During the past eight weeks, I worked as an Accounting intern in the Financial Services department of an international insurance company in Hong Kong. I got the chance to know how corporate finance, as one of the accounting and finance jobs, is like and briefly know how financial departments operate.
I think not only the understanding of myself, but my view of the world changed as my internship passed.
For myself, I know more and specifically what role I play when working with teams, as well as my shortages. I see how my lack of networking skill might negatively influence my career in the future. But the good thing is, I kind of know what kind of job I may enjoy.
For the view of the world, it’s more about the view of choosing a lifelong career in nowadays’ society. I always thought that working was all about making a living, even if I didn’t like what I am doing, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Now I started to consider involving interest in making a career decision.
During the internship, I got a chance to work with a team in a real business environment. One of the tasks assigned was to redesign a KPI calculation worksheet to maximize the efficiency and readability of it with two other interns. That was the first time I worked with a real group in a working environment. The overall working environment in Hong Kong is very fast-paced, therefore I was required to find my role on our team quickly. I found out that even though I am not a good starter, I can be a great executor. Both of the other two team members knew each other before, so they basically communicated well and knew each other’s working styles. The pressure pushed me to make an adjustment and see my potential. Professionally, I discovered my role in a team and developed teamwork and communication skills.
I also attended events held by OSU Hong Kong Alumni Club, which allowed me to talk with graduates from various industries. Through talking to one of the alumni, I heard her story about how she found the career she loved and how her skill of networking led her to what she loved. That was really impressive and made me start to practice my networking skill.
The other story I heard was from one of my coworkers. She was once like me, thinking that working was all about making a living, but her assumption changed one year after she graduated. She got really high pay in her first job, but she didn’t have any personal life since she always needed to work overtime. The most impressive thing she told me that was no matter what you were doing, you needed to have your own interests and time to do what you like, or even you got high pay, you’ll start to hate what you were doing gradually. That kind of changed how I saw career.
All of those transformations and developments were valuable for my life since I know more about myself through them. I still remember one of the alumni told us that never made a big final decision when you were young because you never knew what would happen in the future. That was really true. I always tried to find out what I would like to do as my lifelong career before that, but now I tend to experience various possible choices. Career, for me, was just a job before, but now it could be something I enjoy. Thinking like this, I find myself more enthusiastic about my professional plan in the future. Moreover, I now have clearer academic and professional goals. I really appreciate this experience.
