Describe Generally About The Career Networking
On 23rd May, Thursday, Ngee Ann Polytechnic has arranged a career networking session for us students at block 27 and 31, level 5. The career networking session had more than 30 companies involved and some companies such as DBS, UOB and Shopee were present. Career networking involves using personal, professional, academic or familial contacts to assist with a job search, achieve career goals, or learn more about a field. Networking can be a good way to hear about job opportunities. In our case, this networking session was held to help us source for possible internship placement as well as potential employment.
I was quite excited when I heard about the career networking being held in school as firstly, I wasn’t sure of what internship I wanted to apply for and hence the networking session might be able to provide me with some insights. Secondly, I wanted to find out more companies that might potentially become my future employers, when I have completed my studies. I have been constantly searching the internet about latest news and information related to the financial technology industry but nothing beats being able to talk to the company’s representative in person and being able to clarify my doubts.
What I like about the career networking session was how we were given a variety of companies to choose from and network with. There were over 30 companies to choose from and we were also given the freedom to choose which companies that interest us the most, instead of being forced to network with all companies. Ample time of 4 hours was also given for us to talk to the different companies’ representative. The companies’ representative was friendly towards us and provided us with background information about the company and how the company is working towards information technology. Furthermore, I liked how we were given the opportunity to network with such companies for potential internship placement as this would save us the trouble of having to source for internship ourselves.
I was quite excited when I heard about the career networking being held in school as firstly, I wasn’t sure of what internship I wanted to apply for and hence the networking session might be able to provide me with some insights. Secondly, I wanted to find out more companies that might potentially become my future employers, when I have completed my studies. I have been constantly searching the internet about latest news and information related to the financial technology industry but nothing beats being able to talk to the company’s representative in person and being able to clarify my doubts.
What I like about the career networking session was how we were given a variety of companies to choose from and network with. There were over 30 companies to choose from and we were also given the freedom to choose which companies that interest us the most, instead of being forced to network with all companies. Ample time of 4 hours was also given for us to talk to the different companies’ representative. The companies’ representative was friendly towards us and provided us with background information about the company and how the company is working towards information technology. Furthermore, I liked how we were given the opportunity to network with such companies for potential internship placement as this would save us the trouble of having to source for internship ourselves.
Companies I Network With
I managed to network with 3 companies, being UOB, Prudential and MyRepublic. UOB was founded by Datuk Wee Kheng Chiang on 6 August 1935. Through a series of acquisitions, UOB is now a leading bank in Asia, with a network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America. UOB also provides a wide range of financial services through its global network of branches, offices, subsidiaries and associates: personal financial services, private banking, commercial and corporate banking, investment banking, corporate finance, capital market activities, treasury services, futures broking, asset management, venture capital management, insurance and stockbroking services. For the IT side of UOB, the technology and operation are comprised of five teams of specialists with distinct capabilities: business partnership, technology, operations, risk governance and planning support & services. They work closely together to harness the power of technology to support their physical and digital banking services and operations. This includes developing, centralizing and standardizing technology systems as well as banking operations in Singapore and overseas branches.
Prudential Singapore, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Prudential plc, is one of the top life insurance companies in Singapore. They have been serving the financial and protection needs of Singaporeans for over 85 years. Their focus is to bring well-rounded financial solutions to customers through our multi-channel distribution network, with product offerings in Protection, Savings and Investment. The IT side of Prudential is known as Prudential Innovation Office. They have a programme known as the PRU Fintegrate Partnership programme, which is Prudential Singapore’s flagship innovation programme for FinTech, InsurTech, HealthTech and MedTech scale-ups around the world and aims to build an ecosystem of relevant partners to help solve business challenges with creative solutions.
Last but not least, MyRepublic, is the world’s first telecommunications company powered by a proprietary cloud platform and is redefining the economics of telecom. As one of the fastest-growing telecom operators in the Asia-Pacific, MyRepublic has operations across Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia, and is set to expand further into the region. With its uniquely scalable and centralised framework enabling the seamless delivery of layered services, MyRepublic has become a leader in the digital transformation for the telecom sector, one that is set to play out over the next decade in one of the most exciting regions of the world.
Prudential Singapore, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Prudential plc, is one of the top life insurance companies in Singapore. They have been serving the financial and protection needs of Singaporeans for over 85 years. Their focus is to bring well-rounded financial solutions to customers through our multi-channel distribution network, with product offerings in Protection, Savings and Investment. The IT side of Prudential is known as Prudential Innovation Office. They have a programme known as the PRU Fintegrate Partnership programme, which is Prudential Singapore’s flagship innovation programme for FinTech, InsurTech, HealthTech and MedTech scale-ups around the world and aims to build an ecosystem of relevant partners to help solve business challenges with creative solutions.
Last but not least, MyRepublic, is the world’s first telecommunications company powered by a proprietary cloud platform and is redefining the economics of telecom. As one of the fastest-growing telecom operators in the Asia-Pacific, MyRepublic has operations across Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia, and is set to expand further into the region. With its uniquely scalable and centralised framework enabling the seamless delivery of layered services, MyRepublic has become a leader in the digital transformation for the telecom sector, one that is set to play out over the next decade in one of the most exciting regions of the world.
Which Companies Interest Me The Most And Why?
All three companies that I networked with actually gained my interest as they were all unique and different. Starting off with UOB, it was interesting to find out more about how their technology and operation department operated. They primarily have 5 teams in their technology and operation department, being business partnership, technology, operations, risk governance and planning support & services. They work closely together to harness the power of technology to support their physical and digital banking services and operations. This includes developing, centralizing and standardizing technology systems as well as banking operations in Singapore and overseas branches. Each team would have different specialists so as to ensure everything runs smoothly. This interests me as despite being under one department of technology and operation, there are still sub-teams under the department and that each team requires a different kind of specialization.
For Prudential, it was interesting to find out how insurance companies are starting to move towards the IT side of the world as well. Prudential offered us the opportunity to partner with one of Singapore’s largest life insurers and draw on the organisation’s network and resources to turn ideas into reality. The reason why prudential interest me the most out of all the companies is that the life insurance sector is largely untapped and hence there are still many innovative ideas that have yet to be discovered.
Thirdly, MyRepublic has also gained my interest as they thought of the box to come out with something unordinary, which is powering a telecommunication company by a proprietary cloud platform. This is something new that no one has tried before and MyRepublic is the first to come out with it. Hence, it was interesting to find out how they came out with this idea and how is it that the cloud platform can sustain a telecommunication company.
For Prudential, it was interesting to find out how insurance companies are starting to move towards the IT side of the world as well. Prudential offered us the opportunity to partner with one of Singapore’s largest life insurers and draw on the organisation’s network and resources to turn ideas into reality. The reason why prudential interest me the most out of all the companies is that the life insurance sector is largely untapped and hence there are still many innovative ideas that have yet to be discovered.
Thirdly, MyRepublic has also gained my interest as they thought of the box to come out with something unordinary, which is powering a telecommunication company by a proprietary cloud platform. This is something new that no one has tried before and MyRepublic is the first to come out with it. Hence, it was interesting to find out how they came out with this idea and how is it that the cloud platform can sustain a telecommunication company.