Immediately after secondary school, I was unable to obtain good grades to be admitted into the local universities, and as a result, I entered the workforce first as a customer service officer in Hutchison Paging. As an officer dealing with after sales support, I am constantly in contact with the customer and helping them to resolve their paging issues. This enabled me to improve on my communications skills to better connect with the customer and to address their needs.
From a back end after sales support role, I was able to get a job as a Branch Manager responsible for the sale of telecommunications devices like pagers, handphones, and traditional phone sets in 2001. As a Branch Manager I was in charge of other employees and the overall profitability of the branch. For about 4 years, i was able to ensure good profitability in the branch.
In 2005, I had to leave Star5 Technology Pte Ltd, as my dad was expanding his building contracting business, and I was obliged to assist him in the interim while he was in the process of recruiting more people. As a result I spent a total of 2 years in Homewell Building Contractor Pte Ltd as a project executive, responsible for not just sales, but also project coordination.
In 2007, after the expansion of my dad’s business has stabilized, I decided to gain more experience by applying for a job as a commercial banker in UOB. At that time, I had completed my Diploma in Mass Communications which I had studied while working full time. I was able to get a job as a Business Development Associate in the retail banking division focusing on seeking out new accounts for the bank. Despite not having any prior experience in the banking industry, I managed to get a good grasp of the financial products and was able to close out many new accounts for the bank. Very soon after, I was head hunted by Standard Chartered Bank to focus on seeking out new accounts for small and medium businesses with a turnover value from $1m to $15m. This presented new opportunities as I would be able to deal with businesses of a larger scale.
My stint with SCB continued to be fruitful as I was consistently one of the top contributors. As a testament of my exceptional performance, the Group CEO of SCB wrote me a commendation letter praising me for my outstanding work. I even managed to win the Top Business Financial Manager award for quarter 3 in 2008, while maintaining a top 5 overall standing throughout all other quarters.
In addition, my customers have also been very satisfied with my work ethics and have separately wrote in letters to highlight this positive aspect of my work to my superiors.
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| Customer Commendation Letter 1 |
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| Customer Commendation Letter 2 |
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| Customer Commendation Letter 3 |
My work experience so far has taught me the importance of staying humble, adopting a lifelong attitude of continuous learning, and how to communicate with customers effectively. While I derived much joy for my exceptional performances working for the bank, I somehow felt that I was still searching for meaning and had some time to recollect my thoughts and chart my development path for the longer term. As a banker I was constantly helping entrepreneurs and business owners who are already successful to expand their businesses by offering more banking loans. There was no lack of bankers like me to help them become even more successful. Hence, I asked myself what should I do so that I can be a differentiator in society.
This time of reflection coincided with a major event in my life, which was my wedding in 2009. After my wedding, I took the bold step of resigning from the bank and decided to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Edith Cowan University. It was also during this time that I found the time to volunteer at the Singapore Children’s Society and Family Life Center. I even embarked on a sign language course with the Singapore Deaf Association. All this was possible with the support of my husband who urged me to search for the meaning.
