Tay Siao Lin
Name: Tay Siao Lin
Age: 26
Nationality: Malaysian
Bachelor of Communications (Honours) (2015)
Major(s) & Minor: Communications, minor in International Studies
Awards / Scholarships:
Dean’s Recognition Award (2012, 2013, 2014)
Best Graduate in Bachelor of Communication (2014)
Best Graduate in Bachelor of Communication (Honours) (2015)
Tell us briefly about your work or role in your current organisation.
Currently, I am the HR Business Partner for Supply Chain in BAT Malaysia and BAT Sales and Marketing Singapore - to put it simply, I work alongside the business in developing, growing and upskilling talent. I support both functions in all HR-related strategic and operational activities: from talent management, recruitment and on-boarding of new hires to handling employment costs, I pretty much run the gamut of most big-ticket HR processes within the two functions.
How has your study in Monash Malaysia helped to prepare you for the working world?
Aside from making me a great conversationalist at Christmas office parties? (I’m kidding.)
One word: grit. If there is one thing that Monash Malaysia has prepped me for, it’s the ability to weather through difficult situations and stretched responsibilities in the working environment. Indeed, that transition from uni life to the corporate world is by no means an easy feat - your work becomes significantly more complex, and leaves a very real, material impact to the organisation/business you are working for. The level of accountability and workload that you deal with is much higher, and that sudden level of ownership you are required to assume can be quite debilitating.
However, I think that the Monash experience has prepped me with the required tools to facilitate that transition quite well - we juggle assignments and tight deadlines all the time, and are consistently held to a standard to never compromise the quality of our work/deliverables. Monashians handle challenges with stride, and potential employers are cognizant of that.
Whilst at Monash, what type of opportunities did you participate in, for example internship/industry placements, student exchanges or clubs/societies? Describe how these opportunities/exposure enhanced your employability/skills.
I did not manage to attend the internship courses offered through Monash during the summer. But, I did work as a social media strategist in an e-commerce start-up - I had to work in a very lean team (I was the only one there handling all the key social media accounts), but I think I handled the stress relatively well for a young, second year student. ☺
What did you love most about your student life at Monash?
It’s definitely the people I’ve met in university - I’ve made a number of good friends in Monash, that I still keep in contact with to this day (though not as much as we would like to, with work and all!). Monash was really quite a melting pot of individuals from various cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities, and that truly enriched the Monash experience.
Aside from that, I did feel intellectually stimulated being in the School of Arts and Social Sciences. I was exposed to a variety of different subjects, concepts and perspectives that shaped me to be the individual that I am now. Maybe I am romanticising the past, but my time in Monash played an instrumental role in the most formative years of my life - it was a great learning experience that not only gave me time and clarity to carve out my future beyond the School, but also provided me the tools and capacities to grow into that future self that I strive to be.