Tech startups are increasingly the employers of choice for millennials in Singapore.
That’s to be expected, given the large amount of funding and publicity that some of these tech startups have garnered. Amongst the tech startups in Singapore, the more prominent ones include Carousell and Grab.
It’s no surprise, then, that a learning journey to Grab on 17 July 2018 received overwhelming response.
The learning journey was part of the Learning Is Triggered (LIT) series of events that is jointly organised by Young NTUC and SkillsFuture. The LIT learning series is happening right now, running from 10th July to 1st August 2018.
“Through these learning journeys, workshops and networking sessions, we hope that they can glean industry insights and pick up skills that can help progress their career,” said Mr Desmond Choo, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC and Executive Secretary, Young NTUC.
The Grab learning journey took place at their awesome new R&D Centre at Marina One.
A total of 150 participants got to hear from Ms Ong Chin Yin, Head of People, Mr Arunsingh Victor, an Engineering Lead, and Ms Nadia Goei, a product manager.
The participants also got the chance to mingle and network with some of the staff members of Grab.
We had the opportunity to sit down and ask Chin Yin some of the burning questions on our mind.
What’s Next For Grab?
With Grab now being the leading ride hailing app in Southeast Asia, we were curious to find out what’s next for Grab.
Chin Yin told us that Grab now aims to be the “Everyday Superapp” of Southeast Asia.
They recently announced the launch of GrabPlatform as part of Grab’s open platform strategy to help partner companies grow and scale in Southeast Asia, at the same time bring more everyday services to Grab users.
Grocery delivery company, HappyFresh, was the first company to have signed up. By partnering with Grab, HappyFresh benefits from Grab’s reach and the opportunity to tap into Grab’s delivery fleet.
In time to come, Grab will also introduce APIs and SDKs to make it easier for other companies and micro-entrepreneurs to become partners with Grab.
Chin Yin revealed that Grab’s moonshot goal is to serve 100 million micro-entrepreneurs by 2020.
She told us that this was part of Grab’s mission to “remove the friction in our lives and help bring everyone closer to the things that are dear to us”.
What’s Needed To Achieve The Ambitious Goals?
Having great people is a key strategy to achieving the ambitious goals that Grab has.
To supplement the depth of talent in Singapore, Grab has set up research and development centers in Seattle, Beijing, Bangalore, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to the one in Singapore.
Chin Yin quipped:
Someone told me that geniuses don’t travel for work. So we have to go to where the talented people are. But once you do that, you allow for the natural mixing and exchange of ideas. That helps to lift the abilities and deepen the expertise of the team in Singapore too.
Chin Yin also told us that they have some rather unusual jobs in Grab.
Some of these jobs were practically unimaginable a few years ago.
For instance, they have growth hacking teams that constantly conduct experiments to identify the most efficient ways to grow the Grab business.
They also have people applying behavioural economics to various aspects of the business like marketing.
How Does Grab Get The Talented People They Need?
Grab casts its net wide. And then they take time to get to know the candidate before hiring him/her.
Chin Yin believes that skills can be trained, but it’s not easy for people to be changed. That’s why they spend a lot of time in the interview process to find out if the prospective hire will fit into the culture of Grab.
Chin Yin revealed that the interview process attempts to determine whether the candidate has the 4H that form Grab’s values – Honour, Hunger, Humility, Heart.
But hiring is only part of the story.
The other part is about how Grab builds a positive environment for Grab employees (or Grabbers) to grow. Chin Yin emphasised that all Grabbers are encouraged to be humble, remain very curious, and have the discipline to constantly learn.
Final Pieces Of Advice
Finally, we asked Chin Yin for some pieces of advice.
Her advice to millennials is to dare to try, and to find out what gives you joy. And to everyone, she believes that we should not obsess over how much a job pays us.
Instead, we should focus on how we can solve other people’s problems through our work. She believes that if you can solve other people’s problems well, “the money will come”.
So there you have it – some ideas of how to grab a job at Grab!
Young NTUC, the youth arm of the Labour Movement, takes the future of youths in Singapore very seriously. The Learning Journey to Grab is one of the many ways Young NTUC help youths chart their career journey better.