Sharing My Experience of Changing Jobs & What I Get/Learn In Return

The Great Resignation trend across globally is hitting the jobs market today with many singling out collective jobs burnout as one of the main reason why people decide to weigh in their lifestyle choice and choose to look elsewhere.

Resignation and attrition are a common theme across most companies given the majority of people have their own ideal state of choice of what to look out for in a role. A role which may seem like a dream job to you may be a nightmare to others.

Bosses and colleagues come and go.

Company’s culture changes.

What you may be looking out in a role early in your career may also change with time as you share out your desired lifestyle over time.

While the majority of people have various reasons why they choose to leave a company, I attributed these combination of reasons as some of the most usual suspect:

• Compensation and Pay

Most if not all employees are being rewarded with some sort of compensation and pay in exchange for their dedication of time working for the company. Some luckier ones may get equity compensation as part of their overall packages while most others simply get their monthly salary at the end of the month.

When employees are being paid well and sufficient, they are likely to be more committed and do better in their roles.

An article from Straits Times published yesterday (Source: S’pore workers can expect 3.8% raise this year: Survey | The Straits Times) showed that for the majority of people who were surveyed, 54% favoured a pay rise, 42% favoured a work-life balance and 39% favoured flexibility in where they are allowed to work.

You can see here that while money is not everything, it is still one of the most important factors to retain talents and shave off competition from others.

Interestingly, pay is usually a by-product when we decide to move by choice. That is, the prospective employer is likely to give a rise or minimally match the previous drawn pay if a normal given situation.

• Roles

Organizations that can clearly define roles and responsibilities during the hiring process have a better chance of retaining employees when it matters.

Our career at work is defined by the roles and responsibilities we play in the company and how it evolves over time.

Depending on the size and requirement of the company, your task may be seen as mundane, repetitive and unengaging but the role can still be an important assets to the company.

One example of this is customer service – you get up everyday to go to work only to hear the daily grunts of customers who are either unhappy or facing difficulties. While this may seem like a brainless demanding role, it is actually a very important role in the company as ensuring customer satisfaction and happiness can boost a company’s brand and bring about more sales over time through customer’s retention.

• Bosses (and colleagues)

The culture and people you work with matter a lot, especially since you are facing them almost 5 days a week.

While we cannot choose which bosses or colleagues we want to work with, we can try by being engaging with an open mind to see if there are any cultural fit and spark you can form in your relationship.

Unfortunately, even some of the best bosses and colleagues come and go, so it is something as employees you have to adapt over time.

• Flexibility / Autonomy

Most people would like to explore by being able to exercise their creativity in their work or have the flexibility to try out different things in their roles.

They do not like to be controlled.

In today’s era, the options of being able to work from anywhere also matters a lot to an employee as they seek a more work life balance depending on where it suits them better in terms of producing productive work.

While a lot of companies have been encouraging that, not all do at the moment while still restricting the autonomy of their employees by monitoring them regularly.

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In this article, I’d be sharing my experience of going through changes in roles and companies throughout my last 13 years of working as an employee.

By no means this is a perfect solution – in fact, I went through so much trial and error and some in my judgement that I wanted to share across this experience to those who are newer in the industry.

A little caveat about my background before we start – I hold an accounting and finance degree overseas and an MBA degree at one of the local university in Singapore and I started work at the age of 23.

1.) Transportation & Logistics Industry

(Financial Analyst)

Tenure: 1 Year

My first job was a financial analyst at one of the leading US MNC in the transportation and logistics industry.

I landed this role right before the Great Financial Crisis hits in early 2008 and I was lucky to be able to secure this quickly after I graduated from my degree.

With the role being an entry level role, most of the tasks were about generating reports and preparing for a management accounts & analysis to the management for their consideration. While it was just a repetitive of tasks for most of the time, I managed to learn quite a bit about the industry and find my weakness which I did not discover when I was still studying.

That year, things got tough so there was quickly a hiring freeze after that and there was a pay freeze – which means no increment, no bonuses for that year.

I started the year with $2.4k and left the company at also $2.4k after a short one year tenure.

Apart from some of the great colleagues I work with which I still keep in touch until today, the rest of the other scores were mostly forgiving in balance as I seek out my curiosity to try out elsewhere.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
5	5	8	5

2.) Big 4 Accounting Firm

(Senior Associate)

Tenure: 3 Years

I didn’t hesitate much to move when I received an opportunity to work at one of the big 4 accounting firms.

After all, being an accounting major, it is probably the most common path for a graduate to move into at least in the first few years after graduating in order to gain experience.

While the pay was pretty good, the hours were long and most of the tasks were arduous – having to stay until late nights and weekends very often during the peak season. The experience and knowledge were great though and after about 3 years, I can feel myself growing tandemly ready to step back into a more commercialized MNC role once again.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
7	5	8	3

3.) Logistics & Supply Chain Industry

(Financial Controller)

Tenure: 6 Years

My third role was at the logistics and supply chain industry and this is where I stayed the longest by far.

I had a move in between (see point 4) for some time and re-joined the company where I get to try on different roles and get a higher bump up salary after re-joining (win win).

My first role in the company was an Accountant and after about two years I managed to get a promotion to a Finance Manager. By the time I left the company, I was a Financial Controller for some of the South-East Asian region where I mostly focused on internal risks and controls.

While the basic pay was quite good, I joined the industry at the wrong time as it was at the period where the industry was struggling hence bonuses were miniscule in figure. If I had joined the company during the pandemic today, my bonus would have been quadrupled.

Nevertheless, I was thankful for the guidance from my colleagues, bosses and the learning takeaway I made there which is the primary reason why I managed to stay for so long and kept a good relationship with all of them until today.

Still, I was feeling something was missing from a role/autonomy front which is the primary reason I decide to look elsewhere.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
6	7	9	4

4.) REIT Industry

(Assistant Finance Manager)

Tenure: 5 months

This was a quick in-between period where I left my previous role and joined the REIT industry.

While I was interested in the industry which was growing at that time, I didn’t particularly enjoy everything there (apart from the pay) and I quickly realized it was the wrong fit and not something I want to do over time.

After a mere 5 months in the role, I re-joined back my previous company for a different role (see point 3).

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
7	2	4	4

5.) Financial Institution

(Assistant Vice President)

Tenure: 9 months

The next step was a role into a new but exciting industry – the banks!

While I had some knowledge through my past few years of investing experience into the industry, there was still so much to learn about in a financial institutions broken down into so many departments and functions.

My role there as a Finance AVP in a support unit was to support the different operating functions like Risk Management, Human Resource, Compliance in terms of monthly reporting and budgeting/forecasting.

While the knowledge was great to absorb during my short tenure there, I didn’t particularly see myself fitting in to the culture of a financial institution or within my team itself. It was a constant struggle going to work everyday and the only thing that kept me going at that time was for the pay itself knowing at that point I was on the brink of achieving a financial independence target.

Still, with all that, I didn’t regret my decision joining the company, even if it turns out like this in the end.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
8	4	5	4

6.) Beauty Wellness Tech Industry

Head of Finance

(Tenure: 5 months)

My next role was an interesting one.

This was my first foray into the new era of the tech industry and this is where I get to shift away from all the knowledge I have gained across my past experience working and investing in a more traditional companies into the tech companies.

Being in a slightly more start-up role with only less than 40 headcounts, I managed to gel in with the colleagues quickly and get to play an important role in setting up policies and implementation about what we were going to do in the company. In terms of office setting, we also get to work in a co-working space with flexible attire and this is the first time I feel something different from the rest of the companies I’ve worked in the past.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to secure a private funding from a few VCs we pitched to and in the end we have to sell off the business to a local boutique firm. I was the last person to leave the company having to process the liquidation of the company and do handover to the new organization to ensure the process is all in order.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
6	8	7	8

7.) Payments App Tech Industry

Finance Manager

(Tenure: 1 Year)

After my last company was liquidated, I was fortunate to land a role during the pandemic when it just started back in Feb 2020.

It was with a payments app company focusing on the local to local B2B market offering discounts and cashback.

I learnt such a great deal with this company during my tenure and had to present myself in a very different way having to business partner with many commercial colleagues in our weekly meeting presentations with them.

While the work was challenging, I was learning and absorbing it along the way as I get to understand a lot better on how e-wallet and payments industry work in today’s important era.

Unfortunately, I had a few clashes with my direct report boss who didn’t quite see eye to eye on the way I was working and it was simply just a clash in personality. In the end I chose to leave because of that. But otherwise, I think this is a great place to work at.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
8	7	4	6

8.) Travel Tech Industry

Finance Manager

(Tenure: 1 Year and counting so far…)

After I left my last role, I moved to another tech industry but this time in a travel sector where the industry is still struggling with the pandemic.

With the start up being a corporate venture backed by Singapore Airlines, the funding was pretty much secured until certain point where the business has to be sustainable on its own – something which we’ve been working towards in trying to achieve that in the midst of a pandemic.

I am liking what my current role entails so far, particularly with the transparency and personality of my bosses and colleagues, which somewhat aligns with the value I have in mind.

The company has also starting this year introducing unlimited leaves and working from anywhere policy, which means you can take as much leaves as you want and work from anywhere else for as long as you get your work done and productivity output increases. I think this aligns well with a lot of people for as long as employees do not take it for granted.

Pay	Roles	Bosses & Colleagues	Flexibility (Autonomy)
8	8	8	9

Q&A

Before we conclude this article, here’s a few more Q&A which I often ask myself too.

Q1: Does it look bad in your resume that you move to a lot of different companies?

A1: Yes and No. I think it depends on how much key takeaways you are able to extract out from each companies that you’ve worked with and what you learn from it. If the answer is no and you are merely job hopping, then it sure look bad when it comes to the interview where you have to explain to your next prospective employers why you leave each role.

Q2: Was it difficult moving from one industry to another and adapting to new companies?

A2: The first few months of moving to new companies or industries will have steep learning curves and that is where you get most of your learnings from. While it may feel uncomfortable stepping out of your comfort zone, it will be a tremendous experience that you have absorbed once you get past that stage.

For instance, because I get to move into a tech sector, I can appreciate better some of the unit economics and insides of how companies in that sector work and that gets to help in my process thought when I am investing in it myself.

If I keep staying in one particular role and one industry for the rest of my lives, I may be able to get the expertise on that area but it might just be secluded to that one particular area of interest.

Q3: Will you leave your current role one day?

A3: It is hard to say not when the time comes. Like I mentioned early in the article, businesses evolves, circumstances change and people come and go. There are too many variable factors at play and when the time comes, then the next move will be one where it will be logical based on the values we are seeking.

Q4: What is your plan for Financial Independence now?

A4: When I started this blog, the idea of financial independence is conditional on being able to get enough money to sustain your lifestyle for the rest of your lives and use that spare time to do anything that you like to do. If you put that into categorization, that would means factors such as money, flexibility, autonomy and passion – which is exactly not far away from what I am seeking in my role as an employee.

So while it currently hinges on that, we’ll have to see if that value or definition about financial independence changes over time.