I am Fiona Wang MFIN class of 2013. I am now working at China Development Bank as an associate. It is a great honor to write this article for students who want to find a finance related job in China. I have been to the place of confusion, desperation and helplessness in this painful job-searching process so I am happy to share my little tips with you.
Tip 1: Find Out Your Interest.
This sentence may seem ridiculous to you, but trust me, it is actually very tricky to find the job that you really love and have passion for. Take me for example, my dream job used to be a financial analyst because I took the freeman report class as part of the MFIN program and it was so much fun as an sell-side analyst in that class. After graduation, I got the first job offer as an buy-side analyst with great working environment and good salary. After working for months, I realized that this position is not even close to what I imagined. As an analyst, I have to put 90% of my time in data mining and report writing and barely communicate to anyone other than the IRs from the companies that I covered. At that time, I realized that I actually want a job that I could meet a lot of clients and work with many co-workers. I am now working at the marketing and investment department of China Development Bank. Meeting many new people and facing different challenges every day keeps me excited and passionate at work. As a result, I strongly recommended you talked to alumni in different industries and positions and asked them about their daily work. It is much better to know the position thoroughly before you apply for it.
Tip 2: Participate Campus Recruiting Seminars
For students who want to find a job in Beijing or Shanghai, in the job searching period, I recommend you rent an apartment near the best universities (in finance) in that city, for example Fudan University in Shanghai. In the job hunting season (usually September to November), most of the top financial companies will hold recruiting seminars in those universities. In those seminars, you could communicate face to face with HR and top managers from those potential employers. Most importantly, many HRs will receive resumes in the seminars and put these resumes in priority. I once heard a friend helped a HR clean up the room after a recruiting seminar and got an interview opportunity later. Anyway, it is definitely a better shot if you could impress a HR in a face to face seminar compared with just applying online.
Tip 3: Don’t Say No to an Unpaid Internship
In the job searching period, many graduates only apply full-time jobs and overlook the importance of internship opportunities. Actually, there is an unspoken rule many people don’t realize is that many company never post full-time positions for graduates, especially buy-side companies. Many buy-side companies, such as the company I worked before, only recruit interns. After one or two months observation, they will provide full-time offers for the qualified ones. As a result, when you apply jobs, try some internship positions, especially for buy-side companies. Also, internships are great opportunities for students to know better of the certain industry.
At last, I really hope that all the Freeman graduates can find a great job. For students who plan to find job in China, I want to let you know that there is a big Freeman alumni community in China, if you have any questions in job searching or career path, you can always find some mentors in one or the other ways. For students who are know better about buy-side analyst or positions in China Development Bank, I am more than happy to talk to you. You can always email to me at xiaotongw0421@163.com.