Transcript

My name is Jacky Leung, I'm born and raised in Hong Kong, I studied economics and I graduated in 2006.

I’m currently a managing director at Goldman Sachs, focusing on the telecoms, media and technology investment banking.

I've been in banking for 16 years. I started preparing by attending a lot of internships both in Hong Kong and also in the UK. My first graduate role is with ABN AMRO in the United Kingdom and it was through a lot of preparation during the university life - I was the president of Hong Kong society, I went to Tanzania for volunteering - and all that, together with my internship experience and my academic capability landed me for a graduate role at the UK.

So I think we need a very versatile and diverse background in order to succeed in the current society and environment, and during my university study I've prepared myself for a very diverse and broad experience. I was the president of the Warwick Hong Kong society and that equipped me with my skills to present, to connect, and to bring different people or various stakeholders together. I was a volunteer in Tanzania for three months, focusing on coaching local people English and also doing HIV prevention work, and that actually helps bringing a diverse background and also building a purpose for life. And finally I've done a lot of internships during my university. I've done two internships in Hong Kong with MTR and KCR respectively, and I've also done an internship in Luton in the UK with Ernst and Young, and all that prepared myself just from a pure academic angle into someone that has some life and colour to it and also have some working experience before getting on to the first graduate role with ABN AMRO.

That was a long time ago. I think job searching has always not been easy. To be honest I probably have sent or applied over hundreds of jobs before I landed on my current role. I think to get to your first role you need to prepare, you need to understand the employer, you need to research - talk to the ex or current employers of that company, and understand the corporate culture, what they're doing, what's its focus, what’s its future direction and strategic initiatives, and how you can add value to that organization. So that itself you need to prepare well before all the interviews, and secondly you need to prepare yourself a profile with all the right experience - from academic to extracurriculars, to also your personal presentation skills. So in a nutshell, preparation is a key to any job interviews or getting any graduate roles.