May 9, 2020
On May 9th, the Office of Graduate Admissions held the second Career Development Center (CDC) series webinar. Hao Guo, Associate Director of NYU Shanghai CDC, and Peng Peng, Senior Manager for Graduate Business of NYU Shanghai CDC, joined the event and introduced the CDC services and resources in the MS programs to the audience in a detailed manner. Please read below for the webinar recap:
What Services and Resources Can CDC Provide?
Hao Guo:
CDC aims to provide comprehensive career guidance to the student body. The CDC collaborates with employers, alumni, and organizations to provide a range of resources and opportunities for students to achieve personal and professional success.
Among all services, the One-on-One Career Coaching is definitely the most highlighted one. It is very individualized. Students with doubts and queries about different topics, such as goal setting, mock interviews, job research strategy, can book a 30 minutes meeting with CDC and fine-tune their job hunting skills accordingly.
Once the students join the programs this year, they will be provided with at least three rounds of coaching services. The first round starts in June before the summer term, and students will revise their resume, design their career plans, and know their career competency with the assistance of CDC. The second round in August focuses on job search strategy and networking strategy. The third round will be held at NYU Stern in March, students will be taught the spring job search strategy and get prepared for life beyond Century Avenue.
The CDC also has weekly walk-in hours open to all admitted students for Class of 2021, which allows our incoming students to quickly check and review the resume.
Peng Peng:
I will then introduce the two main functions that CDC has: The first function is the Career-Readiness Development Program (CRDP). It is specialized for master students to enhance their confidence and industrial knowledge through a range of workshops; covering topics like resume & career writing, career exploration, networking, interview skills, case studies interviews, etc.
The second is the DABC & QF Career Day for students. CDC will invite 18 guest speakers from 9 industries to network with students and share insights. The career days will not only enable students to gain industrial knowledge, but also enhance their networking skills.
Besides, our students usually show great interest in the Career Fairs. For the Class of 2021, you will attend three Career Fairs in the one-year study: two will be held at NYU Shanghai campus in September and March; and the last one will be the Winter Career Fair organized by the American Universities’ China Association in Shanghai. You will have the opportunity to meet with hundreds of employers from various industries through our career fairs and explore your career path in the China and Asia region.
Students can also utilize many platforms and resources online. The Handshake platform and the Resume Book are of great importance. Handshake platform is used for career events, the coaching services booking and the job resources. Students can utilize resources shared by NYU campuses to achieve their career goals. The resume book enables many students to get direct connections in the recruiting seasons with employers who are interested in their profiles. CDC will share the resume book of MSDABC and MSQF classes to the potential employers and increase the exposure of your resume.
On-Campus Recruitment and Company Visit
Last year, CDC held more than 30 sessions of On-campus Recruitment Program (OCR) to connect our students with the industry. Many prestigious corporations like Trip.Com, AlphaSights, S&P Global are interested in students of MS Programs, and we actively invited employers to communicate with students and share their insights. Moreover, the Company Visit enjoyed great popularity in the last cohort. These recruitment-oriented visits helped students to understand better about the corporate culture, recruiting information, industrial knowledge and build closer connections with the HR department.
Mentorship and Alumni Events
Our Mentorship program not only helps students to master industrial knowledge, but also offers them professional guidance for their career paths. Especially the Jun Lin Mentorship Program, delivered by Jun Lin, who has more than 30 years experience in the financial industry.
Considering the great number of NYU alumni community, especially in Asia, NYU Shanghai also holds Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series regularly, which invite alumni from finance, consulting, etc to share their insights and connect with the current students.
Career Resources
After joining the programs in June, students will be given access to Career Leader and CliftonStrengths to explore their motivations, career interests as well as their strengths. CDC will also purchase Vmock to proofread students’ resumes so as to meet the expectations of the employers. For market research and Industry news, Vault, NYU libraries, Caixin, Financial Times and Bloomberg can greatly support our students to investigate the career prospects. Besides, students in our MS programs will also have the access to different career exploration platform such as GoinGlobal, TECHNASIA, CASECOACH, biginterview and inLEARNING, these resources all contribute to students’ improvement.
Industry Distribution
First and the foremost, the statistics of industry distribution collected from the majority of students in Class of 2020 suggested the possible job options for our incoming class. Though the CDC focus might be Accounting Service, consulting, or internet/technology, students are still encouraged to explore more positions. Besides, many notable companies such as DISCOVER, CHINA LIFE, JDD, Bank of China have been working closely with NYU Shanghai students and are willing to offer full-time jobs to them. As for the job market, CDC provides the map of many industries and sub-industries associated with the MS Programs to assist students with preparing for the market research and career interests exploration.
How to prepare for the Job Search Prior to the Program?
Hao Guo:
I am sure a lot of you are aware of the importance of the critical competencies during your job hunting process. Here are eight competencies that employers are looking for from our candidates:
critical thinking/problem solving, oral/written communications, teamwork/collaboration, digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management and global/intercultural fluency.
Among them, the purple ones are the top competencies employers seek from NYU and NYU Shanghai students. It’s clear that the NYU students are extremely strong in communications (both oral and written in both English and Chinese).
For digital technology, it is not only about technology skills, but also technology sets. The global/intercultural fluency is another skill employees need to equip themselves for the future market.
According to some employer research, employers all wish that students can think about career management as early as possible, probably prior to the start of your graduate study.
What is Career Management?
- Articulate one’s skill, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to the position desired and career goals - Polish your resume
To begin with your resume writing, you need to understand the value you bring to an employer, and then reflect it on the key talents, skills, accomplishments, and experiences. For fresh graduates, the key will be to highlight your extracurricular activities and academic project on your resume.
- Identify areas necessary for professional growth and able to navigate and explore job options - Market research
There are a lot of platforms for you to navigate market information, such as Vault, Caixin, Financial Times and Bloomberg terminals. We also have a CDC booklist here for you to better understand the market.
In terms of the fall recruitment process, if you want to apply for a job in investment banking, big four, internet and technology industries, we would highly recommend you start polishing your resume from now.
During the COVID-19 period, a lot of companies have readjusted their recruitment timeline, but in the Asia-pacific market, we did not see a huge change from the employer side in that respect. If you are on campus, CDC will walk you through every step and you are always welcome to talk to us about your career plan.
Q & A
Is it possible to work as an intern while studying in NYU Shanghai?
It depends. Students have different schedules and employers require different office hours for their internship. We do have students from the first cohort doing internships, and it’s totally doable. But your classwork is still the top priority. My suggestion is, take your class, interact with faculty members, do market research and then prepare your application for fall recruitment. If you have time, you may have an internship in late November or in winter time. You may also register for the CDC consultation hours to talk about your plan and we will provide suggestions on a case by case basis.