How Do We Identify Ourselves? (Part 5)

Saturday, 3rd October 2026

PART 5: THE SERIAL JOB-HOPPER FINALLY STOPS HOPPING

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was kind of a serial job-hopper, never staying at a single job for long.  Shown below is the list of my employers:

• Price Waterhouse: 3 years and 5 months
• Singapore Island Country Club: 2 years and 8 months
• Solomon Software/Standard & Western Consultants: 1 year 7 months
• Automatic Identification Technology: 1 year
• PwC/OutsourceCentre/Tricor: 4 years and 10 months
• Infineon Technologies: 3 years and 2 months
• Walton Asia: 10 years and 4 months
• Goh Boon Kok & Co : 9 months
• Resources Prima Limited: 7.5 months
• Akeraios Phronesis: since July 2022

The only place I stayed at for more than 10 years was at Walton, and even then it was over 2 stints.

So why did I not stay long in the other organisations?

PW - Project Stepping Stone

Like 80% of my cohort, joining an audit firm is just a stepping stone for graduates to gain experience.  Those who stay on have a passion for the type of work and have the potential to make partnership.  From my batch of 60 who joined legacy PW in 1991, only 4 made it all the way to the top:  TBN, KML, KSE and RK.  I myself only stayed for only 3+ years, because my ambition was to get an MBA, specialising in IT.

SICC - Project MBA

Moving into internal audit was natural, but I was more interested in furthering my studies. Working in a country club meant not needing to do any overtime, and being able to attend evening classes regularly.  I left, after just 2+ years, armed with the MBA from NTU.

S&W / AIT - Project Y2K

I was at Standard & Western for 1 year and 7 months, and then got headhunted to join AIT.  S&W's biggest client took me a month to roll-out, solo.  AIT's client took a team of 6 of us a total of 8 months to roll-out.

PwC/OCPL/Tricor - Project Lousy Staff

I was 2 months shy of working there for 5 years, bur I had started my job search for a good six months before leaving, having sent more than 100 job applications and attending more than a dozen interviews. 

Infineon - Project Launching Pad

Infineon was the first job which involved handling an internal set of financials. Prior to that, it was either looking at the financials prepared by others, or dong the financials for others.  After 3 years, I was ready to take on the role of an FC ("Financial Controller").

Walton - Project Stop-The-Hop

(7) Walton SG and HK (Apr 2008 to Aug 2010 / (9) Walton Asia (Dec 2011 to Oct 2019)

It was at Walton when the hopping finally stopped. This was the only company I stayed long enough to receive any sort of long service award ("LSA").

In fact, I received 2 of them, in 2017 for serving 5 continuous years, and then again in following year in 2018, when a change in HR policy allowed for the TOTAL number of years of service to be recognised and counted altogether, rather than the need for it to be continuous. 

I joined the Canadian MNC on 1 April 2008 as the FC for Singapore.  There was an FC in Malaysia and an FC in Hong Kong too, and the 3 of us reported to the CFO Asia, based in Singapore.

It was at Walton that my monthly salary finally exceeded five figures a month.  At one point, it even exceeded what my dad was earning as a medical doctor.

I recall HR telling me that a survey was conducted to find out what the market rate was, so that Walton would pay 20% higher than market in order to attract and retain talent.  We even held a Family Day at Sentosa, where we could invite our families and inlaws to enjoy a weekend of food and fun.

Family Day, Sentosa, 8 Aug 2008

Taking the skylift up to the Luge

In 2008, Singapore had nearly 100 admin staff, of which 19 of us were in Finance.  Here is a photo taken during Christmas that year.

Malaysia had 20 Finance staff and Hong Kong had about 10.  So the Asia finance team had a total headcount of around 50.

In 2010, the Hong Kong FC quit, and my role was expanded to become FC of Singapore AND Hong Kong.

In 2013, the Malaysia physical office was closed, but still had 3 live entities (Walton Berhad, Walton Property Holdings Sdn Bhd and Walton International Property Group Sdn Bhd), so my role was further expanded to become Regional FC, Asia.  That name card is the one shown here.

By the time I had left in October 2019, the Singapore office had less than 20 admin staff, with only 4 of us remaining in Finance.  I understand that the Finance function is now operating out of the Philippines.

I mentioned in earlier posts that I had the greatest boss in Tricor, and wonderful colleagues in Infineon. 

Well, it was at Walton that I had the most dedicated, self-motivated and reliable staff.  They did their work diligently and responsibly, so I could focus on just managing upwards.

Here is a photo of my department taken of us celebrating National Day in August 2013.

There were 10 of us left at that point in time, and I was the only thorn among the roses :-p

In subsequent posts, I will blog about the 2 jobs that I stayed at for less than a year each.  The first involved me being promised a job as an audit partner, but the decision-maker did not consider me suitable.  

The second involved me becoming the CFO of a listco, but my dad suffered a stroke, and I resigned to spend more time with him.