mandalar blog

A friend of mine said “We have to attach passport photo to CV when we apply for a job in Singapore.”

I was surprised by that statement. It is reasonable to affix the photo to her résumé if she was applying for a job as barmaid or catwalk model. In fact, she is an engineer intending to work at the construction site.

Including a photo with a CV is strongly discouraged except where a photo is required or expected (e.g. modelling, acting). Employers may still request a photograph regardless. If you do need to include one, make sure it is a professional head-shot, just like your passport photo. http://www.wikijob.co.uk/wiki/example-cv-resume-template

I agree with it. Of course, there must be some exceptions. But I still don’t understand why some employers want to check the engineering and computing job applicant’s photo prior to short-listing. Does unwritten personal specifications for that particular job include that candidate should be good looking? Do they choose new employees from a particular ethnic origin? If so, how to justify that job selection is fair and square?

In our medical field, job application is mainly online. Applicants need to fill the form on icam or NHS job website. Of course, we have to prepare properly and thoroughly for the question like “ How would you see yourself in next 10 years?” “What are the achievements outside medicine?” “Why do you want to work in this trust?”

In fact, the role of CV still exists in some occasions. For example, In the ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) , the panel expects to see trainees’ CV as part of the assessment of progression. Moreover, when newly arrived doctors from Asia apply for a non-training posts, they may need to send paper copy of CV together with job application form.

This brief guide is intended for oversea doctors who just arrive, applying for a job.

The important thing is your CV must not be cheeky.

Sex, date of birth, religion, ethnicity and other personal information, apart from address and contact details, are not essentially required in your CV.

Writing CV is no fixed rule, but here is one format you may check.

CV

Name

Address

Email:

Contact number:

Employment history

Date, Job position, Employer
(Career gap more than 2 weeks is usually not favourable if you don’t have a good reason)

Medical qualifications (plus post graduate degree if you have )

Career Plan
What do you intend to become?

Courses
(Holding valid ALS certificate is positive for junior doctors)

Experience

* Clinical Ward Work Experience
* On Call Experience
* Outpatients Clinic Experience

Generic and Clinical skills

* Generic Skills
* Clinical Skills

Practical skills
I can independently perform the following procedures….

Research and Audit experience

* Audit: (Title, year)
* Research: (Title, Year, where published)

Presentations and Publications
(Local, regional, National level if you have some)

Teaching Experience

Hobbies and interests

Referees

All the best!

Taking Docklands light rail and district line, we headed to the prestigious Wimbledon, which is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments in the world. I did not buy ticket in advance. That means I had to queue at the entrance of the ground. The information on the queue card said that £15 for ground admission to Courts 5-19 and £29 for No. 1 Court, including ground admission and access to Court 5-19. It is not surprising that there was no more ticket for Centre Court where women’s final ( Serena Williams US and Vera Zvonareva RU) was going to take place. We bought Court 1 entry ticket for girl’s final of Kristyna Pliskova CZE and Sachie Ishizu JPN

Atmosphere there was nice. People were carrying cameras, shooting randomly at the once- a- year Grand Slam. There were many families with kids. I noticed that some people brought their own foods and drinks put in the cool box while there was also a persistent queue for Grolsch and Pimms. A classic band was entertaining tennis fans at Henman hill where a crowd had already occupied at Henman Hill, watching a big screen TV and enjoying a sort of family picnic.

After wandering around and checking other courts, we entered court 1 for girls’ final one hour before the time. While seats had been filling with tennis fans gradually, I was busy with my Nikon and Sony camera, taking anything interesting to me. I could see easily the Wimbledon tournament was well organized and it was very punctual.

Well, the match is not so drama apart from the final game when Ishizu was beated after she led with 4-2. Anyway, it was impressive that the Japanese girl reached the final after she knocked out the Russian second seed Irina Khromacheva in the quarter-finals and the British 2008 girls’ champion Laura Robson in the semis.

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

From Wimbledon 2010

Click here to see more photos

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Believing that eating pasta is healthier than sticking at rice and cheesy pizza, fusilli meal is an essential item together with fish & chips and Shepherd pie in my weekly menu. Of course, cooking pasta is not a big deal at all. It takes only 20 minutes. I just want to show my way of cooking. Clearly, it is mainly for new comers from far east. The western residents may be much smarter than me in this business. That is my understanding.

A bag of pasta 3 quids. Cheaper than basmati rice. 3 handfuls is enough for me for 2 meals.

Wash it in the glass ware, put it together with enough water. Run microwave at full power for 20 min.

While microwave running, you can cook pasta sauce. Easy. This time, I chose turkey dice. Of course, you can get any form of mince. I used many seasonings like that.

This is an optional step. It is tastier to me if I add an onion. Now I am sizzling it for 3-4 min.

I just added the diced turkey which had been mixed with seasoning powders, including rose mary which is my fav.

after 10 min, I just added the ready made pasta sauce. Tomato is very healthy food, isn’t it?

This time tomato and mushroom sauce

20 minute completed. I took pasta from microwave and drained in cold water. At the same time, I switched the cooker off.

Now, ready to have my lunch

Taking tubes, shopping at busy Oxford street, walking around cosmopolitan Leicester square and Convent garden, visiting antique museums and renovated palaces and enjoying roof garden dinner at Babylon, many visitors may think they have covered most interesting things in London. It may be true. But something important is still missing. It is “show”.

As a culturally rich city, there are many theatres across London. Those are generally divided into West End, Fringe and repertory (such as The National Theatre Shakespeare’s Globe).

This time, I went to the Prince of wales theatre in Picadillary. Of course, Mamma Mia has been there since 2004. I booked ticket online 2 weeks in advance. I chose middle seat at upstairs (Circle). Stall is in downstairs. Not like in cinema, all seats were occupied in the show. I was told before many Europeans come and enjoy shows in London during the weekends. It might be true.

I feel it was worth going there. Really entertaining.The audiance had been clapping and applauding at the end of each section . The show features Abba songs which are cleverly integrated into the story written by Catherine Johnson. Film was produced after the success of show.

Someone in busy life can use shows as a stress reliver. My little advice, really.

My ticket…

The Prine of Wales Theatres. Photography is not allowed inside during show.

Show entrance…

A chauffeur colleting his boss at the end of show

“Chinese bastard”

That is what two teenagers shouted at me while walking in east London street. It happened when I came back from the hospital where I did weekend cover for a sick doctor. Those teens had no idea that I might have given a life saving treatment to one of their family members or friend in last 12 hours. I did not respond anything. Obviously, it is not worth doing so. They were from nearby council house.

A couple of years ago, a retired engineer in his 80s admitted to hospital with a broken hip and heart failure begged me, saying that “You came from a big country like China. Please help people like me living in a small country. Help me doctor, please”. He looked muddled. Anyway, I reassured him.

In fact, I am not Chinese.

I think people in Britain sometime find it difficult to differentiate the Chinese from the non-Chinese Asians. Clearly, the UK is not a great attractive place for Chinese mainlanders. They normally go to west coast of America in my understanding. Even in London, Chinese community is minute compared with south Indian counterpart despite the fact that Chinese take away has been growing in popularity.

On the other hand, interestingly, a drunken patient in acute medical admission, whom I saw in the early hours of morning, was able to recognize me, in first stance, as Burmese, proudly announcing that his grand father and father were veterans from the South East Asia. He also added that he had been keen to fight for freedom of Burma. Perhaps, it was alcohol.

This evening, I felt a bit bored and I did not want to cook or warm up any food. So I just tried this. Very easy. Preparation time was only 2 minutes.

Recipe? Very simple. Readily sliced Chorizo was placed on the plate first. Chorizo is fermented Spanish pork sausage. Fresh Chorizo needs to be cooked. But we normally eat fermented one without cooking as Europeans do.

Then, I grated mature organic English cheddar cheese. In a separate bowl, cheddar, 4 or 5 slices of Prosciutto and some wild Rocket leaves were mixed with 2 spoons of virgin olive oil. I stirred all together briefly. Then, it was put above the slides of fermented Spanish sausage on the plate.

That’s it! No electricity, no gas required to cook. Prosciutto is my favourite. It needs no cooking or frying (just info for orientals) . It is thinly cut ham from Italy, air cursed with salt for a minimum of 12 months. Nice.

Again, Spanish pork sausage, Chorizo is already fermented. If you fry, it will lost its original taste and nice smell. In fact, it looks like Salami, an Italian sausage, which can be stored at room temperature up to 10 years.

Scientists claimed that deep fried foods, such as traditional bacon and sausages, could cause cancer. But I have not read the research papers about the outcome after eating uncooked foods. Maybe I will come across such report at one point. At least I would say heat free foods are more or less environmental friendly. It is green. Green foods!!!

The whole yesterday morning, I did on-line research on current digital SLRs, thinking to buy one. I also bought a couple of photo magazines to get some idea. I know many amateur photographers are crazy to buy Nikon D90 or D5000, regardless of their income. To be honest, I am not really a fan of trying and testing new expensive development at the expense of my monthly investment.

I found out Nikon D-3000 with a reasonable price and acceptable specifications for a casual photographer. So I decided to get that one, which was introduced in July 2009 in Britain. Not too long ago. I drove to the town centre. When I got to Jessops, I changed my mind to take Sony alfa 230 instead. Sony is rather new in digital camera world, I think. My friends normally prefer Nikon and Cannon. But I think it is attractive, extremely compact with very light weight. Moreover, the quality of image of Sony camera is excellent, according to the several independent reviews. Next thing is that it is cheap (only £345) and I don’t need to worry too much if it is under performance. So I took it. . I did also purchase 70-300mm zoom lens. It was nice to take test photos instantly at beach once I came out of the shop.

But I found out that there was no live view mode. LCD screen was only for setting and viewing the photos taken. I must admit that I have a poor knowledge in Digital SLR camera although I used Nikon and Cannon SLRs since I was 18. I wrongly assumed that all dSLR had got live view as its compact counterparts. In fact, my friend Vista talked about “live view” yesterday morning that Nikon 3000 had no such mode, but in Nikon 5000. I neglected her statement. The whole evening, I tried to take photos using view finder, leaving me with some eye ache.

This morning, I went back to Jessops and I did exchange with Sony A330. I had to pay extra £50 as it was £399. Now I am happy with new camera. It has got quick AF live view. That means that unlike some other live view systems, the A330 can provide rapid camera performance without any delay for capture and it has an impressive resolution. Hopefully, photos will be available on my picasa web album shortly.

Holiday means gong somewhere. I chose Barcelona. This Spanish city with UNESCO world heritage sites is decorated with a combination of ancient buildings and modern architecture. I stayed in the Front Air Congress Hotel which is 4 star with gym and spa. I must say £55 a night is relatively cheap, compared with the same grade hotels in England. The only drawback was that it was not in the down town. I had to take the bus 72 route from hotel to the centre of Barcelona. It was only Euro 1.35 per ride( one journey £2 in London). Saving money, I bought 2 days travel card, enabling me to take bus and metro as many as I wanted. Their underground network is rather smaller than London counterpart. Basically, no need to worry to lose the way for someone who has been familiar with London transport system.

During my stay, I made new friends. I met a couple from Toronto in hotel restaurant. Both of them were well over 60. They were in Paris before Barcelona. We chatted and later we enjoyed the dinner together. Spanish fine red wine boosted our conversation. Next morning, a young girl called Yumi from Japan asked me something in the hotel lounge. She was on her own. She visited her friends in Oxford for 7 days before coming to Spain. She was a sale assistant from Nagoya. We took sight seeing bus together. She was quite friendly. The only issue was her English with many pauses and stops. But it did not matter for that evening when we enjoyed Spanish foods and then went to spa.

You can see some photos I took.

the view from Montjuïc ( ‘Hill of the Jews’)

Cruises. Barcelona has a major port in Europe

A women statue who I don’t know.

Columbus monument

Date trees

Casa Mila‘ or La Pedrera (built between 1906-1912)

More photos, click here

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The most annoying things

I came across an article on the telegraph. “The most 100 annoying things in Britain: Poll.”

The followings are top 3 out of 100.
1. Chavs
2. People driving close behind you
3. People who smell

Full list at Telegraph

I totally agree that chav is in number one position.

Chav (pronounced /ˈtʃæv/ Charver or Scally (In northern England), CHAV) is a derogatory term applied to certain young people in the United Kingdom. The stereotypical “chav” is an aggressive teenager or young adult who often engages in anti-social behaviour, such as street drinking, drug abuse and rowdy behaviour. They are often assumed to be unemployed or in a low paid job, although it is incorrect to assume that all chavs are working class, as chavs belong to no distinct social class. Chavs typically wear tracksuits and hoodies made by sporting brands such as Nike and Adidas and listen to mainly MC and some have been known to listen to Rap, R’n'B, Hip Hop and Techno. (Source: wiki)

(This is for someone who is not familiar with the meaning of chav.)

An example appearance of chavs (source: telegraph.co.uk)

Basically, once I see a group of teenagers with above appearance on my way, I would walk on the other side of the street. That is what my experience taught me. It was near the royal infirmary in west Yorkshire where I lived. A group of teenagers asked for a cigarette. I said I did not smoke. They shouted “F……. Chinese”. What a coincident. Next day, a girl from that group was visiting on the ward to see her sick grandmother who was under my care. She disappeared in a minute once she found out who I was.

Another time, a group of teenagers threw at my car with stone at near Prince Regent Station in east London while driving at about 8PM. I pulled over. They ran away. I rang 999. Police patrol arrived in 2 minutes (Police must be very aware of the situation in that area). Police man checked my car if any damage. Nothing found. They did not take any action. I think teenagers’ behaviour depends on the many factors, such as social class, parental guidance, environment they grow and many more. In fact it is a wide social science topic, I believe.

“People driving close behind you” and “People who smell” ranked number 2 and 3 respectively in above public poll.

To be honest, I do not bother tailgaters too much. Once I have a chance, I let high speeders to take over.

Am I annoyed with smelly people? Absolutely not. Of course. It is my job seeing sick people who have various smells. In fact, some particular smells help establishing a diagnosis in certain conditions.

This is my list of annoyance.

1 Chavs (as above)

2. Noisy self-closing fire door. Because of poor manufacturers or brainless builders, in most NHS buildings I lived previously, the doors shut with a bang, making walls vibrating. Unable to sleep at day time during night on-calls, risking care of patient.

The old closers with above appearance still being used in many places are really bad. The Geze brand fixed in doctor’s room at work is the worst one. It shuts the door slowly until about 4 inches away to close completely. After that, it bangs the door, making a loud noice and vibrating walls. No easy way to adjust the door to close gently. (Photo credit to : http://www.locksearch.com )

3. Windows Operating system. I have no choice. But it needs update all the time. In the middle of an important task, it has been asking to restart. Loading and shutting time are ridiculously long. I frequently need to switch the power off.

4. USB memory stick. Very useful. But every time, I need to be careful to put in a right way after one USB socket has already torn.

5. Patriotism/Nationalism

6. Road work. Now it is road work season, I believe. Everywhere, road works. In most sites, workers start their jobs in morning rash hours and finish after evening peak time.

7. Accidents and motor break-downs during rash hours. I sympathise the innocent victims. But I think it is a sort of lengthy investigation in each incident. I feel police and emergency services should have a better tools and system to get job done quickly.

8. People who asked me “Where did you originally come from?” I believe I have to answer that question as long as I am alive and living in Britain, regardless of my nationality.

9. Gordon Brown. Until a few months before this economic slow-down, I remember that he kept saying British economy was still going strong while manufacturing industry has been shrinking year after year with many factories and firms moving out to eastern Europe and China. Of course, Britain mainly depends on service sector. Until when? Who knows?

10. Putting feet on the table. Unfortunately, I start having this practice.

When I was in medical school, a microbiologist pointed out that the dirtiest part of a public toilet would be the door knob or door handle with the reason that the cleaner would clean commode and toilet floor in a particular time interval. But nobody would not bother to clean door knob that all toilet users need to touch it after their business. He claimed that million of germs could transmit from that source.

Based on above knowledge, I may be obsessed, I sometime see currency notes, which may have passed in the hands of hundreds of people before it comes to my pocket, as a kind of toilet door knob from the health point of view. I really don’t know if there are harmful germs on £5 and £10 notes. But I believe that food handlers should not touch currency note while foods are being prepared.

I like Subway sandwich for many reasons. It is fresh. I can choose the type of bread and ingredients. I can order to toast it or not. I can select the salads and sauces (Mustard is my fav). It is also a good practice that food handlers are instructed to put gloves on while working.

Unfortunately, I came across a shop somewhere in Britain, which has been in sub-standard, in terms of hygiene although sale persons were on gloves.

When I got there, there were two sale persons in that Subway shop. I ordered BMT with Hearty Italian bread. The first person’s job was cutting the bread and putting the meats inside, before toasting with cheese. After that, the second person put salads, which were cucumber, pepper, onion, iceberg as I chose, finishing by spreading with sauce. Then, it was packed. What was next!

The next step was that the sale assistant took the money with his semi-wet gloved hand, operating the machine and returning the change. When I got out of the shop, he had been dealing with next customers, repeating the same steps.

Any comment welcome.

If someone wants to know the actual place of this branch, I would be happy to tell for the sake of Subway customers. Just drop a comment.

Spreading sauce

finishing sandwich making

Holding the machine with food preparing hands, concentrating on digits

I was taking the change

A couple of years ago, my relative from Burma was visiting Britain, staying at home for a month. He noticed I was reading medical books and journals as my hobby or my task or whatever it was described.

“Work hard, Steve. Study harder to get a higher level”

His expression made me surprised. I was not preparing for any exam. I was doing a routine thing as a doctor. But in his eyes, I had to keep reading books because I still needed to learn a lot. He treated me as a student, patronising me a lot. I did not explain too much why I had to read books while working at hospital in Britain. I felt it was not worth doing so. He was just a visitor going back to Burma in a few weeks.

Basically, it is compulsory in Britain that all levels of doctors, from first year medics to consultants and professors, to do “continuing medical education” while practising. We need to keep updated with recent developments and advances in medicine while refreshing existing knowledge and skills. That is part of the duty of a good doctor. We are entitled with study days and leaves for that purpose. We need to attend education meetings and conferences .

I am wondering how a consultant physician from Burma seeing patients till late evening after working from 8Am to 4PM at hospital, would have a chance to update his or her knowledge. At the same time, I believe if patients and their families in Burma found out that their doctor keeps reading medical books, they would not trust him/her any more with the thought that our doctor had not got enough knowledge yet , but still studying. They might move to new doctors.

I still remember my early career when I ran a private clinic in Insein, northern part of former capital city, Yangon. I treated minor illness with pills and I did not request too much laboratory tests. There was a specialist clinic nearby. At that point, a funny thing was going on. The local people had been spreading words, saying that the specialist doctor from that clinic had no idea how to treat without blood tests and claiming that that young doctor, it was me, was much better. Every evening, there had been a long queue in my clinic.

Next, it is disappointing that there is a poor referral system in Burma. The doctors want to keep their patients with them for some reason, regardless of the conditions. My aunt has a sleeping difficulty and anxiety , and a cardiologist has been treating her with sleeping pill for many years, instead of referring to a psychiatrist or counselling service. Again, from the patient point of view, if they are advised to see other doctor for a different problem , they may think the referring doctor is not efficient. I heard several similar stories before. So we can’t blame doctors’ way of practice in Burma. But I believe general people would need to be educated. At the same time, the authorities concerned need to make sure the referral system in Burma running smoothly and effectively for the sake of our patients. Reinforcement may be required.

Friday afternoon Library at the hospital I am working

Evidence based Medicine corner

Reading a medical journal

Previously, we intended to go to Isle of Wight in this weekend. But the plan was changed and today we headed towards Bournemouth which is a nearer place. Late summer saw the crowd of locals and visitors walking in the shopping centre and sea front of Dorset’s coastal resort town. As I expected, its town centre was not too much different from the counterparts of other English towns. There were usual shops and stores. I popped in to Borders book shop to buy Jamie Oliver’s Italian cook book as my colleague recommended. The interesting thing was that there were only pop, rock and some classic CDs on the music shelves. No R&B and Rap songs for some reason. Perhaps, it needs some more time to get updated to a world class cosmopolitan place.

It was within a walking distance from town to the sea front. After passing through a park, where there was a huge balloon, raising visitors 500 feet into the air to view the English Channel and Dorset countryside, we saw a rather small pier. Cloudy sky was not a perfect weather for beach lovers. But there were a few people swimming. Some were enjoying with surfing boards.

Brownsea island is the largest of the islands in Poole harbour with 500 acres. With £10.50 per head boat tickets, we had an opportunity to lean Bournemouth’s long sand beach and cliffs on our way to the island. Other boats and yachts were also around with different directions.

Now the island is under the control of the National Trust although it was private island in the past . It is naturally beautiful.

View Larger Map

The National Trust website said:

Peaceful island of woodland, wetland and heath with a rich diversity of wildlife

• Fine walks and spectacular views of Poole Harbour
• Home to the endangered red squirrel
• Famous for being the birthplace for Scouting and Guiding
• A haven for wildlife, including Sika deer and wading birds
• Trails and Tracker Packs for young smugglers and explorers
• Escape the noise and stress of modern life and discover nature in this unspoilt setting

I believe it is worth visiting there at last one time.

If you want to see the full set of photos, click here

Thank you