Pre-school vice-principal among winners of FastJobs Excellence Awards

She is among winners at the inaugural FastJobs Excellence Awards 2020

With pre-schools reopening on June 2, Mrs Maria Reyes is looking forward to her workplace being filled with laughter and joy again - and a little bit of crying "here and there".

The 32-year-old vice-principal of Raffles Kidz International told The New Paper: "We are currently in the midst of preparing for the phased reopening, stepping up existing precautionary measures and preparing a welcome back surprise for the children."

Mrs Reyes, who joined Raffles Kidz International four years ago as an English teacher and was promoted to vice-principal last June, also fills in for teachers and cooks and cleans when her colleagues are on leave.

She is the first to arrive at school and last to leave, and is known to always remain calm, be it handling squabbling children or demanding parents.

It is Mrs Reyes' dedication to her job that led her to win the Outstanding Service Award, one of three categories of the inaugural FastJobs Excellence Awards 2020, which was launched in April to recognise exceptional service and operational employees.

Nominations were open to the public and winners chosen based on the highest number of comments on FastJobs' Facebook page.

Mrs Reyes said: "I believe it is important for leaders to walk the talk. I want to be the kind of leader who inspires other teachers to want to become leaders themselves in the future too."

Madam Wang Geok Mee, who won the Rockstar Rookie Award, also derives "a lot of satisfaction" from her job.

Within a year of working at Oriental Remedies Group as a clinic assistant, the 34-year-old mother of three from Malaysia was put in charge of one of its outlets.

NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

This was despite having no prior knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, as she had been a service staff member at a Japanese restaurant for 10 years.

"Since most customers speak English, I would brush up on my English as well as medical knowledge during the two- to three-hour bus rides between work and my home in Johor Baru," said Madam Wang, who has been residing in a local accommodation provided by her employer since Malaysia's lockdown.

The winner of the Lifelong Learner Award is Mr Darien Tock, 53, a deputy human resources (HR) and administrative manager at China Railway First Group.

Even though he has been in the HR industry for over 20 years, he continues taking various courses to stay relevant.

Most recently, he signed up for an online course by Temasek Polytechnic about operating a business during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Tock said: "Learning never ends. We have to keep up with the industry. I share what I have learnt with my colleagues and friends so that we can improve together."