Employer
KPMG in Malaysia
Job
Senior Associate, Strategy and Operations
Qualification
Bachelor of Economics (Hons), International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), 2018
Has been with this company for
2 years and 7 months (as of October 2021)
Can you tell us what you generally do in your job?
Working at KPMG is filled with different experiences every day. A normal day for me includes catching up on meeting updates, dealing with numbers, conducting extensive research for data analyses, and presenting ideas to our superiors.
Throughout my time at KPMG, I had several opportunities for work and travel. As we have clients all around Malaysia, meeting and managing different stakeholders of various backgrounds became a norm to me.
Being able to juggle and switch my mindset to the situation accordingly is also a useful skill that I acquired.
What would you say is the coolest daily task?
Interesting question—One of the coolest things that I do is proposing my ideas to the top management. After many hours of extensive research and detailed analyses, I'm always given the opportunity to present my proposals to my superiors.
I feel appreciated and excited to contribute my ideas to the client’s deliverables which can then be included in the client’s considerations.
Imagine having your original ideas being included in the decision-making for the national policymaking. So cool!
What is the greatest lesson you’ve learnt from your probation period at work?
I had the opportunity to be seconded into four different Advisory departments within the past two years. However, I had only six months per secondment to absorb and learn all new information while endeavouring to perform well.
The greatest lesson that I learnt was to be agile and adaptable. Within the two years, I had to learn new skills and transfer them into different areas whenever I start a new engagement.
At the end of the day, it was a challenging experience, but I will always look back on it as the best platform to learn.
How do you motivate yourself when the going gets tough?
I'm a very introspective person. Whenever I lose my motivation, I would take a step back to self-reflect. During my days off, I enjoy going to new cafes and explore new places to refresh my mind.
Eventually, your work, personal life and mental health will get more difficult to balance. However, once you realise the importance of each aspect and prioritise accordingly, that’s when you can finally take on new challenges.
My motivation would also come from my family and close friends. Being the foundation of my support system, their constant cheerleading is one of the strongest motivators that I'm lucky to have.
If you could go back to your university days, what would you do differently?
My best memories were from my university days as I had the chance to gain valuable experiences both academically and non-academically.
Throughout my time in International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), there’s nothing I would’ve done differently. I’m a proud IIUM graduate!
What is your advice to fresh grads who are having a tough time finding jobs?
Don’t. Give. Up. After graduation, I went through a period of unemployment. A series of unexpected events in my life forced me to let go of job offers that I hustled hard to obtain. But as they say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
My advice to fresh graduates is to constantly seek for the best opportunities out there and employ strategies to ensure that you land a good job.
Connect with hiring managers through professional platforms and have an elevator pitch about yourself ready whenever you meet someone, especially during career events!
Be persistent, determined, and confident because that would differentiate you from thousands of other applicants trying to find the best job too.
