Since SpringBoard revamped 6months ago, we have grown tremendously and now have about 20 apprentices / interns, and close to 10 mentors. In the past month, we saw momentum pick up considerably with lots of new sign-ups for our Mentorship Programme.

How successful are we in nurturing people?

As at end April, we had 12 apprentices / interns; with 5 on Advanced track.

On our revamped platform, we had two success stories, achieved within 3months into our Programme. This number of success stories implies a success rate of 17% for our entire pool and 40% for our Advanced track interns. In this mailer, we wish to share three success stories: two are from our latest batch and one from last year.

Wilson made it under our key mentor Ruishan, from public sector

We met Wilson at CFA Xmas party in 2012 and saw something really special in him-> enthusiasm, passion and humility. The feeling was mutual and it also became very clear to him that SpringBoard would be a key enabler of his career switch. He signed up on our Foundation track in January and was placed in the good hands of our star mentor Ruishan.

He was deeply motivated and by around CNY, he has progressed to the Advanced track of our Mentorship Programme. He demonstrated high adversity quotient when he had to juggle three balls-> his day job, CFA exam preparation classes and also assignments from our Mentorship Programme. Not all was smooth-sailing in his career switch journey and there were many hurdles he had to cross. When the three balls became too many to juggle, he made a bold and decisive decision in late March to quit his day job to focus on CFA exam preparation and our Mentorship Programme.

We supported his decision, and we knew not many people out there have such courage, that is a critical success factor in the finance industry. Eventually, his persistence and perseverance paid off when he informed us of his signing contract for his dream job in end April. That implies he did career switch within 3mths into our Mentorship Programme. We are all very happy for him and wish him all the best in his new role.

RT is one step closer into the finance industry

RT learnt about SpringBoard when we did a campus roadshow at SIM Global Education in Nov 2012. He was a second year undergraduate in Economics and Finance with decent academic results and felt that some form of mentorship would propel him toward joining the finance industry. He subsequently signed up for our Mentorship Programme in January and started doing work in his spare time for Springboard partners as well as AKY, our programme/curriculum director.

He has demonstrated his capability through his interaction with his springboard mentor and his quality works. Thus before he has even completed his enrolment in his mentorship program, we are very pleased to have found for him a special opportunity to work full-time with a global investment firm during his school vacation. Similarly, this opportunity was sealed within 3mths into our Mentorship Programme.

Willie finally made it as buy-side analyst!

Willie was from an earlier batch of SpringBoard apprentices, prior to the recent revamp. He learnt about SpringBoard from his good friend Mun Hong, another SpringBoard success story.

He is a firm believer of continuous learning and had joined forces with a couple of friends to do equity research based on value investing principles, where the team consists of highly motivated individuals capable of self-learning and with a clear direction in career goals.

Yoman found a natural affinity with him and decided to take him on as a special intern, despite his heavy focus on personal goals during 2012. Willie did a short stint under Yoman, while Yoman was working from London office for two weeks. Leveraging onSpringBoard’s internship, Willie temporarily found a contract job with a global investment bank as a sovereign analyst.

With continued perseverance and some luck, he eventually found himself a buy-side research role in an investment firm. We can see how birds of the same feather flock together indeed!