9 Says No - But 1 Says YES

He cleared his study loan of $19,000 in one lump sum, and has a second-hand black Audi A4 to his name. Yet, Mr Chew Zhan Lun, 24, graduated only two months ago.

In 2014, while he was studying banking and finance at Nanyang Technological University, he joined Great Eastern as a financial consultant and managed to earn $36,000 in the 2015 financial year.

He had to sit for six Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services examinations over two months to attain the requirements needed to be a Great Eastern agent from the Singapore College of Insurance.

He then started going door to door selling insurance. On school days, he would work three nights a week.

During his school holidays, he worked six nights a week, averaging two and a half hours each night. The avid gamer even cut back on playing computer games to focus on his job.

The going was tough at first. Mr Chew said: "For every one person who said yes, there were nine who said no." He soon learnt to take rejection in his stride and he stuck by a policy of not using a hard sell technique.

Instead, he tried to be patient, proving his expertise to potential clients while becoming friends with them. His philosophy? "Not every friend is my client, but every client is my friend."

Mr Chew had wanted to become a banker, but he joined the insurance industry to gain experience in the financial industry.

He found it a meaningful line of work and, after half a year, he decided to stay on.He said: "For example, at a funeral, some professions would be asking for payment from the family, but an insurance agent would be the one handing over money.

"This is something I take pride in and I hope to get more recognition for this line."

Mr Chew has earned praise from his manager, Mr Alan Phua, 30, who said: "Zhan Lun always stood out for his creative and bold ideas... He has impressive potential.

A Great Eastern spokesman said the company is seeing an increasing number of student financial consultants joining their 3,200-strong team, but said that they are unable to provide specific figures.

She said: "From our experience, the young advisers are dedicated, committed and hard-working in their own way.

"They relate well with their peers and hence are able to effectively communicate to them the importance of insurance and the need for early financial planning."

Mr Chew has his eye on setting up his own agency in the future.