Graduate Profiles Detail Asean

Darren is the Head of Asia Shared Financial Services at PPG Industries in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Below he talks about his career and how he accomplished his goals, and gives you advice on how to be successful in your future.

Managing the operations of the PPG Asia Shared Financial Services in Malaysia and China as well as accountants in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The main requirements of the role are to manage the processes and the people to ensure we deliver an efficient service to the rest of the group.

I have had a number of roles in Finance and Shared Services of increasing responsibility which have led to my current position. These roles have allowed me to develop my experience so that I am qualified for the role, underpinned by my professional accounting qualification and my degree.

This is a very senior role and will take a number of years to build the right skill-set to be able to perform successfully in the role. It is important to remember that every role that you take on the way to a senior position should be a learning experience and enhance your personal skill set. Finally, given a choice, always take better experience over a higher salary; the salary will come to you in the longer run.

To a large extent, how well you do in life is in your own hands. Plan your career as well as you can, but most importantly try to do a job you like - you will spend most of your waking hours doing it and if it isn′t enjoyable, you are unlikely to succeed.