As a teenager, I dabbled in various jobs – from boutique to retail to electronic stores. I worked mainly as a sales promoter which involved long hours of standing and serving customers. Following that, and when I was an undergraduate, I was a telemarketer for close to a year where I mainly called and scheduled appointments for consultants.
Success Stories
Back in 2000, I was a qualified accountant in the world of commerce and business. This was rewarding and lucrative career, albeit one which demanded a certain level of intensity – you have to be disciplined, and consistent in your standards.
An officer in the SAF, Kelvin Goh came close to signing on with the army; but a chance encounter with a job had turned his life around. Now, he has thrived in the finance industry for 15 years, a consistent top-performer in control of his own time. Kelvin explains how he made the transition below. “When I was still in NS, I had a thought of signing on as an Army Officer, as it was offered to me as an option,” Kelvin says. “I did not know what to do and had no direction in my life. Therefore, I thought that signing on was a very good way to get started”.
When Tay Hui Ting came out of school, her only previous jobs had been part-time gigs; from selling bedsheets in retail, to customer service in a bank. For many graduates like her, the aftermath of the financial crisis in ‘08/09 made career prospects look grim. “There was a crisis at the time, and I was looking for a full-time job”, she says, “Nothing seemed to be available for a fresh graduate.”
In 2001, I was a regional channel sales manager. I worked in a corporate environment, looking after regional sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. When the Asian Financial Crisis happened around that time, I ended up being retrenched by the company. I wasn’t alone, and a lot of my friends were also laid off, due to changes in management and office politics.
I joined the finance industry fresh out of school, which can be a challenging first job. Nonetheless, today I’m a financial planner specialising in holistic planning for clients; and also in Employee Benefits and Total Risk Management for corporate clients. In 2021, I would have been working in this industry for 11 years already.
Trace Wong is born and bred in Singapore. She’s a wife, daughter and a mum of two children, 14 and 20. For the past 25 years, She has been a financial planner to help individuals grow their wealth, plan for retirement and be adequately protected.
Jeffrey Lim started working as a police constable in the 1990s right after completing his O Levels, becoming an insurance agent never crossed his mind.
Max Lee likes to think he takes calculated risks. This was what he did when he quit a stable career in accounting to an insurance sales role that didn’t pay him a base salary.
Jeana Goh is a people person. Period. She loves talking to people and was doing a lot of that first in her first job as a property officer. She coordinated workflows with contractors, government officials and suppliers on real estate projects.