Career-Switcher: Mr Norman Tiah

Mr Norman Tiah, who turns 60 this year, is a Security Manager with a team of 40 staff. His daily routine would include duty rostering of the security officers and ensuring that every aspect of the building is well-taken care of.

Who would have guessed that Norman actually went through different jobs before embarking on his Security career? Prior to this, he was doing sales and had his own business of printing advertisements for close to 20 years.

Due to the changing landscape in the printing industry, his business was affected and he lost his business 10 years ago.

Norman went into other businesses, such as Food & Beverage (F&B), selling of Car Accessories for the next 5 years. In 2013, he decided to take the leap to go into reskilling. “I didn’t know what courses to take at that time. I decided to go to NTUC LearningHub (LHUB) to check out the available courses. After speaking to the course consultants, I had a better idea of what I could possibly take up,” shared Norman.

He signed up for the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) courses due to his personal interests, and completed his WSQ Certificate in WSH and WSQ Advanced Certificate in WSH. His interest for learning went on and he took up some of NTUC LearningHub’s John Maxwell Leadership Courses, followed by Security courses such as Basic Licensing Unit and WSQ Supervise Security Officers. He said: “It was fun learning new skills, and LHUB provides a conducive environment for learning. I decided to continue learning since I have the opportunity and time to do so.”

Upon completing his Security courses, he decided to apply his skills in the Security industry. With his prior experiences in business and staff management, he was offered the role of a Security Manager in his current company. Norman shared, “Security isn’t an easy job as we have to be vigilant at all times. I have friends telling me that my age was catching up and it might not be easy for me to catch up with the industry. However, I felt that this is a growing industry and with the introduction of Progressive Wage Model (PWM), there is definitely career progression. I hope to be part of it and advance my career from this.”

Norman is still learning the ropes every day and he has a great team under him. When asked about his future plans, he shared that he is looking forward to join the Business Development team in time to come. Norman said: “I hope to put my experiences and apply my knowledge into good use, and build my career from there. It’s not easy, but it’s not difficult either. It can be hard to put in the effort today when the reward is so far into the future, but don’t give up and success will definitely come to you.”

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