>> ASIAONE / BUSINESS / OFFICE / LEARN / CAREER BUILDING / ARTICLE

IT IS a bit hard to imagine the world without Citibank.

As one of the largest financial institutions in the world, the Citibank brand is ubiquitous, visible in virtually every city, on television, as well as in newspapers and magazines.

What is invisible to the general public, though, is the large team that makes this financial giant a well-run and profitable company with an upbeat, can-do corporate culture.

Keeping this team humming smoothly along is no small feat, and Citibank uses a broad range of career planning tools to keep its people happy and growing in their careers.

“We place top priority on developing our people, as we believe that they are key to shaping our success,” says Mr Aditya Mittal, human resource director at Citibank Singapore.

“Besides providing a facilitating environment for our people to reach their individual potential, we leverage on our global reach and diversity to offer employees meaningful career options across our footprint, which spans 103 countries.”

Mr Mittal says Citibank’s philosophy centres on providing a dynamic and stimulating environment that empowers people to develop their careers within the organisation.

“The focus is to continue to build good corporate citizens with global mindsets and the ability to make a difference,” he says.

“We do this by giving our people the opportunities to work alongside and learn from the best in the industry, and exposing them to leadership roles early in their careers, so that they can maximise their growth potential.”

Career mobility plays a big role in Citibank’s career development efforts. Given its tremendous size and reach, the job opportunities are extensive. What is more, an emphasis is placed on giving people the potential to move both horizontally and vertically within the bank.

Career-planning workshops are organised to provide staff with useful career management concepts, self-assessments and tools for planning their careers internally.

Managers are trained and equipped to hold meaningful career discussions with their team members. Career coaching workshops help managers use the same career management concepts, self-assessments and tools as their staff, so that a common language is used in career discussions.

The senior management is also involved in career development by playing a role in identifying talent and discussing the individual development plans of talent pool members on a regular basis. The individual development plans are tracked and followed up throughout the year.

2+2 guideline

Citibank employs what it calls a “2+2” guideline for career mobility and career development. Any employee with a minimum of two years in a role can apply for available internal vacancies.

If accepted for the new role, the hiring department and current supervisor can work on a mutually convenient release date, which generally must be within two months of the application being accepted — thus “2+2”.

Talent search

When looking at external applicants, Citibank looks not just at experience but also their potential, with a view that people join Citibank for a career, not just a job. Vacancies across Citigroup (Citibank’s parent) are posted on an internal careers website for easy accessibility.

Roles are available both locally and around the world. Employees from Singapore, for example, have worked in countries as far as the United States, Australia, Germany, Russia and China, in a broad range of jobs including risk management, credit card portfolio management and retail banking.

Off to China

One employee who has benefited from Citibank’s career development initiatives is Ms Maureen Low, who will move to China next month after 25 years in Citibank Singapore.

She has also headed a wide range of departments, including operations, risk management, regional investment operations and branch services, spending an average of about 2 1/2 years in each role.

“It was an opportune time to look for new challenges overseas, as my children are grown up and my husband has just retired. In my mid-year performance review last year, I indicated my interest in an overseas opportunity,” says Ms Low.

“As our China business is in a development phase, it is a good fit as I can leverage on my 25 years of consumer banking experience in Citibank Singapore.”

She adds: “New opportunities don’t stop coming, even if you are 51 years old!” One thing she appreciates is that Citibank is willing to take what she calls “calculated risks” when moving its people into new roles.

“This is how I was able to enjoy such a wide variety of experiences and roles in my career. I was able to swing from service and sales roles to operations, risk management and then back to operations again.

“If you are willing and dare to try, Citibank is willing and dares to let you do it.”