Learning how to plan your career is the most important thing no one taught you at school. Luckily, there are many Klookers who paved exciting career paths for themselves and whose stories can inspire you on your own journey.
We sat down with one of those Klookers, Brahman Prasetyo or Bran, who is a Business Analyst based in Taiwan. Since joining Klook 2 years ago, his career has grown rapidly. What’s his secret? Read on to find out!
How did your career at Klook start?
I joined Klook in October 2019. I applied as a CEG Operation, which manages the operation of our customer experience team. To be honest, at that time my student visa was running out - I had just graduated from a data science program of a university in Taiwan - so I was trying to apply for anything, even though the job didn't have the specific scope that I wanted. I didn't think too much about my future career, so I just applied and was offered the CEG Operation role.
In CEG Operation, my work revolved around tracking everything related to the operations of our customer experience team and creating reports about what we found. The results represented data and insights that can help us optimize our work in the customer experience team.
Bran gained an adventure in Klook Taipei by keeping his options open after graduation.
How did your career progress from there?
In March 2020, because of the Covid-19 situation, the company had to optimize our workforce and I was actually on the list of the people that would have to leave. At that time, my manager helped me escalate an Operations analysis project I had worked on to upper management. I was surprised when one of them emailed me soon after, asking if I was interested in joining the Marketing Analytics team (which later became the Business Analytics team) as a Business Analytics Associate.
The opportunity wasn’t automatically handed to me. I was given some assignments and was asked to give a presentation to stakeholders to see how I can communicate the analytics and data clearly. The assignment and process took around two months, and I became the 13th member of the global Analytics team.
Adapting to this new position was hard at the beginning because I was the only member of the Analytics team based in Taipei, while the rest are in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Singapore. Communication was not easy because we only can do it by video call or chat. I’m grateful that my team communicates and collaborates really well even though we couldn't meet directly face to face, and they played a big role to help me settle into my new role.
Bran helps organize virtual happy hours with his team, spread over Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore.
And then, less than a year later, you got a promotion. Congratulations!
Yeah, hahaha. Well, one day I just got a chat in the morning from my manager, and he asked if I had time for a quick call. I thought it was just a regular daily update, but then during the call, he suddenly told me, "I just want to tell you that you get a promotion."
At first, I was shocked. How could I, not even a year since joining the new team, get this promotion? He then explained that I had received a lot of good feedback from my stakeholders, so they trusted me to take on new responsibilities.
At Klook, one of our core beliefs is actively asking for and giving feedback - and we even have an internal platform to facilitate that, which is Klook Salutes. Turns out, I was one of the top receivers of Klook Salutes in the first half of 2021, with more than 50 feedbacks from my teammates and stakeholders who work with me. This is one of the reasons why I was given a promotion even if I had only been in my new role for a very short time.
Of course, I'm very happy to hear about that! It means they recognize my efforts, which is amazing.
Bran received a lot of feedback and recognition that helped him stand out and get a promotion in a very short time
That's amazing. What's your secret to growing your career this fast?
I would say my secret is how I communicate with people, especially stakeholders. Because in my role now, I have to contact many stakeholders, and every person has a different personality. I think the way we communicate with each other in the workplace is very important - they need to trust what I’m saying, and trust that I understand their challenges, and trust the solutions I bring to the table.
I'm confident that I've done this well because they enjoy working with me and recognize my work. My career definitely grew fast with the help, support and feedback of all my stakeholders.
Good working relationships and communication with colleagues will definitely help your career.
Any other qualities that you think will be important when someone joins Klook?
I think the most important thing is to actively ask for and give feedback. Because if you want to know if you’re on the right track, you should be aware of how others think about and perceive you. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will help you get better, grow and improve - and at the end get recognition for your work.
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Posted by Klook Careers
