Many have asked, so here’s my attempt to respond.
I graduated from NTU Material Science and Engineering in 2014. I knew I wanted to work in a church (I don’t like to call it church because church is who the people of God are, and not just the place or the organisation we work at. But for simplicity, let’s just call it that) when I graduate but because my parents weren’t agreeable, I decided to look for something else in the interim.
I went to a career fair in NTU in my final year, and nothing really interest me except this booth by SportSG (used to be Singapore Sports Council). They had openings for the SEA Games committee, and there was a particular role that I was drawn to as I felt that it played to my strengths of event planning and working with people. I applied for that and eventually got the offer.
To cut the story short, I enjoyed the work but I left 8 months into it because I couldn’t tolerate the leadership and I felt I wasn’t learning much.
So I left and was soon offered a role in a recruitment agency. Again, I accepted this role because I felt that it played to my strengths of working with people, and I liked that I got to help people in the work that I did.
I didn’t stay long in this place, just 6 months, because half a year into it, my mom agreed to let me work in church. Of course I was elated! I quickly told my pastor about it and soon, I found myself interning in church.
There were many things that I didn’t like about working in the church, but boy, time passed so quickly when I was working in church! I enjoyed journeying with the young people, emceeing at events, planning events, helping people see God in their lives… I really liked the work I did in the four years that I was there.
Life took a turn when my firstborn came. I went on a 4-months maternity leave, then a 5-months no-pay leave (NPL), and eventually left the job because we couldn’t get a place in infant care and didn’t know how long it’ll take to get a spot.
Initially when I thought about leaving this job, I was a bit sad. But at the end of my NPL, I began to see that it was probably all part of God’s plan for me to stay home and take care of E for the first 18 months of his life. There was peace when I submitted my resignation letter.
When E turned 1 year old, I started thinking again what I should do when he starts going to child care. My first instinct was to go back to church work because it was easy for me, and I knew how things work. I explored w some churches, but ended up with a no because if we have a second child, the cycle of ML-NPL-resign would repeat itself, and I didn’t want that.
So I thought “ok, maybe government sector!”. Something stable and easy would be great, cos I didn’t really wanna use my brains (haha not a very good steward of my brains yes I know), and ideally I can have my weeknights and weekends for family. No replies two months into the application process. I gave up. “Lord, please open doors if You want me to work when E goes to school,” I prayed and left it as that.
A few weeks later, I decided to take some time to look into our own finances. I took about a week or so to consolidate and analyse. At the end of it, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. I shared this with my husband, and he said “then why don’t you go and be a financial consultant?” “Huh, don’t want luh,” I said in annoyance. Context: I didn’t like the industry because I had a bad experience with financial consultants when I was in uni. “But what you did for us is what financial consultants should do what. Just be open luh,” the hubs said. That clicked something in me and I thought no harm being open about it.
In the following two weeks, I took time to research online what this role is really about. Towards the end of the second week, I found myself praying, “Lord, what does this role really do?” And I heard the Lord say, “Whatever you did for your family is what a financial consultant is supposed to do.” I had a moment with the Lord. When He said that, this role made perfect sense to me. And it’s something that played to my strengths as well! But I was adamant that I will not talk to any financial consultant about it because I didn’t want them to influence my decision. So I said, “Lord, if you are leading me to this place, then You open doors for me.”
The following day, a friend who is in the financial advisory industry texted me – “Hey tiff! Have you considered joining the industry?” I was like 😳 this can’t be it. But I know in my spirit that it was the open door. I said, “omg yes actually I’ve been thinking about it for two weeks now. And you must be God-sent.” She was as excited as I was, and she linked me up with her manager and director.
I can’t remember exactly whether we met a day or two days later. It was a good meeting. Whatever they shared were in sync with what I believed the industry should be about. I came home and shared w my hubs what happened, and he encouraged me to go ahead and try it. I was hesitant. I wasn’t sure that it was God leading me into it. It was a decision difficult to make because I didn’t want to be a consultant that leaves halfway. I went to the room and prayed, “God, this decision is so hard to make.” And God said, “you come in because I have called you, and you will go because I call you.” Bam. Decision made.
And from that moment on, it was no turning back (unless the Lord calls me out). 🙂
Things I’ve learnt in this process:
- Ministry is where God calls or where you sense God is calling (not just limited to the church context)
- Your God-given strengths can be used anywhere and everywhere. Rather than figuring out where to go, ask yourself what your strengths are, then ask God where to go.
- In every job, there will be things that you don’t like to do. Make sure that the things you like/enjoy are bigger than the things that you don’t, and you will keep going.
Feel free to reach out for a cup of coffee if you are interested in having me journey with you in life and in financial planning! 🙃
Tiffany Tay 