By Sharmilah Deviy

When it comes to successes in life, career is always an important factor, if not the most important one.

StarProperty.my interviewed OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Bhd chief executive officer Ong Eng Bin, who shared his take on how to achieve distinction in one’s career and his advice to the younger generation.

What do you think are the core factors of achieving success in one’s career?

Firstly, perseverance is leading as an important factor to achieve success in one’s career. No matter how brilliant you are, nothing comes without hard work and staying the course despite initial setbacks or perceived roadblocks. Talent alone is not enough to succeed.

The second factor is to develop a good brand image. Be known as someone who has initiative, go the extra mile and work well with people. Be diligent at work without considering the level of education, whether you are a fresh graduate or in middle management.

Thirdly, be passionate. It is important to love your job as it will lead you to develop yourself in that particular field such as banking or marketing.

In my case, perseverance has come through the long and rewarding journey with OCBC Bank. I am pretty much an “OCBC-Lifer” as I have spent almost my entire working life here after a short stint at auditing group PwC.

So, you could say my years at the Bank prepared me to take on my role as CEO in my 26th year with it, having benefited from seeing how my bosses, both in Malaysia and Singapore, worked and how they used their strengths to overcome their weaknesses and excel in their jobs.

I guess one should not rush to reach the top as our career and working life is about 30 to 35 years’ journey and there is a lot to learn about progressively developing yourself into a successful individual and team player.

With all these values, patience and perseverance are the vital keys that unlock one’s success.

Do you think that the younger generation has more or fewer career opportunities when compared to the previous generation? Why?

While there is indeed a lot more competition out there today, I think the younger generation has more career opportunities compared to previous generations. The same can be said of people who were born in the post-World War II era compared to my generation. This is undoubtedly due to the availability of advanced technologies which have made innovation even more accessible. Social media and all its peripheral offshoots have contributed to a large extent. Everything is now turning digital.

The availability of the career opportunities is all about how the younger generation deal with the vast array of opportunities before they determine whether all of this has ultimately worked out well for them. Wisdom can never be replaced. So, the younger generation always needs to be thinking rather than simply relying on that which is tried and tested.

What is your advice for the younger generation who is searching for a career path?

There are no shortcuts to climb the tree of success. Everyone should pull their socks up to face the challenges and roles in their career path. Although everything happens on a fast track nowadays, it is important for the younger generation to prepare themselves for the roles and challenges which they will face in their career path.

Employees should seize every opportunity given to them so that they can learn insightful matters which render them the experience of a real working life.

Rushing all the time is not a good solution for career success. We should learn to shape ourselves gradually to stepping up the stages of success.

In your opinion, what are the challenges or obstacles that the younger generations face when it comes to their career?

I think the greatest challenge the younger generation today is the danger of losing focus. Almost everything is on their hand-held device today. They could spend their entire life reading and respond to WhatsApp and Facebook messages.

Similarly, in their careers, the young people set must guard against jumping into anything that is placed before them simply because “it is there”. Selectivity is crucial in order not to end up with a total loss of direction. It is imperative to major in their majors and never in their minors.

It is important to spend more time working on their strengths rather than fixating on weaknesses that don’t really matter. Don’t get easily distracted by social media and so forth.

What is the worst thing that a young person can do to their career?

One of the worst things a young person could do to their career is to make it stagnate by refusing to take on or seek out new roles or challenges that are aligned with their strengths.

For example, an engineer should not try to be a doctor while learning basic first aid. It is fine for him or her to have a limited understanding of this field. But the engineer must, on a daily basis, must try to be a better engineer than he was in the previous day.

Refusing to improve by taking on new challenges can make life supposedly easier for the younger generation, but it is only a matter of time before you degenerate. The good news is that learning has never been easier with the advent of the internet.

Young people are often described as job hoppers. Do you think it is a fair description? Is yes, why is this happening? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

According to my Human Resource folks, working with Gen Y staffs are tougher than working with the Gen X staffs. In my point of view, this is reflective of the situation in general, not just in Malaysia but globally.

Sure, there are exceptional Gen Y folks who have stayed with a company for more than a decade, but that is not the norm. I think the quest to job-hop sometimes stems from a yearning “not to be left behind,” which causes a sense of restlessness when things aren’t happening as quickly as the individual wishes.

With so much communication taking place and so much information out there, this danger is always going to be there. In this context, there will be a lot of loss of focus issues. And a person might find himself or herself trying to live somebody else’s life.

I think there is no harm moving jobs, but it needs to be a well-thought-out decision, not something made on a whim or because three years on the job means you have exhausted your usefulness at the company. After 29 years with OCBC Bank, I am still learning entirely new things almost every day.

What can the layman gain from your upcoming at the Star-925#6?

I understand the majority of the audience are people below 35 years old. Over my nearly 30 years in banking, I have seen how the property markets developed over the years and how banks have played a role in it. Hence, I am sure anyone wishing to learn something on a weekend will certainly pick up an insight or two.

Background

Interview with OCBC's CEO Ong Eng Bin.

Ong Eng Bin has been with OCBC for 29 years, serving in various capacities before being appointed to his current role as the CEO in 2014. In the early 1990s, he headed the credit and marketing functions of a branch before joining the corporate banking division. In 2000, he was appointed Head of Corporate Banking & Large Corporates before being promoted to Head of Business Banking in 2012, with responsibilities covering corporate and commercial, emerging business and transaction banking.

Prior to OCBC Bank, he worked for two years in Price Waterhouse. Ong holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting & Finance from the University of Manchester and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Methodist Boys School Penang, where he had his early education.