T. LU - YCC consultant
学员背景：MSc Management with Business Finance
公司信息: 咨询公司YCC, consultant 岗位，Graduate Scheme
大家好，我上个星期刚刚收到一个咨询公司的offer，是我一直很想进的公司。我大概分享下，我觉得对大家求职有用的建议。
1) 多参加实践活动，提高软技能 我先说一下，为什么我说软技能一定要提高。
首先，不得不承认，中国学生这方面确实表现得不是很好，也得到很多英国人的嫌弃，尤其是在和外国同学一起做group work的时候，真的不好融入，不好体现你的存在感，不好表述想法。我自己也常常会有这种感觉。
所以怎么提高呢？
无论你在英国的哪个大学，一定每个星期有来自不同大小公司的career network活动。别犹豫: 参加！多接触这类活动，慢慢积累，这些都是在你求职当中非常有用的。比如说你对“四大”感兴趣，他们来做network event的时候，你就把所有的疑问都问了。就算你没有问题，听其他旁边别的求职学生问问题，对你也有帮助，没准哪个你以后就用上了呢。
还有就是很多学校都有不同学生组织的societies。根据你个人职业追求，参加一些相对来说有关联的society，因为他们有很多是和不同公司有sponsorship的，他们请来你的学长学姐来分享他们当时是怎么拿到毕业offer的。还有的公司会定期给society members一些mock interviews and AC练习，这种一般只针对这个society的members，所以你是成员，你就有福利来拿了，没报名，你连有什么活动都不知道。所以建议大家加入这些社团。还有另外一些学校，有学生组织的非盈利公司，有的是会计，财管公司，有的是咨询公司等等，也推荐大家报名参加，即使有的时候申请这类型的公司会相对难一些，而且竞争很激烈，但是还是你能申请到就加入他们。因为他们很多都是非常专业的。我认识的一个英国学生，他在一个这种学生经营的非营利公司工作两年了，曾经在McKinney management consultancy firm实习过，还有个同学在这个非盈利公司工作的也曾经在Deloitte实习过。所以说他们多多少少都是很专业的。和他们一起工作绝对会帮助你提早适应英国人的工作环境，而且你会学到很多，成长很快。
2) Network LinkedIn 是我觉得非常好用的一个平台。我想MC的老师们也在你的第一堂课告诉你了。是真的好用。你想申请哪个公司，就上LinkedIn去找学长学姐们，问问他们是怎么得到的offer还有就是公司的内部信息，这些东西你是很难再网上找到的，多问问他们，一定会有帮助。尽管有时候，不是所有人都愿意回答你，所以人家不回答你也没关系，我们再问其他学姐学长。
再一个就是我上面说的，公司的network也是很好机会去建立你的社交圈。
每次event肯定有个做presentation的人吧，他/她大多数都会告诉你他/她的名字，得到名字之后怎么办呢？加LinkedIn啊！我的意思说，如果你对他/她在的公司感兴趣，想了解更多，一定加他们。公司人员一般都会热情回答你的求职问题的，所以不懂就问！
3) 听导师的话，多做些准备和练习 通常当你收到面试或者AC邀请的时候，你肯定想马上跟Mandarin consulting预订一个导师辅导课程，之后你会收到一些文件，让你在上课之前做一些相关的准备。所以，要听话啊！我觉得这些准备大促进了Coaching session的有效性。还有就是，MC的interview培训的老师，都非常得负责任，他们都会很耐心的和你一个问题一个问题练习，或对你的真实interview很有帮助。最重要的还是，你自己要用心的、努力的多练习。师傅领进门，修行在个人。你不努力，老师再怎么专业也没有用，所以我觉得练习直接关系到你的真实interview的自信心。你练的很熟，回答时候自然很自信，从而给interviewers很好的印象，印象好了，你成功走到下一步的几率就特别大。
4) 不在乎结果，只在乎过程 为什么我这么说呢？因为我觉得对于中国学生在英国找工作其实真的不是那么容易的。大家都是同道中人，都知道，我们在这个过程中会遇到很多困难。其实不是只有你这么难找到工作，英国毕业生也一样。我有个英国朋友和我说，他去年这个时候每天早上8点起来，弄一杯咖啡，就开始坐在电脑面前不断地做research、做申请、准备材料、自己练，有的公司走到online tests，有的走到interview，有的走到AC，最终拿到了一家金融公司的offer。所以说，不是你难，大家都难，更何况我们国际学生呢！所以我觉得最终拿到一个offer真的很多元素决定着，找工作，机遇真的很重要!即使最后你没有在签证到期前拿到工作offer，这也不能代表什么，或许你在中国会有更好发展。所以尽量努力投公司，找工作，能拿到英国工作offer最好，没有其实你在过程中学到的已经很多了！我个人觉得这份经历更重要！
在这我引用一句话：有志者，事竟成，破釜沉舟，百二秦关终属楚，苦心人，天不负，卧薪尝胆，三千越甲可吞吴！
Hope you guys all the best!
Advice to other York students trying to find a job in the UK Name: Tiffany
Nationality: Chinese
Course and dates: MSc Management and Business Finance at York University
Offer from: Consultancy Company
I am the same as you – one of the graduate job-hunters. Recently, however, I managed to get an offer from a student run Consultancy Company. This is not a graduate job offer but I am really proud to work for them and the competition was fierce (4 out of 90 students). I would like share with you my personal experience of reaching the final hurdle – a job offer!
First of all, your application, your CV and your covering letter are the key to letting you move onto the next step. You might be really good at interviews, ACs or even doing business in a real life environment, but if you can’t even get through the first “filter”, there is no opportunity for you to prove yourself. Therefore, when I applied for the consultant role, I did research about the firm and the day to day role that I had applied for. I used my network to talk with people who had worked for them and got a insight into the firm and the role; information you could not find out from their website. Mostly importantly, when I was completing the online application form, I fully illustrated my passion for this role and desire to work for them.
Secondly, moving on to getting your interview invitation (face-to-face/telephone, etc.), you should do further and deeper research about the company compared with the time when you were trying to complete your online application. Now, you should book an interview coaching session with Mandarin Consulting (MC) ASAP, as MC has experienced experts there to support you. Do use this service as it does help! I still remember when I was in the interview having to show knowledge about the project that I would take on. I knew exactly which were its competitors and our firm’s competitive advantages and weaknesses, which my MC Coach made sure I had looked up beforehand. When I confidently explained my answers to the interviewers, they were really impressed by my background knowledge. The recommendation here is DO RESEARCH based on the questions provided by MC and definitely PRACTISE WITH your personal MC Coach!
Finally, during the interview, being confident is key since there are so many of your rivals who might be much more experienced than you. As you have already rehearsed the interview questions with MC, you should believe that you will stand out. You might face a few questions that you did not practise with MC, so you need to stay flexible to utilise your examples fully. The STAR model is a good framework because I believe most of Chinese students may not logically demonstrate their ideas that well in English, so using this model will help you a lot.
These are some of my personal tips for all the graduate job-hunters out there!
I hope they help and best of luck to all of you