Victoria Song

Growing up, I had always been keen to work in the public sector as I felt that it would be the best way for me to make an impact to society and contribute to the community. (At one point, I was deliberating between this and signing up to be a fighter pilot!) I was clear that taking up the PSC scholarship meant more than just an opportunity to study overseas, and that it presented a career with the Public Service as well.

There were numerous developmental programmes planned for scholarship holders, from the Preparatory Course before we embarked on our university studies, to the PSC Scholarship Holders’ Mid-Course Programme (PSMP) that gave me opportunities to engage with real public issues and challenges that policy makers face. Even when we were overseas, we had chances to take part in in-depth dialogue sessions with visiting Ministers, which gave me insights to understand how policies were formulated and the principles that drove them.  

In addition, we were also encouraged to gain a deeper understanding of the country that we studied in, beyond just doing well academically. I did a six-month internship while in China, which helped me understand more acutely how China’s society functioned and how the business cycles changed.  

I have worked at three places so far: first at the Ministry of Law, where I focused on growing Singapore’s international dispute resolution industry, then at Infrastructure Asia looking for investment opportunities in ASEAN. I am currently at the Smart Nation Digital Government Office (under the Prime Minister’s Office) working on smart urban transformation strategies. 

One memorable experience was during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, where I worked with GovTech’s engineers to develop the TraceTogether Token and SafeEntry Gateway. We had to create the products in an extremely short span of time while tackling the evolving pandemic situation and making sure that everyone in Singapore could be covered. It required a large amount of information to be synthesised and analysed and quick but intense rounds of communication done with different stakeholders, but we delivered under pressure and it was fulfilling for me to contribute my part as we navigated through the crisis. 

One comment that I sometimes hear is that the Public Service would be slow to make changes as it is a large institution. In reality, officers monitor the environment and people’s needs constantly, and most of the policy changes were initiated within the Public Service, without public pressure, because the policy officers believed that a change would be needed to better reflect society’s needs. However, as any change in policy would lead to an impact felt by many people, a lot of effort and hours would be spent to ensure that the policy catered to the requirements of different groups of people, and to develop mitigating measures to help people with the transition. This could be why people sometimes comment that changes take a long time to happen; many a times things are actually moving just that much of this preparation work is happening behind the scenes and may not as visible to the public even after a policy is eventually announced and implemented.  

Agile. Working in the Public Service requires you to adapt and react quickly to changing environments, be nimble and be responsive. 

At the end of the day, the scholarship represents a commitment to work in the Public Service, so if you are applying for the scholarship, take it as a job interview and make good use of the opportunities to assess if this is something you are interested in, as you will be committing many years of hard work in this sector. If you have received the scholarship, make full use of your student life to pursue different skills, step out of your comfort zone and be open to take on new challenges that you may or may not be familiar with. The Public Service will provide a fulfilling journey and you might deal with a wide array of issues from economy-building, social issues, to defence policies and more in your career; it is important that you can adapt quickly to evolving needs and take on whichever challenge that you might be thrown into.