I always prefer the word "career" to "job" - career means not just the tasks you do on a daily basis, but also the attitude and belief involved as well as the impact you bring that make your job a profession. My personal view towards career is that my career should be a combination of interesting experience, diverse and rewarding learning as well as the opportunity to make a difference. Monitor fulfils them all.

Job-hunting is a two-way selection process, and what make our consultants fulfil Monitor's requirement include flexibility and adaptability (in terms of work hours and geographical location), ability to contribute well as a good team player and communicator (since consultants all work in teams), as well as curiosity and desire for intellectual challenges (or else how we could help solve client problems?). You are extremely gifted and lucky if born with all the above qualities, and you should definitely put your talents to the best use. Nevertheless, if you weren't born with all these, do proactively look for opportunities to develop and polish yourself while you are still in school, and you would not regret it. Taking myself as an example, I seized the opportunity to spend one year in Los Angeles and worked in New York City for one summer while in college in order to maximize my international exposure. As for extracurricular activities, I was blessed enough to be elected as the Local Committee President of AIESEC, the world's largest student organization, and also took part in the University's debate team as the chief speaker. Each of these experiences helps polish my interpersonal/communication skills, project/time management, etc. and contribute to what I am now.

Before I joined Monitor I was with an airline's Management Trainee program. That 3-year rotational program was extremely interesting and rewarding: I got sent to various commercial and operational departments and hence was able to understand inside-out how different parts of an airline operate and coordinate. I also got to spend one year out of Hong Kong attaching to an outport. Moreover, because of my airline staff status back then, I was granted staff airfare of super value that made my travel to various exotic places on earth more than affordable. All these experiences were life-changing and I have always been grateful about what I went through. The thought about switching from corporate to consulting was inspired when I started pondering what I should pursue as a long-term career. Consulting appealed to me the most because it simply helps lay an excellent path ahead for whatever I would like to pursue in the future. Plus, how often do you get to work with the smartest people who constantly offer you stimulations and new insights?

People often ask "What is a typical day like for a strategy consultant?" I find it very difficult to answer this question, simply because everyday is so different for me - each new day is packed with unexpected challenges and interesting learning. Because of the day-to-day intellectual challenges, broad and diverse exposure, collaboration with the smartest people of similar vision and interaction with senior management personnel of clients, consultants at Monitor often possess developed hard and soft skills and are readily equipped to take up jobs of various kinds.