When I was studying accounting at the Polytechnic Institute, my academic knowledge of accounting was identified to be better than my peers. My lecturer even assigned me to tutor my peers who were lacking behind in the
class.
This naturally set me to be on the pursuit of becoming a qualified accountant.
After graduation, I focused on obtaining an accounting license and it took me three years to
complete the credits required for me to qualify for an accounting license.
Upon entering into the workforce, I came to the hard realisation that what I had learnt in the institution had little application to my work. After practicing accounting for awhile, I realized that the ability
to perform a good job was way more important than exercising the accounting theories learnt in school.
I was thus overwhelmed by the enormous and cumbersome administrative affairs daily.
Administrative work is a prerequisite for most accounting processes and
this happened to be my main weakness.
I worked every day till late hours at night and my handled cases were endless.
That was when I began to think about changing my portfolio from accounting to
auditing. However, such a change was unsuccessful. At the same time I was deeply mired in the
plight of being complained by the client and meeting countless deadlines for my supervisor.
Upon the introduction of a friend, I met Teacher Li and the turning point for my career soon
came.
After consulting Teacher Li, he managed to evaluate my personality, learning styles hence
analyzed my strengths and weaknesses accurately. The conclusion was I was unsuitable for accounting work.
However, Teacher Li has brilliantly highlighted my strong capability in people management and
good financial analytical skills. Since it was assessed that I also have strong desire for money,
Teacher Li suggested that I should develop my career towards financial sales.
With the encouragement of Teacher Li, I diligently found a friend to refer me a job in a
bank setting. I started with a sales assistant position in the banking industry. As Mr. Li has
rightfully said, my professional knowledge in accounting served as a great asset in my
job position in the bank. I officially became the bank’s RM (Customer Relationship
Manager) after a year plus and have since served in the banking industry for three years. The
weaknesses to administer paperwork that plagued me in the past were no longer a hinderance to my job portfolio now.
The pressure to achieve quarterly sales target has gotten me all excited. I am delighted to chase after commissions rather than paperwork deadlines. Honestly, I am much happier to be on a commission based bank portfolio, talking to my clients over meals than to do accounting in the office. My current annual salary is also an income
that I could not imagine three years ago. I am very grateful to Teacher Li for his sharp analysis
and guidance. To this day, I would still consult him on other issues in my personal and professional areas.
I have gained alot of insights from him over these years. Mr Li is truely my mentor.
