On the evening of November 13, Career Competencies Center and A Better Community held an online recruitment seminar, inviting guest speakers to share their viewpoints on the possibilities of science and engineering students engaging in the consulting industry, which broadened the students' understandings for future career planning. More than 50 students participated in this event, both online and offline.

Guest Speaker: Shi Yuan

2020 ABC Fall Project Manager

Consultant, McKinsey & Company

Master's degree in Computer Science from Yale University

Bachelor degree in Computer science, Tongji University

Entering the workplace without fear of failure

Shi yuan shared that it was crucial to learn professional knowledge in college. Still,  the cultivation of comprehensive ability was equally important, which determined the upper limit of personal development. Students could train themselves consciously through various ways, such as improving work efficiency in "catching up with DDL," ensuring to submit all kinds of materials on time, training communication skills, and dealing with emergencies during group work. "We should be a prepared person." and it was precisely what the saying goes, "The Great Roc fries with the wind in someday, soaring upwards for ninety thousand miles.”

"Sending out your resume without thinking you may fail." Shi Yuan suggested that GTers should build up relationships with the industries as early as possible. "Don't worry about rejection or even poor performance in the internship." In his opinion, students should not be limited to their work during the internship. They should be exploring their perspectives and have a more comprehensive understanding of various project processes, which would be helpful for them to determine their further directions earlier.

Guest Speaker: Yang Tao

2021 ABC Summer Project Manager

Consultant in BCG Boston Consulting

MBA, University of California, Berkeley

B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

The development of fast learning ability

Yang Tao introduced to the students how science and engineering students could enter the consulting industry. In his opinion, the significance of consulting lied in providing advice to customers and changing their decisions. Science and engineering students exercised their structured expression ability through physics and mathematics, which was conducive to convincing customers with logic. However, practical works were different from learning the knowledge of natural science. It could be flexible and uncertainty, and sometimes there may also be no standard answers to it. Therefore, science and engineering students should adjust their ways of thinking in time to make the most favorable decision in the situation of high risk.

Yang Tao said that the cultivation of fast learning ability, communication ability, and structural expression ability were beneficial to improve their competitiveness. From his point of view, science and engineering students had the theoretical knowledge as well as the natural advantages in mastering other subjects quickly. He advised students to remain curious and to learn more about various industries actively, expanding their views and accumulating experience.

In the Q & A section, two guests also answered the question of the expectations and requirements of enterprises from graduates. Yang Tao suggested that the most important things for a freshman were the capability of independent problem solving, strong learning ability, and teamwork. According to Shi Yuan, companies might prefer graduates to be aggressive, self-driven, and teachable, but expressing themselves too much could backfire for newcomers. They encouraged students to learn more, accumulate experience, and broaden their views to discover their strengths.

The success of this event reflected the support of GTIIT to stimulate students' various possibilities and its diversified education. Moreover, it fully demonstrated the education characteristics and social responsibility of an international university. In the coming future, GTers will undoubtedly contribute to creating a better society by their power.