A GRADE ABOVE THE REST

What you cannot defend does not belong to you. This is the view strongly held by Gabriel Yeo, a staff officer with the Information Policy and Strategy Office under MINDEF Public Affairs.

In his daily work, Mr Yeo researches the best way to communicate messages to various target audiences. He also works closely with other Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) agencies and other government agencies to have a good sense of the public perception of the organisation.

Before joining MINDEF, Mr Yeo, who has a Master's in Information Studies, was a reference librarian. So, what inspired him to join MINDEF as a Defence Executive Officer (DXO)?

"I wanted to find something that's interesting, challenging and, at the same time, meaningful. I thought that working on information policy at MINDEF would present me with such an opportunity," he said.

During his one and a half years with MINDEF, Mr Yeo's work experience has not been limited to information policy. He is also involved in publicity work for the National Day Parade 2008, which entails liaising with the media and facilitating their requests. This additional commitment has required the sacrifice of his Saturdays but he is motivated by the thought of being involved in the celebrations for the nation's birthday.

His hard work has paid off as he was promoted on 1 Jul.

"It's good to be valued and recognised for my contributions," said Mr Yeo. "I'm grateful for the opportunities that I've been given and the mentors who have guided me along the way."

A sense of recognition is also what Ms Lim Siew Ping, a materials planner at the air logistics department, feels about her promotion. She said: "I was surprised, it meant that my bosses recognise my efforts."

Armed with a degree in industrial and systems engineering, she joined MINDEF as a fresh graduate in 2005. She chose to work in MINDEF because of the advancement opportunities and attractive staff benefits offered under the DXO scheme.

From working with a common pool of material planners, Ms Lim now finds herself working closely with the system managers who oversee the operations of the heli platform at Paya Lebar Air Base, where she is based.

In the course of her work, she has also picked up management skills. "As a DXO, you have executive assistants reporting to you. So, besides getting instructions from your boss and just doing executing the work, you have to digest the information and share it with your staff," she said. "There is a sense of responsibility, not just to manage them on their work, but also to continuously upgrade your staff."

And with opportunities available to DXOs to move within the organisation, Ms Lim envisages herself moving from operations to project management and policy work in future.

Movement within the organisation is nothing new to Wong Kuan Meng, who is currently on secondment to the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) as Assistant Director of Human Capital Development.

She joined MINDEF in 1993, and was with the Defence Policy Office for six years before moving on to manpower policy where she stayed for seven years. Her latest move to DSTA allows her to "try human resources work in a different organisation because the challenges are quite different".

On being in MINDEF for more than 15 years, Ms Wong said: "The jobs that they offer are quite varied and challenging and you always get to learn new things. I'm very thankful for the fact that I was never bored."

Mr Yeo, Ms Lim and Ms Wong were among 128 DXOs promoted this year.