15. Interviewing at Shopify and 4 Career Takeaways in Sharing with SMU students (I regret not doing #4)

Hi everyone, this is another special solo episode. This is a recording for a presentation I did for Singapore Management University (SMU) students in Jan 2022. It consists of three main parts:

1. Brief summary of my career journey so far (skip this if you’ve heard Ep 12)
2. My experience interviewing and getting my current role at Shopify
3. My 4 Advice / takeaways on career

Although the recording was prepared for SMU students, most of the career takeaways are still very relevant for early to mid career folks. 

To receive more career content and resources like these, do consider subscribing to our email newsletter here https://bit.ly/3vxbD6I. 

Timestamps:
(02:14) Career Summary (skip this if you have heard Ep 12)
(03:54) How I joined Shopify
(06:24) Takeaway #1
(08:05) Takeaway #2
(09:36) Takeaway #3
(10:00) Takeaway #4 (I regret not doing this)

Social Media:

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Chapters

• 2:14 Brief summary of my career so far (skip this if you have heard Ep 12)
• 3:54 How I joined Shopify
• 6:24 Career takeaway #1
• 8:05 Career takeaway #2
• 9:36 Career takeaway #3
• 10:00 Career takeaway #4

Transcript

John Lim: 0:06

Hi, welcome to another episode of on my own terms podcast. My name is John Lim and I'm the host. In this podcast, I speak with the unconventional career changes and restate us who took the routes less trouble here. I discover the why and the how of the journeys and deep dive into how they navigate their careers and lives on their own terms. If you've ever felt nervous, jaded, or are currently languaging at your career life, this podcast is for you.

0:33

hi, everyone. This is another special solo episode. What you're going to hear next is a recording for a presentation that I did for SMU students in January, 2022. It consists of three main parts. Uh, part one. A brief summary of my career journey so far. So please keep this. If you've heard episode 12. Part to my experience in the viewing and getting my current role at Shopify. And poetry. My fault advice or takeaways on Korea. Although the recording was prepared for SMU students. Most of the career takeaways are still very much relevant for early to mid career folks. Like you. Hence, I thought I'll share this recording with you. To receive more career content and resources like this. To constant subscribing to our email newsletter. Link is in the episode description. Now I shall leave you to enjoy the rest of this episode.

John Lim: 1:25

Hi, my name is John Lim. It's a PD that I can't be there with you in person today. So I'm an S M E alumni. I graduated in 2009 from the School of Economics with uh, second major in corporate communications. Currently I'm a senior Business Development manager at Shopify. My role focuses on growing Shopify in service Asia, by working with groups and organizations like, uh, government agencies, policy makers, trade groups, uh, chamber of commerce, educational institutions, community organizations, associations, and found. So back to SM U. Yes. 13 years ago in 2009, I was, uh, sitting exactly at where you are right now. Anxious about life after S m U. So a bit of a brief summary of my career journey so far. I started my career in banking, uh, like most SM u economics and business students back in 2009. I then co-founded a laser tech events business, uh, which later on, began to manufacture gaming equipment with ar vr components. So, ar vr refers to, uh, augmented reality, virtual reality. Um, I spent a good six and a half years, uh, doing that, being an entrepreneur and running a small s. Um, I then joined an exciting Singapore iot ot, which stands for Internet of Things, uh, tech startup called I Home, um, who designs and manufactures Smart Locks. Um, they have since rebranded and known as IGL Company. Now, one of the things that drew me to IGL Home was global partnership with. So ILO Homes, smart lots solve this painful problem of the Airbnb host, needing to pass the house keys to the guests, uh, and then collecting the keys back after the guest checks out. So I started as the Singapore general Manager, and then I was managing the sales and business development for Service Asia by the time I left. At this point in my career, I wanted to learn more about e-commerce, and also how bigger organizations work. So I joined Lazada in November, 2019, uh, which was a really lucky timing, um, because as we all know, uh, in early 2020, COVID 19 came and changed the world in so many. Um, E-commerce is one of very few industries that saw an insane surge of demand, uh, and also became a lifeline to many small businesses. And that kind of brings me to Shopify. So I have been a fanboy of Shopify, especially on how easy, uh, enables businesses of all sizes to sell online. Having been an entrepreneur, I was very attracted to Shopify's mission of empowering and championing entrepreneurship. I recently joined Shopify in early January, 2022. Um, how was the interview process? well, I had saved Shopify as a job alert on LinkedIn. Then I saw the job posting in November, 2021. Uh, and then I submitted my application. Very quickly, the talent acquisition lead from Shopify reached out within a week to schedule an online interview with the hiring manager or, or my lead. And, uh, this is where I felt. it was a bit unique about Shopify because usually for other companies, the, the TA or shop for, uh, talent acquisition or the hr, they will speak with you first. That's the first round of interview, to kind of see whether you're mentally sound, uh, or not. Um, and, and the second unique thing was that you can also see this on the Shopify Careers website is the interview. Um, Shopify calls this the live story interview where it's more of a two-way conversation to cover your professional and personal experiences. So yeah, my first round was with the hiring manager and the second round consists of two interviews conducted separately. First was with a technical person, uh, or someone with a technical role, and the second person was actually with my hiring manager's manager. So, and there was just two rounds. I spoke to around three people, uh, four including the ta, the talent acquisition person, and all this took over two and a half. Uh, which is quite short, to be honest. Uh, and that's also something that I was quite amazed by. And lastly, before I go, I'll leave you with some perspectives about starting your career soon. You guys are probably very familiar with the job portals and that's, there are also a lot of, um, material on the interview tips, so I won't go into. Um, so, so yeah, here you go. I think number one is that at, at the start of a career, um, there is no better time to try or experiment because at the start of a career, the opportunity costs are the least. You're not giving up a high paying salary, um, to try something new, to call a different industry. So, if there's something that you've been curious, Trying, um, uh, or wanting to get into, I think there's no better time to do this now. Um, knowing what you don't want, it's also a part of knowing what you want. An example for me would be, in the beginning I was curious about doing sales in a bank. Um, I was, uh, Semi doing it. And by the way, you, you know, Frank, uh, at your concourse, I was the first ever student employee, that was working there on a part-time basis. I was working as a bank teller, uh, started in 2005, the very first year when a campus, was set up. So yeah. There you go. Um, and, and doing that st of working part-time as a teller at the bank, I was kinda exposed to doing sales in the bank. And I was curious about it, uh, as a career, as a first step of my career. Um, and I got it out the way, right. I, I tried it, I applied for it, uh, I got it. And then I, soon I realized that it was probably not my cup of tea. And on this point, I just wanna also say that your qualifications should be an asset, not liability. So don't let your qualifications hold you back from what you want to do, or at least try, especially at the start of a career. Second. Point is, play the long game. Um, currently in Singapore, the retirement age is 63, uh, from the 1st of July, 2022. And there are plans to raise this to 65 by the time of, uh, 2030. So assuming that you, you are now in your early or mid twenties, that means you have, uh, typically worked for at least 40 years on average. And what I say at least is because. Um, the life expectancy of all of us are gonna just keep increasing. So there'll be very high chance that we are living up to a hundred, 110 by the time we get to that stage. Um, so which means that chances are we will have to work for longer for us to support, um, getting older and having a life expectancy, getting, uh, longer. Um, play the long game. It's a marathon sprint. I urge you to also be little more long sighted, which is to delay short term rewards for longer term growth. Uh, invest in your career for the long run, uh, in the form of, uh, seeking learning exposure and training opportunities early in your career. And also very important is to have, uh, good mentors to learn from.

9:16

Hi, hope you're enjoying the episode so far. I'm interrupting my own episode to tell you that this podcast has launched a newsletter. If you'd like to receive bonus content from this podcast and topics on career change and growth, consider subscribing to our email newsletter. Link is in the episode description. Now back to the episode.

John Lim: 9:36

Number three, be open to reaching out. Um, Insider or wider perspectives are, reach out on LinkedIn to ask for coffee chats on these days. Uh, zoom calls with people in the companies that you are interested to get into, or even like more experienced folks that you look up to, that you aspire to become in the next few years. Uh, and you'll be surprised by how people, uh, how open people are these days. And probably my last, um, sort of perspective is, is something that I should have adopted it, uh, and a regret not doing it early in my career is to. Um, you're gonna start having, um, disposable income, whereas you start your first job. As much as possible, keep as close to your student expenses or your lifestyle right now for as long as possible. Make a deliberate effort to save up. Um, it's very important. Why? Because this prepares you for emergencies, like, uh, getting redundant down the road, which is common. Uh, these days, I'll tell you, it will also give you more freedom and flexibility in your career choices down the road. So, uh, topics like this, uh, career, career change, redefining success, uh, close to my heart. So, in fact, recently I started a podcast where I speak with folks who took the ruthless travel, with unconventional career and live journeys. Uh, so here. Um, my podcast name is, um, on my own terms podcast. It's available on Spotify and Apple Podcast. Uh, you can also reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn. It is John Lim, c y, uh, Charlie Yankee. Uh, enjoy the rest of your remaining days being a student. If you're enjoying this podcast so far, Kylie do us a big favor by subscribing and falling apart because wherever you're listening or watching this from Connie rate reveal and chat as podcasts, if you felt any of the episodes helpful. Lastly, I invite you to share with us your comments and feedback on this podcast. Let us know how we can do better. You can direct message me on LinkedIn. My profile is John Lim, C Y or email John Lim, C y@gmail.com. I will read and reply every one of your emails till then speak soon.