Advise needed for a young man

[TimetoFriggShop]

Hi all,

I would like to ask some questions regarding on some career advise and hope experienced members will share some insights about it.

Short intro about myself, I am currently still serving the nation as NSF(21yo), ording in June 2014. Concurrently am now taking a part time DL degree on Finance as my NS life is 8-5. I have a local dip in IT.

My question is i only finish my degree in mid 2015, I ord mid this year when i am going out to find job should i go for internship right now? or should i start looking for a perm job instead? I am actually interested in doing financial analyst or mortgaged loan specialist but having an IT dip right now will it hinder my chance of landing an interview in banks or SME?

Thanks in advance for the replies.
Good day all !

 

[sgtsickox]

Hi all,

I would like to ask some questions regarding on some career advise and hope experienced members will share some insights about it.

Short intro about myself, I am currently still serving the nation as NSF(21yo), ording in June 2014. Concurrently am now taking a part time DL degree on Finance as my NS life is 8-5. I have a local dip in IT.

My question is i only finish my degree in mid 2015, I ord mid this year when i am going out to find job should i go for internship right now? or should i start looking for a perm job instead? I am actually interested in doing financial analyst or mortgaged loan specialist but having an IT dip right now will it hinder my chance of landing an interview in banks or SME?

Thanks in advance for the replies.
Good day all !

you might consider looking at https://www.scicollege.org.sg/

Need to pass certain exams to be in financial industry

 

[alexchia01]

Hi all,

I would like to ask some questions regarding on some career advise and hope experienced members will share some insights about it.

Short intro about myself, I am currently still serving the nation as NSF(21yo), ording in June 2014. Concurrently am now taking a part time DL degree on Finance as my NS life is 8-5. I have a local dip in IT.

My question is i only finish my degree in mid 2015, I ord mid this year when i am going out to find job should i go for internship right now? or should i start looking for a perm job instead? I am actually interested in doing financial analyst or mortgaged loan specialist but having an IT dip right now will it hinder my chance of landing an interview in banks or SME?

Thanks in advance for the replies.
Good day all !

You are still young, so it's better to try a couple of jobs before you deciding which career path you want to take.

You can easily switch career direction when you are young, so experience different industries.

Once you are sure where you want to excel in then focus and work smart.

Do not wait until you are in your 30s to discover you don't like your job and decide to switch career path.

The older you gets, the more difficult to switch career. So take your time to choose wisely while you are young.

 

[sojournerr]

Fully agree. Liked!

Go explore different jobs while you are young. Hopefully you will find out drives you and interests you, so that you will not have to feel like you are dragging yourself to work.

The other point is financial literacy. Learn how to pay yourself first and invest savvily, and the 8th wonder of the world (according to Albert Einstein) -- compounded interest.

There will be other books people here can recommend, I'll suggest one that can be found in most bookstores: "what your school never taught you about money" by Dennis Ng.

You are still young, so it's better to try a couple of jobs before you deciding which career path you want to take.

You can easily switch career direction when you are young, so experience different industries.

Once you are sure where you want to excel in then focus and work smart.

Do not wait until you are in your 30s to discover you don't like your job and decide to switch career path.

The older you gets, the more difficult to switch career. So take your time to choose wisely while you are young.

 

[circleheart]

You are still young, so it's better to try a couple of jobs before you deciding which career path you want to take.

You can easily switch career direction when you are young, so experience different industries.

Once you are sure where you want to excel in then focus and work smart.

Do not wait until you are in your 30s to discover you don't like your job and decide to switch career path.

The older you gets, the more difficult to switch career. So take your time to choose wisely while you are young.

Thanks for your valuable reply buddy.
you said experience different industries, are you referring to different job roles but still in finance industry?
Should i apply for internship first or should i go ahead and find a perm job?

Thanks,
warmest regards

 

[circleheart]

Fully agree. Liked!

Go explore different jobs while you are young. Hopefully you will find out drives you and interests you, so that you will not have to feel like you are dragging yourself to work.

The other point is financial literacy. Learn how to pay yourself first and invest savvily, and the 8th wonder of the world (according to Albert Einstein) -- compounded interest.

There will be other books people here can recommend, I'll suggest one that can be found in most bookstores: "what your school never taught you about money" by Dennis Ng.

Hi there,
Yeah i hope i will find a suitable job for myself, i am actually thinking of doing sales related for a start. but must it really be insurance or credit cards?
i will look up for the book, thanks!

 

[Boorseye]

Hi there,
Yeah i hope i will find a suitable job for myself, i am actually thinking of doing sales related for a start. but must it really be insurance or credit cards?
i will look up for the book, thanks!

Personally I'm doing banking products as well.. credit cards really nothing much for you to learn..

 

[itedino]

Like me. Always in sales relax job

 

[IFAadvisor]

Well,

My 2 cents worth. Just jump in and try, listen to yourself. It took me 8 years to find my passion which is in insurance. I was engineer, part time real estate, part time insurance, air traffic controller, today going strong in insurance industry.

People tell you, you can't make it because they can't make it, trust your heart and mind. My mum told me I will never make it, "I know you since birth", my friends told me I will never make it, my wife asked me if I thought it through when I want to join insurance full time. Today, I serve the top 10% Singaporeans. It's not about bragging but it's a lot of guts, effort, belief and sacrifice.

You need to conform quickly and stop grumbling. Be a decision maker. MAS ruling changes year to year. Know the business world, read lots of books and keep improving yourself.

Eg. I'm exploring how to use the forum, kena demerit when I posted first few posts (dunno law lol).

3 important pillars,
Family, if you can't handle your family and experience no joy, peace or love. You will never understand what drives you. Spend time.
Business. You still must bring bread home, need to have business plan drawn up year on year. Spend time
Spiritual, God gave me everything and the missing pieces when I fail and succeed. Spend time

You spend too much time on either 3 pillars, you fail.

Balancing these, you will be successful.

Good luck exploring

 

[TimetoFriggShop]

Well,

My 2 cents worth. Just jump in and try, listen to yourself. It took me 8 years to find my passion which is in insurance. I was engineer, part time real estate, part time insurance, air traffic controller, today going strong in insurance industry.

People tell you, you can't make it because they can't make it, trust your heart and mind. My mum told me I will never make it, "I know you since birth", my friends told me I will never make it, my wife asked me if I thought it through when I want to join insurance full time. Today, I serve the top 10% Singaporeans. It's not about bragging but it's a lot of guts, effort, belief and sacrifice.

You need to conform quickly and stop grumbling. Be a decision maker. MAS ruling changes year to year. Know the business world, read lots of books and keep improving yourself.

Eg. I'm exploring how to use the forum, kena demerit when I posted first few posts (dunno law lol).

3 important pillars,
Family, if you can't handle your family and experience no joy, peace or love. You will never understand what drives you. Spend time.
Business. You still must bring bread home, need to have business plan drawn up year on year. Spend time
Spiritual, God gave me everything and the missing pieces when I fail and succeed. Spend time

You spend too much time on either 3 pillars, you fail.

Balancing these, you will be successful.

Good luck exploring

Thanks for taking your time to type out such impactful thoughts. I will try to find my passion in a job, as the saying says find your passion in your job and you will never have to work a day.
I hope i can land a decent job with my DL degree after graduation ! But for now is to see if my Dip in IT can land me a job in internship or a full time job (Finance related) first.

 

[TimetoFriggShop]

Personally I'm doing banking products as well.. credit cards really nothing much for you to learn..

Yeah i dont wish to do credit card but from what i hear to start out first is to go through selling CC or insurances.

 

[iCuteCube]

I will just give me 2 cents.

Set a target.

1) When you chose a job, whatever it is. Please convince yourself with the top 3 reasons why this job is good.

2) After step 1, please set a timeframe. For example, 1 month to try first. or 3 months, or a specific timeframe. Within the timeframe that you set, please try very hard not to quit. Often see people quit within few days or few weeks without a clear objective.

3) After the specific timeframe you set, for example 1 month, determine if you had met your objective, are you comfortable with it. What is the future prospect in this job (Idea versus realistic targets).

These are a few of my SOP that I usually follow and It is useful to me.
But once again the infamous quote "one man's meat is another man's poison".

Make your own judgement and we wish you success

 

[keentolearn]

Thanks for taking your time to type out such impactful thoughts. I will try to find my passion in a job, as the saying says find your passion in your job and you will never have to work a day.
I hope i can land a decent job with my DL degree after graduation ! But for now is to see if my Dip in IT can land me a job in internship or a full time job (Finance related) first.

I'm not very experienced on this forum but I know abit about the finance industry..

1. Your Dip in IT + Finance studies may help you get an internship in a local bank but likely in the Technology or Operations department, alot of saikang to do but good learning imo. Don't hiam too much, if you really want to gain exposure. The key to moving out of backoffice is to build relationships outside the dept. I personally think this is not a very good option because depending on your role you might never get to meet ppl outside the dept, have seen a friend doing so though..

2. After your ORD, go look for 1-year contract job in banks or other financial institutions (or internship if you like), pays better than internships and have CPF somemore. Unless you have lobang to get such jobs, go through recruitment agencies, they get a cut but your pay is still better than internship, and you get alot of exposure.. The work involved shld be mostly admin, but if you're good at IT you can help simplify work by writing VBA (say that during interviews they love it).

3. Why not a perm job right after your ORD and before you get your DL degree? (1) Honestly I don't think you'll get a job you really want (i.e. in Sales, as you've mentioned) because you have no relevant experience on your CV, and (2) the stress (quotas to hit, OT, etc) from a perm job will have an impact on your studies, by taking up a lot more time and energy compared to a contract job.

Feel free to pm me if you want.