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Business
L
ike
many peers her age,
Nadia Abbas did not have
strong opinions on a set ca-
reer path post-graduation.
That is, until she had the
opportunity to apply to
ExxonMobil eight years
ago – they were then looking for IT op-
erations analysts. To her utmost surprise
and joy, she was hired on the spot, and
thus began Nadia’s enriching, colourful
journey with ExxonMobil’s Business
Support Centre in Kuala Lumpur, which
provides global IT support to ExxonMobil’s
operations worldwide.
“The new employee orientation was
an eye-opener and provided me with a
clear understanding and direction. I was
able to carefully consider which path I
could specialise in for my career progres-
sion – everything is so well-thought out!”
she quipped.
So when the time came, the bubbly
Nadia requested to become a Storage
Specialist, supporting storagemaintenance
and architecture for the Asia Pacific region.
Through hard work and perseverance,
she eventually moved her way up to
become an Application Implementation
Lead – a pivotal point in her career as she
since her analyst days.
ExxonMobil’s comprehensive poli-
cies and long-term oriented approach to
career development mean employees are
groomed to be highly competent profes-
sionals and well-balanced individuals.
Employees are able to take advantage of
numerous resources and support, such as
workplace flexibility programmes to help
them achieve work-life balance.
On top of havingmore than adequately
structured processes and rules to guide
employees, the growth experience is a
holistic one as employees are able to join
a plethora of skills development courses,
on top from enjoying benefits like a fully-
equipped gymnasiumand exercise studio.
Nadia, a certified scuba diver, regularly
goes on diving trips with the employee
recreation club that organises various fun
and creative activities.
Nadia’s positive journey with Exxon-
Mobil is greatly complementedwith things
like a work-life balance, international
exposure, growth opportunities, excellent
facilities, and most importantly, a highly
supportive network of managers and
colleagues.
The Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO) sector is one that promises solid career
progression in amultitude of industries for many individuals, even fresh graduates who
are just startingout.
JamilahLim
speaks toProjectManager andApplicationCoordinator
Nadia Abbas of ExxonMobil’s Business Support Centre in Malaysia to find out just how
enriching her SSOcareer has been so far.
The Great SSO Journey
took on greater responsibilities as a global
steward of application roll-outs.
The Global Experience
She immensely enjoyed and is grateful for
the opportunity to experience travelling to
countries like Russia, Australia, Indonesia
and Papua New Guinea for work. She
laughingly shared that she was a survivor
of terribly icy cold winters in Russia; the
coldest of which came to -34 degrees
Celsius! Unlike the weather though, she
found the locals to be very warm and
hospitable after she overcame their initial
reservations.
“I’ve learnt that relationship-building
was a key factor in communications, hence
enabling my projects to be completed
successfully.
“In Papua New Guinea, there are over
800 indigenous languages which influence
spoken English and I had to attune myself
to the different cultural nuances and
accents.
“Whilst working at offshore platforms,
I learnt to adapt my communication style
to suit the various generations working
on-board.”
This global exposure to different coun-
tries, cultures, and styles has cultivated a
sensitivity and insight into effective and
adaptive communications skills, which
Nadia believes are invaluable as it is
something she can take with her for her
years to come.
The Road to Excellence
In her current role as a Project Manager,
she coordinates the implementation of IT
requirements for both new and existing
upstream oil and gas production facilities
in the Asia Pacific region. Her role also
sees her interfacing with and maintain-
ing a close business relationship with
Malaysia’s national oil company, Petroliam
Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS); certainly
a substantial increase in responsibilities
Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO) is a term
for the combination of both the Shared Services
andOutsourcing industries.Where “Outsourcing”
reduces costs by transferring portions of work
to outside suppliers rather than completing it
internally, “Shared Services” deals with the
provisionofaservicebyonepartofanorganization
or group to other parts of the organisation, so
that they effectively become an internal service
provider.TheMultimediaDevelopmentCorporation
(MDeC)SSOClusterplaysakeyrole inmovingthe
SSOindustryupthevaluechaintomeetMalaysia’s
aspiration to be a high-income nation by 2020. To
learnmore about career opportunities in the SSO
Sector suchasNadiaAbbas’, pleasevisit:
www.mscmalaysia.my/ssococ