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Lee Yu Haur is currently a senior manager in the Asia-Pacific office of a Japanese insurance company. But that wasn’t where he started his career.
In fact, he started work in 1989 in the then-OUB bank after graduating with an MBA in 1988. He spent more than a decade there in multiple roles, and in 2017, joined DBS bank, and worked there for almost 15 years.
At the age of 60, he was finding the pressure-cooker nature of the job and industry too much. At the same time, he was also stressed about finding a decent job after he finally bit the bullet and left it.
Then, he came across Workforce Singapore’s Polaris programme.
Read Also: 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Polaris, and How it Can Boost Your Career Health
Yu Haur shared: “I came to know about the Polaris programme when I was browsing through the WSG workplace site looking for jobs.It was during a very stressful time that I was almost at the point of desperation, and I was applying for any suitable job postings.”
“When I came across the Polaris site, I was telling myself maybe I should try it out since it’s been more than 10 years since I had a proper interview, so things might have changed.So I signed up and three days later, a lady called and asked if I am interested to attend a session.”
“I jumped upon the opportunity and met with career coach Jacqueline Tok on a Saturday afternoon in December, and found her to be approachable and empathic. She shared her own career story and why she got into coaching and I also, in turn, shared my career journey with her.”
Read Also: How This Middle-aged Singaporean Improved His Career Health With Polaris by WSG
During the three Polaris sessions, apart from receiving one-on-one coaching, Yu Haur also completed various quizzes, tests and exercises, such as the Workplace Big Five and Career Flow Map. He found them very helpful as it allowed him to reflect on his own professional personality, capabilities, as well as strengths and weaknesses, and become more focused on his job search efforts.
He concluded: “Without Polaris, I would say a career change would be a challenge, especially for a person at my age. It certainly gave me a boost of momentum and energy to take the additional steps forward. It gave me the confidence to succeed at the interview that finally secured me my role today!”
Yu Haur shares some tips for fellow Singaporeans looking to make their own career change. Watch this video!
