Work and study pay off with promotion

WORKING AND STUDYING at the same time for a master's degree and other types of qualification often involves a significant investment of time and money.

However, the commitment becomes considerably easier with employer encouragement and financial support as Katherine Kwok, manager, Philips APAC Learning Services and Management Development, discovered.

'I joined Philips as an officer in the learning and development team handling training administration and logistics, but I didn't have any academic background in the training field as my undergraduate degree was economics and management studies,' said Ms Kwok, who has been with the company for six years.

Ms Kwok's continuous learning experience began when her former boss encouraged her to enrol in short training programmes. Each one was company sponsored.

'After six months I was promoted to senior officer and started independently organising and co-ordinating training workshops with external providers. At the same time, I enrolled in an MSc degree programme in training and performance management to further enrich my knowledge. This was also sponsored by the company,' Ms Kwok said.

The investment of time and money has paid off for Ms Kwok and Philips.

Two years ago, she started helping to manage the Philips learning and management development activities across Asia-Pacific in addition to working with the learning and development team in Hong Kong. Ms Kwok has also been involved in Philips global development projects.

'Philips has supported me both financially and non-financially with my career development. My job scope has been expanded and enriched with challenges interesting enough to keep me progressing with my career development,' Ms Kwok said.

Using the skills she has acquired she is able to contribute to the company by improving the competences of other employees and developing other young potentials in the leadership talent pipeline.

Ms Kwok said that for job satisfaction, remuneration was not the only factor. She said being recognised for commitment and performance was a big motivation, as was the opportunity to further develop her career.

'The commitment from the company and the support from my manager are equally as valuable as my salary,' Ms Kwok said.