Lessons Learnt as a Global Maybank Apprentice

Having graduated with a degree in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and with a Maybank scholarship in hand, I felt I had the world at my feet. I am officially a Maybanker, representing the largest bank and largest organisation by market cap in Malaysia. Next logical step is to get into where the dough is: investment banking, corporate banking or asset management - to do anything else is simply duh, so says my generation! However, I chose the road less travelled to the Global Maybank Apprentice Programme (GMAP). This is my story and lessons learnt.

What is GMAP?

Maybank invests heavily in graduates, recognising that early engagement and training of talents, develops the leaders it needs years from now. The award-winning GMAP was conceived as a 2-year management training programme where fresh graduates, guided by mentors, gain multi perspectives on the inner workings of the bank through rotation among departments. This is capped by a cross-regional assignment where you spend 3 months away from Malaysia to appreciate how other Maybankers in the region work and the beauty of culture diversity.

From the way it has been structured, GMAP trains you to be ready for the working world - you are actually ‘learning’ more than ‘working’ in the first 2 regular years of your working life.

It’s hard to prepare for the working world. GMAP lets you to experience it hands-on.

GMAP confirms that a university degree is just a piece of fancy paper. It helps you land a job but it does almost nothing to prepare you for the working world. From a world of textbooks with model answers, you are thrust into situations where there are no right or wrong answers. There are no scheduled lessons, or study breaks. The situations you face are always fluid. All you have as guide is your moral compass and core values. Despite your best efforts, you will make mistakes. Many. Embarrassingly hard as this may be, do not be afraid of them. They make you grow. As a perfectionist and overachiever, I got broken. Every time it happens, l remind myself not to let it press me down. GMAP teaches me to view them as safety zones to continue learning about the working world before I ‘graduate’ from it. However, never use that as an excuse to get careless or lackadaisical.

The world is constantly changing. GMAP trains you to be agile through its job rotations which promote skills as valuable job currency.

In the working world, it is important for you to be able to adapt quickly to evolving situations as and when needed. Gone are the days of your degree dictating where you work. In Maybank, job functions are assigned to people based on their skills and potential, not solely based on degree. In a way, ‘skills’ have become the new currency in the employment marketplace and people are beginning to look away from the traditional job descriptions and degree. In GMAP, MAs are selected for their ability to learn, adapt and hone skills in various different departments. Most MAs, myself included, surprise themselves by ending up doing something completely different from their degree! On top of your Business-As-Usual (BAU) work, you may find yourself in unfamiliar, unconventional settings where the tasks given to you may not necessarily pertain to your expertise so you find yourself having to be agile to pick up new things on the spot. These will be certainly tested when you go on your 3-month cross-regional assignment and deal with Maybankers working with different cultures and mindsets.

For example, I never expected a degree in Accounting & Finance would lead me to Human Resources, doing things like crafting events with students, going on career fairs, public speaking and engaging directly with students. Initially is was all daunting to the introvert in me. The culture shock was ground shaking when I was in Indonesia. I thought growing up with my Malay schoolmates and being well-versed in the language and customs would help me assimilate during my stint in Jakarta. However, listening to Bahasa Indonesia used among native speakers is like hearing a strange new language but once you get used to the accent, understanding comes easier. GMAP has trained me to not only be agile through the different rotations but also to be more holistic as an individual. In a way, I am honing my skill sets so if I am required to work in another section, I am prepared.

GMAP is a management training program. While putting people first, it aims to develop your leadership skills through special side projects alongside your regular work.

Working under your line manager is one thing but are you able to lead your own projects as well?

Because ‘Putting People First’ is in the DNA of Maybank, GMAP embraces this to empower MAs to maximize their potential with the option to lead their own projects, or work with other MAs to positively impact the lives of others. These side projects also serve as a testament to the MAs’ willingness and ability to go above and beyond the scope of regular work.

Among the special side-projects within GMAP is the Maybank GO Ahead. Challenge (MGAC) which I had the opportunity to contribute as part of the 2018 MGAC organising committee. Think the Amazing Race and The Apprentice merged as one. The MGAC is an award winning, annual 8-month case study competition that draws participation from undergraduates from all disciplines for a challenge that tests them physically, mentally, and emotionally. This program was designed by MAs to recruit new MAs as well as fresh Bank employees. Participants have testified that their lives have changed as MGAC challenged them to see things in new perspectives. How many people could have the opportunity to say that they have the chance to craft something that positively impacts the lives of others? ?

Elsewhere, various side projects are also happening so do not be surprised if you are looped into one should you get into GMAP. Personally, I was given the chance to manage our student ambassador programme, #Mbassador, involving over 40 students in 13 universities. That one year trained me to be a more resourceful leader, motivating these students to step out of their comfort zone to be the best versions of themselves.

Making meaningful connections is essential to a healthy worklife and career. GMAP helps provide that avenue through coaching, mentorship and the MAs

Networking and having a mentor/coach can greatly influence your career. GMAP provides you with both! As a MA, you will gain mentors naturally as you progress through your rotations. They can be anyone from your line managers to even your senior colleagues. They serve as a sounding board for you to ensure you are on the right path and to counsel you if you encounter any problems. This is particularly useful to guide you in your day-to-day work.

At the same time, you will be paired with a Coach who is tailored to your personality, area of expertise and generally represent what is the best fit for you. Coaches are usually upper management and close to the C-suites who do their best to expose, guide you as well as provide insights so you can make meaningful career choices. Gratefully, I was with Pn Khalijah Ismail, who was the then Group Financial Controller and now Acting Group Chief Financial Officer. She provided avenues for me to present work to then Chief Financial Officer while I was rotating with her as well as gave me advice on how to overcome my short-comings and improve on them.

Coaches and mentors are not the only ones you are able to network with under GMAP. As you rotate around the different departments and go for your cross-regional assignment, you naturally network with Maybankers from across all levels and learn things from them. From there, your network grows, and you can always connect with them for advice and help. There are also the friendships and connections that you establish with fellow MAs throughout the programme.

When you join GMAP, you quickly realise how helpful and welcoming everyone is. By design, there is no competition for being the best MA or a leadership board simply because GMAP emphasises on working together to achieve things as a team, hence all the side-projects from earlier. The MAs have a very family-like atmosphere and are more than ready to help you out, especially in navigating your first few months in the programme and giving you the ins-and-outs of the Bank.

The learning never stops. GMAP continually ensures that its MAs are ‘Future-Ready’ and remain relevant at all times.

Maybank prides itself in up-skilling and getting their employees ‘Future-Ready’ as the business world metamorphoses by the minute. To promote learning on-the-go, MAs in GMAP were enrolled into Maybank’s in-house AI Learning Hub, an internal platform that is a customised online analytics programme to learn the fundamentals of coding guided by Professor Philip M. Parker, INSEAD Chair Professor of Management Science who has taught Board members and senior leaders of multinational firms. Python programming enabled us to orientate ourselves towards machine learning and building neural networks while R programming is geared towards the fundamentals of data science and regression techniques. This two-week online course culminated in a data-driven business case challenge, requiring participants to report their findings and apply knowledge learnt. Following the success of that, the AI Learning Hub has since been opened to all Maybankers who now have the option to enrol and pick it up at anytime, just like a micro-credential course.

The current initiative of the Bank involves sustainability as one of the three group strategic priorities in M25, Maybank’s 5-year plan up to 2025. All MAs are enrolled in Fitch Learning’s ESG course where they are once again given the basic lay down on Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) and how ESG is implemented across all levels in the financial industry. Completing the course grants a certificate endorsing knowledge on the fundamentals, thus keeping MAs relevant to the current trends. By now, you are probably seeing a familiar pattern that GMAP aims to continuously supplement and grow you in many different dimensions. Naturally there was a learning curve for all of us but we took it in stride and now we are able to add these two new skills into our portfolio.

Being grounded in reality and giving back to society are important. GMAP reminds you via its compulsory branch rotation and giving back to society through volunteerism.

GMAP is not a program that just wants to wow you, but it also wants to ensure you understand the Bank from bottom to top. As such, all MAs undergo a compulsory rotation in the Maybank branches. There, MAs are taught the very basics from understanding the different products and services offered, to dealing with daily customers. These are essential as the retail branches form the bread and butter of the bank. Having a rotation in the branch allows me to appreciate Maybankers in the frontline and day-to-day operations, instead seeing them from just the customer’s point of view. I saw Maybank beyond a corporate entity, as people serving people.

Elsewhere, GMAP works hard to cultivate an empathetic heart and mind in its MAs, true to Maybank’s mission in humanising financial services. Various programs launched together with NGOs include opportunities for MAs to volunteer. In Agathian’s Shelter, we witnessed the hardship of orphaned children as we reached out to teach them financial literacy.

In the 2017 floods which brought Penang to an almost standstill, MAs with mops, pails, raincoats trodded in mud-caked homes and retail branches to help fellow Maybankers salvage what was left of their homes and workplace. It broke our hearts but strengthened our resolve to help our community build when tragedy strikes. Doing this really made me realise how humanising Maybank is.

GMAP Plus enables aspiring students from Accounting & Finance backgrounds to explore the banking route as a viable career path.

If you are an accounting student who seeks something beyond the Big 4 and other accounting firms, then the GMAP Plus is the programme for you! It is an extension of the GMAP programme where besides undergoing your rotations normally like the rest of the MAs, you are able to pursue your ICAEW qualifications fully sponsored by the Bank. This is perfect for those who are curious about the banking industry while still wanting to be professionally certified in their field of expertise. As I was an Accounting & Finance graduate, I naturally was drawn to the programme and was enrolled in it while I was rotating around Group Finance. Admittedly, it was quite nice to return to the academic realm but it does come at a cost of having to juggle work, studies and side-projects at the same time.

In Summary

GMAP has been like the university to the working world. I could not have asked any better than to be a part of this programme. I am grateful to be accepted in and to have befriended so many like-minded friends and colleagues. Having been through all the ups and downs of the program, I feel much more confident of myself and my abilities and am eager to contribute back now in the Bank. The learning never truly stops and as my journey as a Maybanker continues to unfold, I look forward, ready for life’s many more lessons.

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