At SpringBoard, it is very heartening to see our students land their dream jobs and come back to say thank you. Now we are pleased to share with you two of our latest success stories.

We start with Zeke’s story of landing a private equity (PE) job. Before joining SpringBoard’s mentorship program in June 2014, he was a fresh graduate from a low profile university. Determined to pursue his dream PE role, Zeke did not join the bulk of  his cohort who joined the work force as soon as they graduate. Instead, he took on SpringBoard’s mentorship, showed his quality and passion, landed an internship, which built up his credentials and eventually led to a few offers.

Finding an investment analyst job is definitely not easy for a fresh graduate coming from a humble background without relevant prior experience, and more so for those who want to move from back office to front office. Many people can’t make it in the end due to various reasons. However, the subsequent story about Yuyan bears testament to how perseverance can still get you into the front office.  Yuyan’s success is the fruit of his adherence to Springboard’s principle of “Continue learning and Keep on networking”. 

 

Zeke’s Success Story

Without Springboard, I doubt I would have broken into the front-office role – my career would have looked very different from today.

After my graduation, I had a few job offers to take but I felt I should take a risk and give Springboard a try. It was difficult doing so as my peers had already started working – I was taking a gamble.

I started Springboard in my final year of University but I only signed up for the Advanced Stage after my graduation. The strength of Springboard is that it is not just another training program. It is managed by people who are genuine in training aspiring people having a passion through referring them to front-office roles – once they proved their mettle.

With the help of Springboard, I was able to secure an Equity Research internship with an Investment Bank. Simultaneously, I took part in networking events, IPO luncheons and stock pitch challenge to hone up my technical skills. The Springboard foundation courses in financial modelling constructed a strong base to accelerate my learning during my Equity Research internship. Without it, I doubt I would have met the high expectations of my boss.

After spending months at my internship, I felt I was ready. The internship and Springboard programme has prep me well to handle tough interviews and technical questions. Winning the Kairos Stock Pitch Challenge was also a confidence booster for myself. Fast forward to January 2015, it was hiring season, the musical chairs were revolving – this was my chance.

Yoman was instrumental in pushing my name out to prospective employers in front office roles. From coffee sessions to formal interviews, I have been to many. Fortunately I was lucky enough to receive multiple offers from front-office roles after rounds of interview.

Today, I am working as a Financial Analyst in a Private Equity firm.

Looking back, i am glad I have met many mentors who guided me. Springboard is the first great step towards enabling that possibility.

Yuyan finally moves from a global bank’s back-office to be M&A analyst!
We first got to know Yuyan when he attended a career seminar organised by SpringBoard in Apr 2011. He was one of the outstanding graduates from SMU Master of Applied Finance programme that year, and we introduced him a full-time internship with an investment company. However, that was not a good year for many of us due to various socio-economic issues, such that Yuyan also had a hard time finding a job that year.  He eventually landed a full-time job in 2012 working in back-office of a global investment bank…. and after 2 years, he decided to give it a shot again for better prospects.

Last year, he signed up for our revamped Mentorship Programme and under good guidance from mentors AKY and Ruishan, he learnt well and progressed very quickly. He embraced our slogan “Continue Learning and Keep On Networking”- performed live work from Yoman & other SpringBoard industry partners, passed CFA Level 3 Exam and actively kept in close touch with his friends already in the industry. He conducted himself well at many job interviews, whether via referral from SpringBoard or from his own resources. Luck was initially not on his side, as he made it to the final interview round with the Head of Research of a global research house, but failed to receive the offer.  He was not disheartened but persevered under our guidance. Eventually, he received two job offers early this year and he accepted the offer to do M&A deal-related work with one of the Big4 accounting firms.

We are very happy to see Yuyan’s efforts pay off after all these years, and wish him and Zeke all the best in their new roles!