No Ordinary Intern
School of Business Management
Jasmine Cheong (above) was no ordinary intern. During her 24-week attachment at Cheers Holdings, she came up with ways to automate work processes – saving the company valuable time and resources. So impressed was Cheers that they offered her a university scholarship.
Jasmine also represented NYP in numerous competitions, such as the International Trade Challenge, SMU Project Rookie, Microsoft Imagine Cup and Lee Hsien Loong Smart Nation Award. Despite these commitments, she topped her Diploma in Business Management course as the Mapletree Gold Medal winner for 2018.
Let’s find out more about Jasmine by asking her five questions:
1) Did you expect to do so well when you first entered poly?
Honestly, I didn’t! When I was in primary school, I was last in class. I was a quiet child and I dared not speak up. Things got better in secondary school when I was made a prefect. My confidence grew further in NYP when I started to do well in my Business Management course. This motivated me to work hard. I’m glad all the hard work paid off!
2) You have taken part in many business-related competitions. What’s the hardest part about taking part in these competitions?
The biggest challenge was scheduling our meetings, especially when my team members are from different diplomas or a different School. Like when I was working on the SMU Project Rookies competition, my team members were from the Banking & Finance course. I wasn’t able to meet them regularly as I was doing my internship. I ended up appointing one team member to do all my communication with, and she would, in turn, convey my views to the rest.
Jasmine with her competition team-mates from SIT: (from left) Chu Jia Hao, Diploma in Engineering Informatics and Li Yuan Xin, Diploma in Information Technology.
3) Tell me more about your internship. What exactly did you do?
I was responsible for calculating staff incentives, which usually took about two hours to do because there were a lot of checking and cross-referencing. Then I realised: hey, I could actually automate the process. But I needed to come up with the correct formula for Excel. However, my knowledge of Excel was basic, so I did my own research, and came up with the formula. It worked! Now it takes only 10 minutes to complete the job with my formula.
This got me going and I automated another two job functions. In addition, I also did market research on compensation packages and gave my analysis of labour turnover data. I came up with a guidebook to help the manager in charge orientate interns.
At the end of my internship, I was asked to present my work to the GM of Cheers. This was a rare opportunity, and I felt very honoured.
Jasmine during her internship with her colleagues, including Mr Victor Cheong (Cheers' General Manager, fourth from left) and on my left: Ms Cindy Pam (Cheers' Operations Director, third from right).
4) You managed to do so much! Were there times when you felt stressed? How did you cope?
When I feel stressed, I would just get some rest and chill out with my secondary school friends. I also tell myself not to be overly stressed, because if you are too stressed, you cannot think clearly.
5) What would you miss most when you leave NYP?
I will miss the late nights spent preparing for competitions with my lecturers and team mates. We would rehearse until midnight, and I loved every minute of it! The team spirit was so strong.
I will definitely miss the food in NYP. My favourite is the matcha tea at the Library Café. It is really good. I must have it at least once a week. I also like the pesto fish at Manna (fast-food outlet), the chicken rice at South Canteen and the salmon teriyaki at Koufu.
#BecauseWeCan