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Steering your career towards South East Asia

By UCL Careers, on 1 March 2018


At the recent Global Careers Series event at UCL, we were joined by a panel of speakers who discussed their experience and tips for students and recent graduates looking to find work experience, or a more permanent job, in South East Asia.

We were lucky enough to hear from:

  • Shamini Darshni Kalimuthu, Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia (and currently on sabbatical at SOAS);
  • Peter Gibbinson, Regional Head of Standard Chartered;
  • Yong Chaulet, UCL Alum (Previously Thai Embassy, ExxonMobil Thailand, Bangkok Public Relations);
  • Amy Wong, UCL Student with previous internship experience at the Singapore Government; and
  • Ally Hawley, Ex-Student Recruitment in Malaysia.

Here’s what one of our panellists said about their top tip for finding work in South East Asia:

“My top tip for students looking to work in South East Asia would be use your network – I found my job in Kuala Lumpur through an ex colleague I stayed in touch with. As a student here in London you’re likely to have classmates from South East Asia who you’re studying with right now. Use their knowledge and experience of the region when applying for roles. Also remember to continue to develop your network throughout your time at university and after you graduate, make use of your university’s alumni platform and LinkedIn, both can be used as an excellent resource when seeking work in a particular region!” 

Expanding Your Network at UCL
As our panellist said, if you’re interested in finding out more about working in South-East Asia, make sure you utilise UCL’s strength as a university with tens of thousands of alumni based all over the world.

Have you started to take advantage of UCL’s alumni mentoring network? If not, consider signing up and looking for mentors in countries and industries that appeal to you. There is a whole range of knowledge and advice to be gained from using this system. You can find out more and sign up here.

Want to learn more about this region?
Luckily, there is a range of useful websites out there to help you. For example, Goinglobal (which UCL subscribes to) contains guides to finding work and making applications in Singapore and Vietnam. Another useful resource, Prospects, contains guides to Malaysia and Singapore.

Additionally, Gradlink have a dedicated section for South East Asia, including advice for working in different sectors in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

Jobs Boards

  • JobsDB job listings in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong
  • Indeed Malaysia internships in Kuala Lumpar
  • JobStreet for jobs in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia

Other considerations
Working abroad can be an enriching and exciting experience, but there are a few things you might like to think about before embarking on a trip of a lifetime. Will you be comfortable with being away from familiar surroundings and your established support network? Will you be able to adapt to a different culture? You might find it useful to look at a website such as Just Landed to gain an insight into the expat experience in your chosen destination.

You’ll need to be careful that your entry visa covers any work you may do while in another country, guides such as Internations  can be a useful starting point, but make sure you also check official sources such as the embassy website of your intended destination.

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