Lamvy Lai Tze-chiu, a manager at Sun Life Financial, got his job through a recruitment website. He is happy to note that the company has a very good reputation in terms of corporate governance and integrity, and provides a wide range of protection and wealth accumulation products tailored to different customer needs. He tells Wong Yat-hei he is confident that working for a reputable company will take his career to the next level.
What is your academic background?
I took my tertiary education on the mainland. I graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Sun Yat-sen University [in Guangzhou]. I studied for my master’s and eventually got my PhD in finance from Jinan University [also in Guangzhou] in 2008.
How do you start your day?
I have a motto: If you want to succeed, you need to wake up an hour earlier than others. I usually get up at 6.30am to check out the performance of the European and US equity markets and other relevant economic data. Then I scan the evaluation reports prepared by various financial institutes to learn about global economic trends. When I arrive at the office, I share market information with my colleagues. Then I attend training sessions by senior managers.
What does your job entail?
Sun Life’s mission is to help customers to achieve lifetime financial security. I market wealth and protection solutions to customers according to their needs. I need to prepare marketing strategies to maintain and develop a relationship with customers.
The company has a dedicated learning and development centre to provide a series of training programmes for new joiners to improve their financial knowledge and skills in serving customers. The training provides new financial planners with a solid foundation to help them develop the needed competencies.
What is your job’s major challenge?
My biggest challenge is my limited network as I have not been in Hong Kong for long. Sun Life has been very supportive and helpful in organising different types of activities for me so that I could build my network.
What have you learned about your chosen career and what are your plans?
Financial planning requires integrity and efficiency. We need to understand the needs of our customers fully and put ourselves in their shoes. A customer’s total trust in me is a huge recognition. I would like my customers to be my friends – not just mere clients. I look forward to developing my own team. I would like to share my experience with my team members and build a team of professional financial planners.
Any advice to potential interns?
Financial planning demands discipline with high integrity. Your work today will affect the future of your customers’ families. We must take our job seriously and prudently. We also need comprehensive, up-to-date knowledge in order to cope with the rapidly evolving global financial market.
