Making the Career Leap

Holly Fang is VP of Financial Partnerships, APAC for Airwallex. In her role, Holly oversees a lean and high-performing team that manages Airwallex’s extensive network of partnerships with financial institutions in the Asia Pacific region. From her early days at the Singapore Economic Development Board to her current leadership role at Airwallex, Holly shares her experiences, challenges, and valuable lessons learned along the way. Discover what it takes to be successful in Partnerships, and how Holly made the leap from the public sector to startups. Through the stories of her personal journey of growing as a leader, and her approach to helping her team find their paths to success at Airwallex, we hope you’ll find nuggets of wisdom that might inspire you to explore this strategic yet creative side of the business. Holly Fang’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyhfang/ You can watch the podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QvF0e_EiYnI   Timestamps 00:00 Episode Highlight 2:21 The most useless interview question 4:29 From public sector to startup 7:45 Why get your hands dirty? 9:50 Certainty vs the Unknown 11:05 Luck and Managers 13:44 What it takes to succeed in Partnerships 17:33 The beauty of Partnerships 19:00 The perfect mix of skills for Partnerships 22:04 Growing as a leader at a startup 26:41 Evolving our leadership style 28:47 Generating momentum and creating impact Click on the Chapter icon on the bottom left of the podcast player above to access direct links to each timestamp We hope this episode will inspire you to take action today, no matter how small it may be! Try out our weekly newsletter to get actionable tips and strategies to help you make your career leap a reality: https://www.makingthecareerleap.com/newsletter   Quotes from the interview "I think a successful partnership is always a win-win for us when you go out, you always try to work with partners that you want to work with, so you've already narrowed your scope. And then the next step is trying to broker something that works for both sides. Everybody has something that they want to get out of it. It could be the price, so it could be revenue, volume commitments, commercial terms. It could be something else that you can give. And I think the beauty of partnerships that's different from sales. It's that it is not one dimensional. You have many tools to play with, so I always find it very interesting, you know, that you can be creative, you can try to think out of the box to make something work." — Holly Fang "Oftentimes we take that for granted, right. We take it for granted, Okay if you're working for so long of course you know how to write an email, but of course you will know how to pick up the phone and go meet with somebody. But I think there is really a vast difference when you see someone who is professional and good at communicating versus someone who is maybe not so." — Holly Fang "But I think the thing is to just always be open-minded, and especially in having been doing partnerships for over a decade now, it's very easy to fall into a trap of thinking, I know what I'm doing and this is what it is. When you talk to a bigger organization, they come back and say, this cannot be done or this can only be done in six months, 12 months, or however long they're used to getting it done. In the startup world we never take no for an answer. And even though, I feel like, okay, I have pushed something to the best of my abilities and this is really the best deal that we can possibly get. My bosses are always pushing me harder because of that, I always have to go back and nothing is good enough right. And you will be surprised just by how much you, how much more you can get just by trying one more time or just by being a bit more persistent than you were before." — Holly Fang "Don't underestimate yourself. And the key to succeed in partnerships and also maybe with people's own career conversations is just never to take no for an answer. The first time could a no, but when you try again, it could be a maybe and then from you maybe say yes." — Holly Fang   Selected links from the Episode  APAC Airwallex Data.ai Singapore Economic Development Board Foreign Direct Investments MNC FinTech

Lionel Lim is the APAC Director, Pilot Engineers at Tricentis who moved from Singapore to Australia at a young age and is now based in Sydney. With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, he navigated the ever-evolving landscape of software engineering before making the leap to solution architecture, one of the most interesting practices within IT. With years of hands-on coding experience and a deep understanding of complex systems, Lionel provides unique insights into the mindset shift required to transition from an individual contributor to a strategic problem solver. In this episode, we uncover Lionel's decision-making process, the steps he took to make his career leap a reality, and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. From seeking inspiration and mentorship from others to continuously learning and networking, Lionel shares practical tips and strategies for listeners who aspire to make their own career leap into an exciting and challenging customer facing role like the Solutions Architect. Listen to this episode to hear how Lionel's passion for technology and his dedication to personal growth have propelled him toward success in his chosen career path. Enjoy! Lionel Lim’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionellim83/ You can watch the podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cUIED7KqWpE   Timestamps 0:00 Episode highlight 02:01 What you’re good at vs passionate about 03:03 The role of Pilot Engineers 06:03 Navigating the decision to switch roles 07:40 Making progress with passion and proactiveness 12:25 Setting a 10-year timeframe 16:25 Key people who supported Lionel 19:05 It’s all about consistency 21:03 Building skillsets for a natural progression 23:26 Relationship between the right role and happiness 26:39 Being a guide for the team 29:17 Most rewarding experience at Tricentis 29:58 Learning strategies for success Click on the Chapter icon on the bottom left of the podcast player above to access direct links to each timestamp We hope this episode will inspire you to take action today, no matter how small it may be! Try out our weekly newsletter to get actionable tips and strategies to help you make your career leap a reality: https://www.makingthecareerleap.com/newsletter   Quotes from the interview "I think good things takes time. If you want to achieve something, it takes time. There is no such thing as someone coming up and you get that straightaway. It's unrealistic, you know? It's like saying that you wanna be built and muscular, you have to go to the gym and doesn't mean you go to the gym once means you'll be, you know, yep. Bulked up and muscular. You have to go repeatedly. You have to go over a period of time. All that training, the exercise will get you there eventually. But it's not something that happens straight away. So those know that want to get it straight away. I think probably reevaluates what's realistic. We all want that, but it does take efforts, you know, it's not, doesn't come without efforts." — Lionel Lim "I think as a software engineer, the industry has changed over the last two decades. If you look back in the past, software engineers used to be what would be equivalent to mostly full stack developers now. Majority of roles, software engineering roles are essentially full stack developers. Back then, I recall doing everything from the front end to you know, from UI to the actual application on the client site and service sites and all kinds of areas. These days the roles are much more defined if you were in a development role. It's more specialized now, but in terms of what I'm doing now and how different it is I think I tend to look at more about the customer and see what exactly are the customer's needs, and also looking at them from different lenses, different perspective. And then I look back into what we have in our toolkit to see how we can solve those problems, and those needs, what the gaps are. How do we fill those gaps? And then the approach that we take to do those. So it's very different, you know, from writing code every day, thousands of lines a day now to thinking of on a higher level solving problems on a whole." — Lionel Lim I think I try to replicate what I found was positive in my career experience. So things like giving them the right environment now I was grateful for and the people who gave me the right environments, in terms of space, the freedom you know, the exposure to learn and to grow. So giving my team that little space as well, helping them, you know, in terms of they may not know something, but If you know it, give them the opportunity, share your knowledge. If you don't know it, bring someone else in to help them with that or can you give them time to learn it? All the positive things I experienced in my career, I kind of wanna give that to them. And in terms of everything else that I haven't experienced, uh at small, but a learning experience for me, at the same time, I would come across scenarios where I have never been in. And you know, you have some mentors or a strong management, leadership from, you know, you can speak to them and talk to 'em about different aspects and find out way to address these things, and you learn from it at the same time as well." — Lionel Lim   Selected links from the Episode Solution Architect UI Software engineer Full stack developer Strong Management

Norman Chua is a dynamic professional and catalyst of change, who has made the career leap from a Civil Engineer in the transportation and engineering industry to a Learning and Development professional and Regional HR Leader who has utilised his influencing skills and corporate experiences to design and initiate programmes that produced lasting change. He is someone has successfully navigated multiple career transitions and shares his wealth of insights with an infectious level of energy and enthusiasm on national radio and contributes to news articles on human resources. We’re lucky to have him share and inspire us with his journey in this episode! In this episode, we delve into the challenges of making such a switch, including the necessary skill sets and mindsets, and how to overcome any obstacles. We explore the strategies and resources our guest speaker utilized to develop their Learning and Development career path and share their valuable tips for those who are considering a similar move. Norman Chua’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/norman-chua-6aa7171a/ You can watch the podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hkV0V_0IJNQ   Timestamps 0:00 Episode highlight 01:47 One career myth debunked 06:05 Then and now 07:32 Starting to leap 09:42 Courage 13:45 Making change a reality 16:52 First paid gig 20:04 Ascendency 24:11 A powerful habit 26:01 When reality is different from what we imagined 28:45 Getting someone to provide an opportunity 33:11 What’s most rewarding 40:32 Final takeaways Click on the Chapter icon on the bottom left of the podcast player above to access direct links to each timestamp   We hope this episode will inspire you to take action today, no matter how small it may be! Try out our weekly newsletter to get actionable tips and strategies to help you make your career leap a reality: https://www.makingthecareerleap.com/newsletter   Quotes from the interview: “So that also triggered me. I said this won't work because if I continue to knock on doors, they won't open. So why not I create my own door? That was the way that I was thinking at that point in time.” — Norman Chua “Then we didn't have ChatGPT and all these things. So everything is just on you to reflect, create awareness or make associations to connect the dots from everything that's happening around you because everything can teach you something.” — Norman Chua “Developer is definitely one of my strongest strengths. This is who I am, I can use that quite effortlessly. I can exercise that quite easily, which is why I thrive in an environment like that rather than a more hardcore kind of engineering environment. So that's the red thread that actually cuts through everything I’ve experienced and where I'm going to go to next.” — Norman Chua   Selected links from the Episode Transportation engineering Traffic engineering Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) ACRA StrengthsFinder

Wendy Goh has more than 20 years of hands-on experience in learning & organisational development (L&OD). She enjoys working with individuals, teams and organisations to bring out their best performance through learning, leadership development, coaching and career development. She has served at various large corporations as a learning specialist and Regional Learning Lead and is currently an independent consultant. In this episode, we explore the importance of continuous learning and how to cultivate a growth mindset. We also discuss various strategies, tips, and insights to help you develop the mindset of an engaged learner to stay relevant by developing the ability to adapt to new ways of working. Whether you're a student, professional, or lifelong learner, this episode is full of nuggets of practical wisdom that you can take and apply to your own journey of growth and development. We hope you enjoy this interview and let us know in the comments what was your one key takeaway that resonates with you! Wendy Goh’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-goh-b21b638/ You can watch the podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/be_IRbkmRNU   Timestamps 0:00 Episode highlight 01:58 Career changing moment with her first manager 06:27 Learning to stay relevant 09:16 New ways of working 11:57 Two different learning mindsets 13:21 The key to be a better version of ourselves 15:48 Overcoming the discomfort of learning something new 18:54 70-20-10 approach to learning and getting feedback 22:38 What organizations want 25:43 Are you in a learning organization? 27:47 Before you invest in learning to make a career change Click on the Chapter icon on the bottom left of the podcast player above to access direct links to each timestamp We hope this episode will inspire you to take action today, no matter how small it may be! Try out our weekly newsletter to get actionable tips and strategies to help you make your career leap a reality: https://www.makingthecareerleap.com/newsletter   Quotes from the interview: “It sounds too daunting, but they will learn the same skills, but a different way perhaps being in that project group so I think one of the mistakes is we very quick dismiss the action learning we think that it may be not as structured, but I think the value of really going there and doing it is really helps you to get into that discomfort earlier.”  — Wendy Goh "That mindset of learning has to shift. I'm coming in with the fresh pair of lens. I'm going to get into the topic, chew on it, digest it, and say what can I get out of it? So there's always something new that you can pick up, which can change the way we work." — Wendy Goh "Especially in mid-career where it's typically the more difficult group to shift. Because you have achieved a level of career success already, and you have learned so many things and then now you are going in to make a career change where you might be taking a few steps back. But I like to see this as rock climbers there is no one path to climb a rock sometimes you've gotta go down figure out another path to move back up again so it's really how you want to navigate this if you're gonna see as a ladder, then yes when you make career change middle like it's coming down, it may, but if you look at it from coming a rock wall, you're really looking at possibilities of moving up as long as you're moving." — Wendy Goh “Sometimes it's not just saying boss, "Hey, I can't solve my problem I need a new role or new job, but it's about saying I've noticed these things that I'm doing, which I feel I'm doing well I'm able to contribute. What do you think? And could we find a way to use these skills in another area? Or another capacity. And even if it isn't, at least you had a chance to explore that.” — Wendy Goh “We have this notion about okay, "Oh, there's a new skill, let's go and learn it, right?" but I actually think that more learners should step back and say, when is the opportunity for me to immediately use this skill? Because a skill can be learn knowledge can be learned, but until you use it and becomes part of your repertoire, your experience, that then counts as really your own skill that you're bringing.” — Wendy Goh   Selected links from the Episode Asian financial crisis ROI 70-20-10 approach to learning Spaced learning SPIN selling

Chandu Rao is a highly experienced customer success manager with over a decade of experience in the industry. Throughout his career, he has worked with a diverse range of clients, from startups to Fortune 500 companies helping them achieve his customer success goals. In this episode, Chandu shares his insights on what it takes to be a make the leap to become a Customer Success manager. He goes into details about what the key skills and qualities are for anyone looking to excel in this domain, as well as the challenges and opportunities that come with it. Enjoy this conversation with Chandu where he shares his unique insights and real life experiences as a customer success manager. Chandu Rao’s LinkedIn Profile: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/chandu-rao-39455839/ You can also watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pV_rJJJS9-M   Timestamps 0:00 Episode highlight 03:34 One career myth debunked 04:50 How Chandu defines what makes a job ‘great’ 06:49 The evolution of the Customer Success Manager role 09:31 The start of his career journey 13:54 Pivoting from backend support to a customer-facing role 17:17 Thoughts on breaking into Customer Success 20:32 Strengths you need as a Customer Success Manager 23:17 Practical strategies for landing the role in interviews 25:52 Getting to a 70% confidence level 26:32 Preparing to have a conversation 30:47 Key lessons from Chandu’s experience  Click on the Chapter icon on the bottom left of the podcast player above to access direct links to each timestamp We hope this episode will inspire you to take action today, no matter how small it may be! Try out our weekly newsletter to get actionable tips and strategies to help you make your career leap a reality: https://www.makingthecareerleap.com/newsletter   Quotes from the interview “You can't just make up stories in these interviews because they will drill down further and ask you the details of it so you'll be caught bluffing out if you're telling the story. So I think what has served me is that I have been in these tough situations, handled it exceptionally well and then when I go to interview, I have that confidence because I have my data to back up that.”  — Chandu Rao “'Great' for me is having supportive people around and those interactions that I have with the customers, helping them in their endeavors and making them successful.”  — Chandu Rao “So when you talk about retention, that's where customer success managers come into play that's why the role has become important.” — Chandu Rao “Find your passion and see whether is this your cup of tea and the rest of it is you will enjoy the ride actually.” — Chandu Rao    Selected links from the Episode Customer Success SAAS Cybersecurity vendors IRC Rage applying

Hi, my name is Lynn Loi and I'm a recruiter and talent advisor based in Singapore. The one thing I love to do the most is to have conversations with talented individuals about their career decisions and journeys. It's an incredible stroke of luck to be based on this little red dot as many Singaporeans have had the opportunity to take on regional and global roles. We also have a healthy mix of diverse talents from all over the world who have chosen to develop their careers here in this business epicenter for the Asia Pacific region. So I decided to create this podcast that's targeted at job seekers who feel like it is time for them to do something different. And they're ready to dive deeper into the what, how and why of making these career leaps happen. What you can expect to hear in all these amazing interviews are real life stories and strategies of talented people I've met at work or in my network who have really made these pivots for themselves or have enabled others to do so in their careers. My hope is that these interviews will help to provide some clues and a ton of inspiration to help you figure out what you want, what skills and mindset you need to cultivate, and how can we trust that we are capable of making that career leap so that others will also trust us and give us that opportunity.