Benjamin Cheah Yih Herng is passionate about travelling and learning new languages. He finds networking with people truly rewarding as this gives him the exposure to different cultures, which has in turn shaped his unique mindset, as well as his passion for mentoring. Benjamin has met a number of Spanish speaking friends from his travels and this has kickstarted his Spanish learning journey. He continues to learn the language with the hope of relocating to South America for work in the future.
Benjamin currently works as a Marketing & Business Specialist at SOCAR - originally from South Korea, it is now the number 1 carsharing app company in South East Asia. As a trilingual speaker with exposure to diverse cultures, Benjamin delivers cutting-edge marketing strategies and innovative campaigns that increase business demand and accelerate growth for the company in the culturally-diverse consumer environment of Malaysia.
Words of wisdom
Learn how to deal with challenges and embrace them! See challenges as opportunities to learn. Look for the good in every situation. We may not like them, but challenges help us to grow as a stronger person!
From UWA to a Global Career
My journey with UWA started in 2016. I have often been asked about my decision to study at UWA. For me, the reason was simple. I wanted to learn lifelong skills from a top tier university, one with a unique and fun student life experience – ultimately gaining not just skills, but a career out of the experience. This is why I chose to study at UWA.
Studying at UWA allowed me to meet people from all around the world, and learn from intellectual peers as well as experienced tutors and lecturers. I was an active volunteer at UWA, having participated in the UniMentor and tutor exchange programs in addition to being an Open Day Ambassador. I made many friends through volunteering and still keep in touch with most of them up till this day!
My favourite spot at UWA was the Hackett cafe, where I always spent a relaxing arvo drinking strawberry milkshake after my morning classes. The Student Guild was another favourite place of mine as my friends and I used to grab our lunch from the food trucks on the lawn every Tuesday. During the examination period, I loved to study at EDFAA because of its nice amenities, quiet study space and close proximity to the restaurants along Hampden Road.
Discovering the passion for mentorship
Since I volunteered as a UniMentor at UWA, I have realised my inner potential to be a great mentor. Being able to mentor people is a truly rewarding experience, in many ways. It’s not just limited to the connections you make while mentoring, the mentor also has the opportunity to learn how they can apply their skills to a new challenge.
Speaking from my personal experience, I understand that getting a mentor isn’t necessarily easy, especially due to the lack of networking options. Therefore, while I am still working hard towards a successful career currently, I know I’d want to pay it back later by mentoring someone in turn. 10 years from now, I’d like to run a career mentoring program with the objective of helping people obtain access to resources, connect them with amazing opportunities, support & advise them during challenging times and build lasting relationships with like-minded individuals.
Marketing as a career
Being a marketer is always exciting and interesting. There is virtually no other career that offers a combination of different disciplines, from psychology to arts to statistics, in one role.
As digitization grows rapidly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for digital marketing continues to rise. As most businesses now rely heavily on digital platforms to reach out to the audience, it has resulted in digital platforms becoming more overcrowded and competitive, even more so than before. Therefore, in order to build a competitive advantage and stand out from the crowd, there is a need for new ways to think of marketing products, solve problems, improve customer experience and engage audiences.
I believe in embracing creativity and experimentation, as they can hugely benefit the role of marketers and help us break through the bottleneck and plateau in a different way.