In our previous SpringBoard mailer, we featured two success stories of Wilson and RT (from Advanced track), and Willie from an earlier batch of SpringBoard apprentices.

This time, we will feature Darren and LQ (from Foundation track), who have successfully switched careers.

Darren is one step closer into the finance industry

We first got to know Darren in mid 2012 at one of our SpringBoard knowledge sharing sessions, where investment professionals came to share their career path into the finance industry.  Darren graduated from an Australian university with Finance Degree and was in middle office of a global investment bank.  He came for a few of our focus group sessions and we could sense a keen learning spirit in him, in line with Yoman’s slogan “Continue Learning and Keep On Networking”.

Darren aspires to be an investor specialised in trading, and signed up in April this year for our Mentorship Programme under Mondy- a proprietary trader- to develop himself the trading skillset.  Mondy sought to instill in Darren the key attribute of discipline in traders and asked Darren to make it a point to work on an assignment- to be submitted on a daily basis.  This is similar to the daily process (being part of the team’s investment process) that Yoman was asked to perform when he first joined the investment industry.  True, it might be as mundane and simple as updating a few spreadsheets or scripts, yet it is one of the crucial building blocks to becoming a great trader one day.  Discipline is a rare quality, which is exactly why there are not too many great traders around.  Darren initially lost a bit of focus but subsequently made up for it and proved himself to be worthy of SpringBoard’s efforts.

As an apprentice on SpringBoard Foundation track, Darren already demonstrated some key qualities required of our Advanced track interns.  That was why he was called up for multiple interviews with various global investment banks during this period.  Eventually, his persistence and perseverance paid off when he informed us that he has officially started as an assistant trader with another global investment bank.  We are all very happy for him and wish him all the best in his new role.

LQ finds his way into corporate finance…  

LQ comes from an IT background and now moving into his new role in corporate finance.  In June, he signed up for Springboard Mentorship Programme under Foundation track and was mentored by DS, a market veteran from a global sell side house.  According to DS, LQ is a strong learner, possess strong self-initiative and is very enthusiastic about researching into company’s financial, which can be demonstrated from his sample research work into a Thai based media company. He was very committed and was able to produce quality research work in a very limited period of time.  We simply see the desired traits of success in LQ – Passion and Commitment!

How SpringBoard sees the job market

In this hot summer period, we have noticed the following:

  • Over the last 6- 8wks, many of SpringBoard interns have approached Yoman for interview tips, i.e. have been called up for multiple interviews;
  • Over the last 2- 3mths, Yoman received LinkedIn requests from numerous recruiters with opportunities to different types of roles, some are fairly senior;
  • Over the last 3- 4mths, 4 out of our 11 mentors have changed jobs –> this implies close to 40%

The above leads us to believe that there is a hiring wave going ON for now, but as usual, opportunities are for those who have sufficiently prepared themselves, such as Darren and LQ from our SpringBoard platform.  Furthermore, we have secured job interviews for two other Advanced track interns with a start-up family office in the process of hiring people.  As we are all aware, time and tide waits for no man, so be sure to swiftly ride on this hiring wave before year end… if you let this hiring wave slip by, you would probably have to wait till April next year, which is not a good time for those of you busy preparing for CFA exams again.  This is worse if you are already past 30yrs old– the soft cut-off age for career switch– so time is even more precious for you.

Implications for career switchers:  be proactive and give your best shot in our assignments to benefit fully from our Advanced track mentorship.

All the best in your job search.

Founded in 2009 by fund manager Yoman and career coach Eng Yew, SpringBoard TM is a mentoring platform for passionate people to move into challenging and rewarding front office roles in the finance industry.

The SpringBoard Mentorship Program is complemented with job referrals, profile enhancement and networking platforms, so that unlike academic programs, we are more confident of helping deserving apprentices secure their front office careers.

Thank you.

Cheers,

Springboard Mentors