By: Mr. Long Chantola
My name is Long Chantola, and I am 21 years old. As a senior majoring in Business Management at the University of Cambodia (UC), I have equipped myself with both soft and hard skills necessary for
my career plan. What I like most about UC is that it provides me not only knowledge and skills, but also many great opportunities beyond education. And thanks to UC, I have successfully grasped one of
them—the ANZ Royal 2014 Young Banker Program.
The Young Banker Program is a development program in which successful candidates are exposed to different core areas of bank operations, and thus, will gain priceless experience in banking business at ANZ Royal. I learned about this program from the Associate Dean of the College of Management, Ms. Gina V. Lopez, as she always supports her students to try in every opportunity. With her encouragement, I applied for the program in early July of 2014. Through a long process of selection both online and in person, I finally got selected into this development program where I will begin my career’s milestone in October of this year.
This achievement does not come by chance. Since I graduated high school, I have always tried to discover my interests for my future career, and identify my goals. By learning diverse subjects since Foundation Year, I have noticed my interest in financerelated areas where it complements with my major, i.e. Business Management, and that is when I began to see where I want to go in the future. Over these years, I have found that education to me is not only about learning theories and studying cases.
Collegelife is a significant period for me to fine-tune my characteristics and behavior so that I can enhance my ability to adapt. Teamwork is a good example; it teaches me to recognize and value people’s ideas, as well as to adapt to various situations. With these qualities in hand, I felt that I had the skills to pursue my future career. However, there was still a doubt in myself whether my qualities were good enough to bring me to my career path. To end this uncertainty, I have pushed myself out of the box, and competed in various competitions and volunteer works. As a result, I have uncovered my strengths
and weaknesses through both success and failure. It also taught me that learning is boundless.
Above are all my efforts that I have invested so far in my college life. Even so, with these efforts alone, I could not have accomplished this significant achievement without the support of my family, teachers, associate dean, and friends. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to these important people for their endless support and encouragement, and for being a part of my motivation through both the hard and good times.
The ANZ Royal Young Banker Program marks another achievement in my life. Since it is only the beginning, I expect to explore many more challenges, opportunities, and hands-on experience in the banking industry. Moreover, I believe that from this program, I can enrich my competencies to another level, and continue to unlock more of my potential.
