Tuesday, November 01, 2011

My journey in OCBC till now

When I graduated from school in 2005, I was feeling so lost just like any other graduate and I had no idea what kind of job is suitable for me. Somehow, when I was on a trip to Genting, OCBC called me and offered me a job. That’s how it all started for my career in OCBC.

I still remember that when I was on my way to sign my Letter of Offer, I saw a familiar face. I had met my NTU’s course mate, Celene who has become a valuable friend of mine since we signed the Letter of Offer together on that day. She is definitely one of the many good friends I had known. Celene, thanks for being there for me during the lowest point of my life and you are always so encouraging. Thanks for being such a dear friend.

And so, I started my training on 7^th June 2005 with a bunch of crazy and nice course mates. I will always remember those clubbing sessions during my training days with MT-72. Back then, 5 of us (John, Jeremy, Celene, Hui Chin and I) would always eat lunch together and true enough, those were happy training days. Even when we were posted to different branches, we continued to keep in contact and would meet up occasionally for drinking sessions. Up till now, some of us are still in contact. Though we may not meet up that often, we would always have a good time whenever we meet up. To MT 72, especially the girls (Celene, Hui Ching, Siewping, Serene and Ferlyn), you girls are really a fun bunch of friends to be with. I am sure we will continue to keep in contact till all of us have kids and we will start to discuss about admission to primary school, etc…

I was posted to Hougang Mall for a short period of time. Though it was a short period, I am thankful to people like Frieda and Katherine for being so nice and patient to me. For a new staff like me, I am very appreciative to them for guiding me and teaching me so many things.

Thereafter, I was transferred to Compass Point Branch. Before I was posted there, I heard many horror stories about the people there. But, they were all wrong. Compass Point is like a home to me. I have a wonderful and knowledgeable boss like Choon Seng in Compass Point who will always explain to us the complex features of structured deposit and sharing with us his marathon stories. It is fun to listen to his stories at our weekly branch meeting at 9am. Sally, our da jie, is my role model. She is good in sales and operations. Most importantly, she is really very nice to new staff like me. We will always go buy happy food or snack after branch had closed. And I guess, the term “happy food” was derived from Compass Point. Jo, my best friend was a great colleague to work with. We will always eat happy breakfast and when we feel guilty about eating such fattening food, we will go jogging after doing teleconsulting. Brother Greg is like a good brother to me who will always buys me 1 fried chicken wing every day. Not to forget my dear sister, Ailing who will always help the PFCs to do all sorts of things. She is like our product library who will always answers our endless questions promptly no matter how busy she is. Without fail, Ailing and I would always go for happy lunch on every pay day! Lam-gor is always so nice to help me to answer loan enquiries. Thanks to him, we are able to answer all kinds of loan enquiries without fearing that we may tell customer the wrong information. Also, I would like to thank my CSMs, Lucy, Patricia and Mr Ho for guiding me when I was a PFC. Now then I know how it is like to have PFCs asking you the same questions over and over again. Lastly, my BM, Raymond Yong is a great benefactor to me. Thanks to his help, I can be where I am now. He is the only BM who had given me many chances to prove myself even when the whole world had given up hope on me. Even now, he would always provide me wise advice whenever I need help.

Just when I was feeing very low morale and had no idea what else I can do other that sales job, I was given an opportunity to be a CSM. From that day onwards, it had totally changed my life. With a blink of eyes, I have been a CSM for 5 years. It’s a challenging, fulfilling and wonderful journey where I have met many great BMs, CSMs and colleagues.

From a relief CSM in NE and East Cluster, I was posted to SMU as a permanent CSM for the first time. I’ve learnt a lot during my term as a CSM in SMU. Then, I moved on to Punggol Plaza where I had lots of fun working with many wonderful people under the leadership of my brother, Steven. He would always say jokes to brighten up our days and I seriously think that he is a good BM, a good brother and a good friend to me. Thereafter, I was transferred to Sun Plaza. At Sun Plaza, I had the chance to work with Kevin who is a super nice BM and Mama who would always share valuable experiences with me. And I have definitely made many good friends at Sun Plaza like Jenny Leong, Mok Mok, Tee, Tham-siu and our dear SM, Francis who would always give me a lift home whenever possible. And lastly, working at Harbourfront Branch is definitely a challenge to me. Busy + challenging customers = my daily work. If not for the fun colleagues like Angeline, Mee Lian, Dione, Aina and the funny PFCs, life would be quite miserable. Not to forget all the late nights with my boss, Wendy, those days were definitely memorable.

Whenever I need help or advice, I would always call Mr Cheong and Gladys. Both of them will always listen to my problems patiently and advise me accordingly. They may be so busy with their work, and yet they will never sound impatient or what. I used to feel weird going to CSM meeting as I do not know anybody. Thanks to Gladys, Molly and Kristie, it is fun going to CSM meeting as we can meet up and “gossip”. We are just like a big family. We will solve the problems or issues together and no matter how bad our day is, we know we can complain to each other. Just like Liverpool’s slogan – You never walk alone, this is how we work in OCBC.

All in all, it has been a long and happy journey. I will never forget every small little things that each and everybody had done for me.

Just wanna say a big THANK YOU to everybody who has crossed my path during this 6 years working in branches.

I will never forget this wonderful journey…

* You may want to refer to my entries in August 2006, Jan 2008, March 2009, April 2009 and January 2011 for detailed entry of my experience in different branches.

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Angeline winks
at |8:46 PM| 0 comments