Today in our Alumni Stories section, Xiao, who graduated in Finance in 2015, describes herself as a formal, organised, hard-working person. These qualities, together with her attitude, education and international experience, have led her to develop a stellar professional career.
She is now working as a financial controller for a business group in the technology, renewable energy and consumer services industry. Her work centres around data collection, forecasting and reporting.
In 2020, Covid represented a real challenge in terms of adapting to a changing, unpredictable reality. Xiao remembers a call she received one Friday afternoon just before lockdown, where she was required to work all weekend preparing a report adapted to the new situation: “We had to work the entire weekend”. We are also told in Alumni Stories how Xiao graduated in Finance and how her university experience helped her to succeed.
Xiao, who was born in China, has lived in Barcelona and London. She hasn’t ruled out leaving again to gain new work experience within the business group where she works. “Short stays”, she says, “6 months to a year”. And when the current situation allows, she’ll go to China and use up those tickets she had already bought.
When we asked her why she chose UE, her answer was clear: “I wanted a personalised education in small groups”. She also values the level of internationalisation and the possibility of study periods abroad. She is well aware that the education she received thanks to UE at the London School of Economics is highly valuable for her CV, and she recognises that it was a truly enriching personal and professional experience.
When we asked her about her memories at UE, she told us very affectionately about a trip to Toledo with a group of Erasmus students, where they had a great time getting to know the city. She also confessed how much she misses the wonderful visits to the lake.
To complete our interview, she gave us some advice for the Alumni who have just graduated and are now facing the job search: “You have to be well-prepared for interviews”, and for that she recommends attending the career guidance workshops offered by UE. She concludes that “so long as we have a positive attitude, there is always an opportunity for people who are prepared”.