"Mark Twain once stated that 'the two most important days of
your life are the day that you’re born and the day you learn why.' As the Career Counselor at the
Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I couldn’t agree more.
This fall the HNC Career Service office has had several events designed
to help students develop an understanding of their career interests and how to
best pursue those interests. I’d like to
take a moment to share with you some of the highlights.
At orientation, students learned about the importance of investing time in your career development. Whether you go into careers in government, consulting, law, finance, non-profit, education, entrepreneurship, or energy, you will need to identify your career interest and develop a strategy to pursue it. We work with students in this process, through one-on-one appointments, group workshops, employer visits, and career treks, but ultimately it’s up to the student to invest time in self exploration.
After learning about Career Services at the HNC, I presented a resume workshop designed to assist all students in writing their resume. While there is too much for me cover in this post, I would encourage you to remember three things. First, the resume is usually the first example of work product that employers receive from you. If it has errors, the employer will think that this is indicative of your work and you won’t get an interview. Second, don’t go past one page for your resume. Only seasoned career professionals should prepare multi-page resumes. For entry-level positions, one page is preferred. You may ask yourself, 'how can I fit all my experiences onto one page?' The answer is you probably can’t. Most employers spend less than one minute reviewing your resume and so you have to learn what is important from your background that is relevant to the position of interest and omit what’s not. Finally, quantify and qualify your accomplishments. Saying you’re good at something is not the same as proving it. For example compare these two bullets
·
Responsible for marketing and recruitment of a
student organization
·
Implemented marketing and recruitment strategies
for a student organization, resulting in a 35% increase in member enrollment
Hopefully you can
tell which is better. If not, we’ll talk
when you are in Nanjing.
On Wednesday, October 9, the Center welcomed HNC alumna
Brantley Turner-Bradley to discuss her career insights. Ms. Turner-Bradley shared with students that
in her experience, your career is not a linear progression but a more winding
road. As time develops, each position
will teach you things you like/dislike and that you can use these experiences
in a variety of industries. In her own
career, she has gone from consulting to market research to entrepreneurship and
education.
After the October holiday, I presented a workshop on
choosing your career path. Students
frequently ask me, how should one choose what to do for a living? It is difficult to give a succinct answer
suitable for a blog post, but I think it starts with knowing yourself. We all have interests, strengths, needs, and priorities. For some, the most important thing is to be
in China. For others, the most important
thing is to be working for an NGO that deals with the environment. If you start by identifying what’s important
to you and working from there you’re off to a good start. I can fill you in on more when you arrive in
Nanjing.
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| Fall 2013 Consulting Panel |
Our next employer event happened on Saturday, October
19. From 13:00-16:00 the HNC hosted five
alumni working in management consulting for our consulting panel. Luke Treloar (KPMG), Xu Jiahong (Accenture),
Andres Perea (Bain), Pu Yang (LEK), and Meng Meng (KPMG), spent the afternoon
sharing their insights into a profession that is among the most popular for
Center students. Andres reminded
students that the hours are demanding, roughly 75 per week, but that there were
many rewards because you’re surrounded by intelligent and motivated
people. When asked to give students one
suggestion of something they should all know for their careers, Xu Jiahong told
students to always focus on reputation.
No matter where you go or what you do, your reputation is essential.
The following day, Professor Paul Armstrong-Taylor and I
hosted a workshop on cracking the case interview, an essential skill for anyone
interested in management consulting.
During this presentation, we discussed essential qualities necessary for
success in consulting, how to prepare for interviews, and practiced three
sample cases. Among the most interesting
was a market sizing question, 'how many chickens are there in China?' If you’re curious, the answer is somewhere
around 50 billion, but remember the important part for a case interview is the
analysis of how you reach your conclusion.
In the weeks to come we have several other exciting career
events. On Thursday, October 24 we will
host Yang Xiaoming, a Brand Manager with P&G in Guangzhou, to discuss his
career path and insights for students interested in marketing and consumer
goods. On Tuesday, October 29th
HNC alumna Christie Caldwell will come to the Center to talk with students
about career opportunities at Aperian Global, a consulting company focused on
developing the capabilities of individuals and teams to increase
performance. Then on Friday, November 1,
the HNC will welcome back alumni, who will conduct two career panels as part of
our annual Alumni Weekend. These events
should provide students with many useful insights and opportunities to meet
alumni and non-alumni professionals successful throughout China.
Thanks for taking time to read my blog post. I look forward to writing to you again
following our upcoming employer visits and Alumni Weekend."
