:

    Why I decided to return to University while Working Full Time

    For more on skills for the future economy, do read this:

    3 Key Skills for the Digitally Transformed Economy

    For more on doing online courses, do read my experience with Coursera here:

    Reflections from 3 Months of Distance Learning on Coursera

    Image Credits: Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

  • Reflections from 3 Months of Distance Learning on Coursera

    Reflections from 3 Months of Distance Learning on Coursera

    It has been a few months since graduation. Due to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I was unable to have my graduation trip. With my job offer just recently attained back then, I needed to find some time for productivity. It was also during this period where NTU had a new collaboration with Coursera and I decided to give it a try. Here are some of my insights and reflections. This post is not going to be so much on the content which I learned, but my general views on online learning.

    Opportunity to Learn Interesting New Content

    Less the Chinese course which I took as a quick refresher, I took a total of 9 courses on Coursera from 4 Universities (HEC Paris, IE Business School, John Hopkins University and Yonsei University), spanning topics in creativity, innovative management, marketing, retail management, data science and Korean.

    Some of these topics were not readily available in my home university at NTU, or just really hard to get a spot in as I have already exceeded the unrestricted electives requirements by a lot and I would be last to get the spots.

    By signing up for courses through distance learning, I gained exposure in more areas than I would have done in university.

    Time Management in the Absence of Formalised Assessments

    Being online courses which were paid for by the NTU or Coursera, there was not really a lot on the line for me. I had the opportunity to learn about various topics in my own time. While that was a really nice incentive, it was also a double-edged sword in the sense that there was no push to complete as many courses as I could. I had initially signed up for 16 courses, which was a really ambitious attempt.

    It was not too hard to keep pace at first when I was still at home, waiting to commence working life. However, as work commitments started to pour in, the absence of an actual space to learn and formalised assessments gave rise to procrastination and ultimately the completion of less courses. (Completed 3 courses while in the working world!)

    One way to manage was to ensure that I set aside 5-6 hours per week on the courses, which I managed to set into my weekly calendar and this taught me about time management, especially in the working world, where we no longer have the luxury of just taking courses and acing our examinations.

    Distance Learning as a Possible Format to Learn in Future

    Learning online also let me think about distance learning as a potential format to learn in future. If there is one thing the pandemic this year has done, it brought the world closer together. In the short span of 9 months, I had the chance to experience the teaching format of 4 Universities in 3 Continents. This gave rise to the potential exchange of cultural views through various peer reviewed projects, and we had heated debates through our different world views.

    Ultimately, distance learning has made me realise the importance of lifelong learning. There is so much knowledge in the world which I do not actually know. With this, let’s all prospect on as lifelong learners!

    If you liked this post, do read the follwing post on the skills required for the digitally transformed economy:

    3 Key Skills for the Digitally Transformed Economy

  • Integrating Analytics and Management: Where and How to Start?

    Recently, while at work, I was given the opportunity to run some data analytics on some data in order to create some business insights and recommendations for a colleague. While I have learned about Business Analytics while in school, implementing it in real life as a one-man analyst is not just a walk in the park.

    After practicing in real life and coming out with some insights so far. Here are some possibilities you could explore if you are keen on introducing data analytics into your day-to-day management work.

    1. Establish the Goal of your Project

    When given a project, there is surely an end goal which is required by whomever has assigned you the project. One way to establish the end Goal of the project is to ask the project leader who has provided the project. If he or she does not have a goal in mind, you could look into the data to propose the possibilities. With a goal, it would be easier to scope your project.

    2. Determine the Nature of the Project

    Once you have established your goals, you will have to figure out the nature of your project. Is it more descriptive in nature? Or more predictive? Do you want to see what your data says, or try to use the data to predict something else? With the nature of the project in place, it would help you to know whether you should be focusing on descriptive or predictive methods, especially since there is so many analytics tools out there and there is no way you can try everything on the same project in a limited period of time.

    3. Try your Visualisations and Models

    With so many models out there, which to use? I am also in the process of figuring this out and you could stay tuned to future blog posts if I come across the chance to do more projects.

    For now, a good example of visualisations can be through Tableau, Google Analytics and Excel Charts.

    A good example of models can be Machine Learning Models through R, Python and Microsoft Excel.

    4. Prepare Insights, Recommendations. Rinse and Repeat

    Once you are done with your models, you have to summarise your insights which are paired with specific recommendations. You can then engage your project leader, check if everything is going along the right direction. Over time, if you can continue to work on the project, find ways to consistently relook at the data, the insights and think of ways to improve the model and the connect to the business.

    At the end of the day, when you are doing analytics, always focus on the needs and requirements of the business to propose strong insights and recommendations, and not the models which you are using.

    If you’re interested in how to formulate insights, do take a look at my analysis of 500 users on Google Analytics.

    Looking to improve on your skills amidst this pandemic? Here are some skills you could learn to future proof yourself!