A letter from Hwang Yu-Ning
Dear Young Officer,
Those who know me in my present role as Chief Planner and Deputy Chief Executive of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) may not know that my scholarship application to the URA was actually rejected. Yet my one and only job application after graduation was to the URA.
What made me join an organisation that had already rejected me once, and spend almost my entire public service career here? These can be attributed to some personal values that I would like to share.
Do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do
I studied architecture at the National University of Singapore. Halfway through my studies, I realised that my interest was in urban planning and shaping our physical environment on a strategic level.
I was glad that I found my passion early on, as this gave me a clear goal to work towards.
For a start, I applied to the URA for a mid-course scholarship. However, I was rejected! Nonetheless, I was still very keen on the work that URA was doing and not too proud to apply for a job here after my graduation, so I did.
Happily, this time around I was offered a position, and that kick-started my decades-long career in the Public Service. I haven’t looked back since.