The Nanyan Observer

Pursuing a Career 

For international students and domestic students alike, the career potential with a PKU degree is limitless. But that does not mean navigating career development is ever easy—especially amid a global pandemic. 

International students of PKU Shenzhen represent over 40 different countries and make up a small but significant part of our community. 

Since most are still in their home country, they risk missing out on the exposure to the Chinese job market and first-hand experience they would get as students on campus.

ISU & PHBS Pave the Way

In response to this difficulty, the International Student Union (ISU) and Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) have organized the International Business Fair (IBF) 2021!

The activities will last for one month from March 24 to April 24, providing numerous growth and collaboration opportunities for over 100 qualified students and industry professionals. 

Participating companies include BMW, Bank of China, OPPO, MarsCrowd, ZTE etc. Moreover, professionals will give speeches and consultations about career growth strategy and international work experiences. 

The main event of the business fair was held on March 24. President of the ISU, Brandon Stefano (2nd-year Management), hosted a huge online webinar with many special guests.

Hearing from the Speakers

The first speaker was PHBS’s assistant dean for international affairs Professor Park Joon Young. He thanked ISU members for organizing this platform to directly address the issues students might have finding jobs in China and other places.

Next, Jackson Collantes, former president of the ISU from 2019-2020 and now an Analytics Specialist in MarsCrowd, a quality multilingual data provider for machine learning projects, answered questions about working in a Chinese company.

In terms of job hunting, besides LinkedIn, Jackson recommended local Chinese platforms. He recommended that students be aware of what companies might hire foreigners and not waste time with companies where there would be no opportunities. In terms of a work visa, a few documents must be prepared, for example, criminal record issued by your home country, insurance, social security and so on. The whole procedure may cost you around 4 months to transfer your student visa to a work visa, he said.

Then, prominent companies were invited to present and talk about their employment plans for 2021. Guest companies included: Bank of China, Outform, Dorabot, Santa Rita Estates, Beeznests Connection, MarsCrowd, East Meets West Fine Wines and OPPO.

Zhao Yang, HR Manager at Bank of China (BOC) Luxembourg, responsible for the EU as well, shared information on job and internship positions for PHBS students and the details are updated on the IBF webpage. For these vacancies, Chinese speaking skills are not mandatory but preferred.

Next, students learned about Chile-based Santa Rita Estates, from the company’s employee Shelley Xu. Santa Rita Estates is the best-selling wine brand in Chile. Ms. Xu talked about the open positions of project assistant in China commercial teams and potential European positions. 

Outform, is an international retail sales company that gives end-to-end retail solutions for famous brands. Project Operations Manager, Ryan Schock, helped students understand where they might fit in at the company. The Shenzhen office mainly focuses on designing, manufacturing and displaying retail stores for electronic goods. Currently, the Chinese offices have positions for project manager, operation specialist, hardware engineer, QA manager and Engineering Director.

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Dorabot, a Chinese “unicorn” company that provides AI smart solutions for a better supply chain, is hiring strategic assistants who have business backgrounds. HRM Crystal Chen introduced the company and even mentioned that they recently had an international student intern from PKU Shenzhen and are looking forward to working with more in the future.

Beeznests Connection, a student freelance platform, also welcomed students to join their projects, work as interns or find a mentor on their platform. They have made a special arrangement for the International Business Fair to allow free access and special opportunities for students.

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MarsCrowd is an artificial intelligence firm that provides machine learning services. Vivian Mao, from MarsCrowd’s HR department, confirmed available positions for data analysts, AI solution engineers and international sales.

Then, Shanghai-based EMW Wines, also known as East Meets West Fine Wines, was introduced by Laura Chen. EMW Wines is a leading fine wine, sake and spirits importer. Ms. Chen introduced the company’s business, product portfolio and vacancies.

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Lastly, HR Specialist Ramona Theis gave a presentation on OPPO and opportunities available at OPPO France and OPPO Germany. 

Founded in 2004, OPPO has become a leading smartphone brand in China and the #4 smartphone brand globally. OPPO is recruiting international talents massively, including but not limited to internships in sales, digital marketing, finance, GBS, GTM, HR, Legal and Marketing. Also, full-time job opportunities include project manager, warehouse manager, supervisor and go-to-market project manager.

This is the first time the ISU has set up a website and hosted an international business fair online. Although there have been constraints during the pandemic, the new form brings new opportunities as well.

    In the following weeks, more companies will participate. More information is available at the IBF’s website: https://phbs-ibf-2021.yolasite.com/

Written by Miko Jiang

Photos by Miko Jiang and Lorenzo Perazzitti