Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Impressions on the 2018 Asia Career Trek

From January 15-19, 10 students from Nanjing and 10 students from Washington, DC embarked on the annual Asia Career Trek, a week-long trip to a variety of companies and firms in Shanghai and Hong Kong including: Wells Fargo, Deloitte, KPMG, Johnson & Johnson, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Control Risks, Goldman Sachs, and the Economist Intelligence Unit. Current students Teng Men and Kris Rodulfo share what they learned during their meetings on the trek.

SAIS and HNC students visit Wells Fargo in Shanghai.

During the week-long Asia Career Trek, we had the opportunity to visit a variety of companies and firms ranging from finance, risk management, and healthcare in Shanghai and Hong Kong including, Johnson & Johnson, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley. We were kindly received by many of the employees at these companies, most of whom were SAIS or HNC alumni. The alumni were at all different points in their career, and the stories they shared about their work was illustrative and helpful to understand the businesses we visited.

In our meetings with various practitioners, we learned a great deal about professionalism in the workplace. First, always be prepared. Basic qualities associated with preparedness include punctuality, professional attire, a clear mind, necessary knowledge, and understanding of the topic. The importance of these attributes was reiterated to us in our meetings in Hong Kong. During our visit to Control Risks, a member of their senior leadership began the meeting by asking us specific questions about the company, such as the name of the CEO, the location of the company’s headquarters, and the name of the company’s online platform. During our meeting at Natixis, SAIS Alumna Ms. Trinh Nguyen, a Vice President and Senior Economist at Natixis Hong Kong office, impressed on us that the key to a successful presentation was preparedness – practicing repeatedly until you are 100% familiar with your script. “Always go back to the beginning,” she said, “even if you get stuck with your name.”

 HNC Alumnus Kelly Morris and SAIS Alumna Nora Wasserman host students at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong

Before you start looking for a job, it is important to first know your interests and skills. Build up a skillset that would make you invaluable to an employer. What skills would make you succeed in the finance and banking sector? Some suggestions provided were having good skills in quantitative analysis, basic accounting, statistics, and corporate finance. Besides finding out where your interests lie, it is also important to research and be familiar with what kind of services are in high demand these days. Take the extra time you have outside of your studies to find this out.

Second, apart from “hard skills” such as statistical or analytical capabilities, professionals in the financial sector also value “soft skills,” including effective communication skills, empathy with your clients, skills to sell yourself and the products or services you provide, and networking skills. One of the interpersonal skills that appeared most frequently in presenters’ speeches was networking. Can you make cold calls to clients, HR, or alumni? Can you tell a concise but impressive story? Can you sell yourself to these potential employers and build up a good relationship with them? Networking is linked to the first point of preparedness as well. Researchers from JP Morgan emphasized that it is essential to do the groundwork such as extra reading of the team’s work in order to ask smart questions and engage in a productive conversation with your boss.

Networking is important even before finding a job. Be proactive and resourceful. There are numerous SAIS and HNC alumni who are already working in these industries who would be willing to lend you a helping hand. You can ask to meet with them for coffee and see if the job you want to apply for is the right fit for you. They can point you in the right direction or help to forward your resume at a critical time in the hiring process.

Last but not least, strategic thinking and the ability to look at a bigger picture. As Han Lin, Deputy General Manager of Wells Fargo Shanghai, put it in his presentation, your story will become increasingly convincing as you acquire technical, managerial and political skills successively. Here, political skills refer to strategic thinking. Most jobs introduced on the Asia trek require a global view and mastery of regional studies. This is where SAIS and HNC students’ competitive advantage lies. Many of the presenters said that, compared to other students who have just studied an MBA or finance, SAIS and HNC students have a better macroeconomic perspective on what is happening in the global economy because our education is interdisciplinary. Many presenters also suggested that students should make full use of their schools’ resources to build up capabilities required to work in the financial sector in the future.

Written by Teng Man '18 and Kris Rodulfo, MAIS ‘18



Wednesday, February 21, 2018

HNC Alumni Profile: Ellis Gyöngyös

Ellis Gyöngyös, Certificate ’14, is the founder and CEO of Know Your Token, an ICO and cryptocurrency due diligence provider and advisory firm.

Let’s start by having you talk a bit about yourself.
I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and majored in Chinese and International Economics and immediately went to the HNC after graduating. After completing a certificate at the center, I attended a career trek arranged by Robbie Shields, HNC’s Career Advisor. Afterwards, I applied to several positions and got my first job in Hong Kong at Kroll. I worked as an analyst there for over 3 years conducting compliance and regulatory due diligence with a focus on IPO projects. My position called for a lot of Chinese research, a skill I strengthened at the HNC. Recently, I left Kroll to start my own company providing due diligence on ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) and I’ll be doing deep dive due diligence on crypto companies. This is a hot new field and I’m really excited!



Can you talk a little about your current role? How much would you say HNC prepared you for this role?
Conducting due diligence has a lot to do with research skills. I honed those skills at the HNC and I found that I did a lot more reading in Chinese at Kroll than I ever did at the HNC (if you had told me that I would someday read even more Chinese while I was at the HNC, I never would have believed you!) For some people the amount of reading at the HNC is unbelievable. I remember having to read 120 pages one night. At the Center, you develop the skill of extracting content without reading every single word in a passage. You must make sure that you can glean content from paragraphs or whole papers in a short amount of time. Thankfully I learned that at the HNC and brought those skills to into my career in due diligence where there is just a lot of content.

I also learned how to connect the dots. You can gather tons of data on urban migration in China but, to really understand what’s going on, you need to know about the factors behind it. Why are these people migrating and what effect does it have? Being able to look at something critically instead of simply recounting facts is very valuable in a job.

What courses did you take during the year?
I took a variety of classes but Adam Webb’s Rural Development class really stood out to me. One of my favorite classes, perhaps the most useful class for my first job was on Game Theory. In that class I wrote a report about salary negotiations through which I learned that it’s better to negotiate for higher pay during an interview. Most companies actually have more money to offer but they pitch low on initial offers because they want to save money. Most of the time, if you present a good case for why you need/deserve money you’ll get more. I tried it at my first job and it worked.

Another course I took was an introduction to economics course, Economic Principles. I also took a couple of anthropology courses with Hua Tao who is an amazing teacher. I took mostly Chinese courses since that is a requirement of the curriculum.

What would you say is your best memory from your time at the HNC?
During the fall break a group of friends and I went to Chengdu. We flew there and stayed in a hostel and I remember lots of fun and good food. That short trip was a great way to foster strong friendships. I also remember having good conversations at night at the Center with friends, we would walk around and talk all the time.

What was the biggest thing you learned outside the classroom?
I would say I really learned how to appreciate people no matter what their background is. There was a lot of variety between international and Chinese students, some were straight out of undergrad while others had years of full-time work experience. Additionally, not all of the international students were from the US. Some of the Chinese students were more outgoing while some wanted to study more. I learned to try and find common ground with everyone.

What would you say is the best resource available to HNC students?
The HNC provides you with a community of people that all care about bettering themselves. They want to learn, or they want to go to the gym, or they want to advance in their career - everyone wants to better themselves in some way. I think that this is a really healthy mindset and a good thing to promote and it is great to immerse yourself in that type of community.

What piece of advice would you give current and prospective HNC students?
Take a day or two to completely explore the Center. There are lots of nooks and crannies that I found throughout the year like the study room on the fifth floor with the 阳台. I didn’t know about that initially, so I usually studied in the library but having more options means that when one of them is full you still have other places to go. You should also take a day or two to explore around the Center. Walk out to 金银街 you can see all sorts of print stores and hostels. It’s just a good idea to acquaint yourself with your surroundings. As for prospective students, I would say spend more time speaking your target language before you go. I mean a lot more!

Written by Benjamin Miles, MAIS '19 

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Zumba in Nanjing

Before I arrived at the Hopkins Nanjing Center, I didn’t really know what my life would look like in Nanjing outside of the graduate level classes taught in Chinese. I knew that I would live on campus with a Chinese roommate  presumably eat a mix of food from the onsite cafeteria and outside restaurants, and likely spend a bit of time exploring the city and beyond. There were things that I never expected to join in with, and chief among them was dancing to catchy Latin songs at the Nanjing University track alongside retirees, students and young kids.

A typical scene mid-dance

Allow me to explain. Via a WeChat group (because how else would anything be coordinated in China, ever) a handful of Zumba enthusiasts alerted an audience of 200 or so Nanjing-based WeChat users to when and where a gathering of Zumba dancing would take place: usually Wednesday and Sunday afternoons at the Nanjing University track (which is a convenient 5 minute walk from the Hopkins Nanjing Center). Once there, a diverse crowd assembles: retired Chinese ladies clad in tracksuits, glam young women with shiny ponytails, a few athletic young men, the odd bumbling father and an assortment of spectators usually toting babies and toddlers swaddled in thick puffer jackets, regardless of the weather. The large boom box style speaker would be rolled up, Latin beats blasting. The young Zumba devotees with tens of dances memorized would begin trotting through the fast-paced shimmies, lunges, hip swings and claps that form a typical Zumba song. Between songs, dancers would have just enough time to exchange pleasantries, complain about the cold or the heat, or laughingly despair at their tiredness from keeping up with the speedy dance routines.

Zumba was a great experience for many reasons: it was an aerobic workout (you’ll never forget your first time – way more jumping and leaping than you’d ever experience in an ordinary two-hour period), a source of fun and enjoyment and a great opportunity to engage in the wider community. My HNC friends and I used to go out for dinner regularly with our Zumba friends following the sessions. Our dinners at nearby Nanjing restaurants provided opportunities for fun conversations in Chinese, new dishes to try and friendships formed. When we went to our final Zumba session, we were granted the honor of dancing on the upper platform which was where the Zumba leaders stood. We took a lot of photos, hugged a lot of dear friends, cried a little and went out for a fantastic final meal.

A group photo from our last session

I tell the story of Zumba not to encourage you to join it (though any new HNC students are eagerly urged to do so, and please say hi from me to the Zumba regulars!) but to remind students of the exciting possibilities that await them in the outer Nanjing community. Such activities for my fellow classmates during my time included singing in church choirs, playing in women’s rugby teams and volunteering in the community. At the start of the semester Co-Director Davies urged us to get to know Nanjing over the course of the year, and of course, a vitally important part of a city is its people. I was delighted to have the chance to form friendships with some wonderful Nanjing dwellers through my Zumba dancing, and I hope my experience can be a reminder of the very unexpected but marvelous things that can be (literally) just around the corner during your time at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.



Written by Anna Woods, Certificate/SAIS MA '18