I studied a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting at the University of Otago from 2011-2013.
On graduating from Otago’s School of Business last year, I moved back to China to start an internship in an Australian bank based in Shanghai.
I soon realised that there are so many opportunities in this ever fast-paced city and with my business degree, I had the confidence to take on an even more challenging career.
For about half a year now I have been working in one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai as a consultant.
I deal with many senior people in Fortune 500 companies in terms of human strategy advisory etc.
I realised what Otago has given me is not just a career, but attitude and lifestyle.
To be honest, job training can pretty much give you the abilities and skills to do the job well. However, attitude can never be trained. I benefited so much from the typical Otago ‘down to earth’ attitude and this has been really helpful in my current role.
I felt reverse culture shock when I went back to Shanghai.
The way people do business and the lifestyle is just so different to New Zealand. I just had to learn to adjust myself, especially in a big city where there are so many talented people and so much competition.
That’s where the Otago lifestyle comes to play: Be positive, exercise every day, smile a lot etc.
The simple things can make such a difference.
To sum it all up! The soft skills I learnt in Otago definitely helped me a lot in my consulting career and daily life. So maximise every minute you have in Otago or whatever university you’re studying at!
Between you and me, I miss the snowboarding in QT!
