AJAY BRACH

Email: ajaybrach@gmail.com

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ajay-brach

CAREER OBJECTIVE

Business analyst for a multinational corporation, leading to a career in project management

EDUCATION

UBC Sauder School of Business, Vancouver, BC

Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, Graduation date: May 2013

EMPLOYMENT

Lululemon Athletica, Vancouver, BC

Analyst (2016-Present)

• Currently work as a Budget Analyst. Help coordinate multi-million dollar projects making sure projects are being managed properly and work is going according to plan.

Penfolds Roofing, Vancouver, BC

Junior Accountant (2013-2015)

• Full-Time Junior Accountant. Work included full-cycle accounts payable and accounts receivable, government remittances, account reconciliations, payroll and assist Controller with preparation of financial statements

Horizon Chartered Accountants, Vancouver BC

Junior Accountant (2011-2012)

• After completing the qualifications for my degree, I worked full time within a team as a Junior Accountant (45-55 hour/week) preparing T1s, T3s, T4s, and T5s during the firm’s busy tax season

Richmond Olympic Oval, Richmond BC

Sport Attendant (2008-2011)

• Worked as a Sport Attendant. I resolved stressful situations with diplomacy and by being knowledgeable about the world class facility

PERSONAL

Interests

• Hiking, rock-climbing, snowboarding, hockey, running and traveling

Speical Skills

• Ability to code in Swift

Activities

• Ice Hockey (12+ years); Skating instructor – Special Olympics BC (3 years)

REFERENCES

Available upon request

I have compiled this application package for my MBA application to UBC’s MBA program. I have several years of full-time experience working in project and finance related roles. Obtaining my MBA through UBC would help with my career aspirations.

Within this application package I have included:

• Application Instructions
• Resume PDF
• Cover Letter
• Reference Letters

In this weeks assignments we focused on writing our draft for our formal report. I found the beginning of this assignment especially difficult because I wasn’t sure if I chose the right topic. One thing I learned from this process is to first create a plan. This includes outlining what you will be researching and the argument you’ll be putting forth. In the end I had decided to keep the topic that I originally chose. I found that there was sufficient subject matter to talk about and I was confident that I would be able to put a compelling argument forth.

Peer reviewing was another interesting task in this weeks assignment. This was a much larger peer review than anything we’ve done in this course to date. The most difficult aspect of this peer review was focusing on attention to detail while going through such a large document. I managed to break the document into three segments and then focus on each independently by taking breaks between reviewing. I’m excited for the final products. After reading Steven’s formal report I am excited to see what he develops for his final revision.

URL for draft report: http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/11/18/29725/

URL for peer review: http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/11/20/29868/

I have been using LinkedIn as a professional tool for several years now. I fixed a few things in my profile as a result of this assignment. I found a lot of the tips resourceful in improving my profile. I’ve used LinkedIn when applying for jobs and also when reaching out to other professionals. It’s proven to be a valuable tool.

Brainstorming for the proposal was difficult. I tried my best to think of an idea that relates to my work. I came up with something I felt passionate about but over the past week I’ve been thinking if I’ve chosen the wrong topic. The topic I’ve chosen does not seem like a glaring problem and may be difficult to write an entire report about. The peer review helped a lot. Steven’s suggestions help me think about my idea from different perspectives. My goal in this report is to be fully passionate about my topic.

The peer review process is very useful for critiquing your writing style. You get a good idea of how others receive the information you are trying to convey. Giving a peer review is also helpful. You have a chance to think critically about your own writing style. You compare ways that you write with techniques of your partner’s. Overall, the review process has been a helpful source of constructive criticism.

Revised proposal: revised_formal_report_proposal_ajaybrach

URL for peer review: http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/10/10/peer-review-of-ajays-formal-report-proposal/

Dear team,

This is a re-posting of my reflections from unit one. The original post was posted September 30th and can be viewed through this link: Reflections on Unit One

Reflections on Unit One

This week’s assignments involved a lot of reflecting over different writing styles. We chose a topic that is relevant to our particular field of study and created definitions. We then read our group member’s definitions and gave constructive feedback.

First draft

The definitions that I created were describing confirmation bias. I chose this topic because I personally enjoy thinking about how confirmation bias applies to society. This made writing the definitions a smooth process. We were to write our definitions for an audience of “non-technical” readers. While I was writing I made sure not to introduce content that would confuse the reader. I made sure to included examples that the reader would be able to relate to. Giving the reader a good overview of what confirmation bias is followed with distinct examples was the strategy I used while writing my initial draft.

Peer review

Reviewing Jade’s definitions on operant conditioning gave me insight to a different approach. The structure of our parenthetical and sentence definitions were similar; however Jade took a different approach in her expanded definition. Jade focused on giving the reader a better idea of how operant conditioning was discovered. She focused on detailing the experiments that helped form the idea. This was different from my approach as I focused more on how my confirmation bias relates to people shown through examples.

Self Editing

After creating my first draft and then peer reviewing Jade’s first draft, I had varying perspectives when editing the final draft. Jade pointed out that I should elaborate more on the history of confirmation bias. I also fixed grammatical errors and gave better context for the image in my expanded definition.

Having Jade’s input helped me view my writing style from another person’s perspective. After reading the review of my definitions it was clear that there were some areas that I could make stronger.

I’ve attached my rewritten definition in this link: 301-ajay-brach-definitions

Hyperlink of my Peer Review from Jade: Peer Review for Assignment 1:3

MEMORANDUM

To: Erica Paterson, English 301 Professor

From: Ajay Brach, English 301 Student   A.B.

Date: September 12, 2016

Subject: Posting Confirmation

As indicated in the outline of the course, one of our assignments this week was to create an application letter to help in the process of forming groups. Attached to this email is the application form that I’ve created.

The application includes:

• My experience as an Analyst for Lululemon and how it relates to the topics in the class
• The way I best absorb information and learn new topics
• My strengths and weaknesses in writing
• Examples of how I use professional writing in my current work
• Academic achievements that I have accomplished

I look forward to forming groups and hope that this application is a great reflection of my excitement for the course. Please let me know if anything is missing or if you need further clarification.

Enclosure: Application Form

301-ajay-brach-application-letter

Technical Writing 301/ Sept  2016

University of British Columbia

2329 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Sept 12^th, 2016

Ajay Brach

Student

University of British Columbia

2329 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Dear 301 Technical Writing class,

I am writing to express me keen interest in being a member of your professional writing team. After reading the assignment posted on our class website first week of class, I was eager to apply. I currently work for Lululemon Athletica as an Analyst where I write professional documents and correspond with colleagues using professional writing skills on a daily basis. Our professor, Erica Paterson, included this assignment and posting as the first step to our group work in the class. I’m excited to get started and work collaboratively with you in creating and completing excellent professional writing assignments.

Having worked in the professional realm for over 3 years, I feel the skills taught in this class can be invaluable to my career endeavours. I work hard to improve myself on a regular basis through challenging myself physically and learning new things. I first completed my degree with a Bachelor of Commerce from UBC’s Sauder School of Business in 2012. Since then, I’ve decided that I want to pursue graduate school and feel that this course would be a valuable asset in creating my applications for next fall.  Currently I help in the creation of business cases for projects as well as analyzing the health of project budgets for Lululemon’s ongoing projects. Effective communication is crucial when working with a team. Since joining the Lululemon team I have also been responsible for updating and creating several internal documents to which management and other colleagues of mine use regularly.

My biggest strength when it comes to communicating is my ability to convey a message. I am a very visual learner and love to understand things. I find that if I take the time to understand a topic rather than memorizing it, I can work my way through the process each time the very same way. I approach learning similarly to the way a building is built; I create a good foundation then build slowly with new topics. It’s this methodic approach that I take when understanding that I also apply when I am trying to convey a message. Being that I am a visual learner, I would not consider memorizing a strength of mine. This inadvertently has resulted in poor skills in spelling. However with today’s technology and tools such as spell check, my lack in abilities with spelling does not impede  my ability to communicate professionally.

With the combination of my work experience, education and personal interests, I believe I have a strong foundation to make a positive contribution to your professional writing team. I thank you for your time and consideration, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at (778)-994-2901 or AjayBrach@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Ajay Brach

301-ajay-brach-application-letter

This is my first post on this blog. I’ve never used or had a blog before so this is all pretty new to me. Pretty excited to get started though.