Imagine yourself as a young professional—confident, energetic and eager to shoulder responsibilities that will help your clients, both in China and abroad, determining and implementing strategies which are essential to their growth. Imagine yourself flying to different cities in Southeast Asia, working with colleagues of different nationalities, meeting with high-level corporate management teams or government officials, getting exposure to different industries. Imagine yourself transferring to work in Los Angeles from Shanghai, having a heated team brainstorm session in an ocean front conference room, with a long white beach and the crystal-clear Pacific Ocean lying right in front of your eyes. This must sound like a fairly exciting story, but it's exactly what I have experienced as a consultant with Monitor Group.

When I graduated from London School of Economics with a Master's degree in Management, I wasn't really sure what industry I wanted to get into. But I knew what I wanted to get out of my first professional work experience: insights into a range of business issues, the opportunity to explore different industries, to work with a group of talented people, and a chance to try a lot of different things. I decided on consulting and Monitor Group in particular, because I was impressed by its flexibility of conducting recruiting interviews across global offices for the recruitment of a particular office in China, the high calibre of its clients, the exposure and the diversified growth opportunities that Monitor gives its associates as a global firm and group company, and the genuine friendliness and generosity of the people.

Two years of consulting experience with the China offices has endowed me with strong basic consulting trade skills, solid knowledge of Monitor IP methodologies, diversified industry experiences, and enhanced business senses. It seems like I have got what I was longing for upon graduation from college, but what career path would be the best for me is the question I've been asking myself for a long time. Personally, I am the kind of person who values and welcomes culture and social diversification and exploration. I would go for any opportunity which could fulfil my desire to diversify my experience, both professionally and personally. That's why when a chance to transfer appeared; I grasped it without any hesitation.

In such a mature market as the US, I do have more opportunities to diversify my case experiences and to meet with Monitor Gurus. However, I have met with some difficulties as well. We all know that a nice presentation and good client management skills are the essential ingredients for a successful consultant, but language barriers and culture differences sometimes made it hard for me to be very confident before a client, not even mentioning the nice presentation. Besides, the project management style and working environment are very different from those in China, which took me quite some time to get used to. After one year's hard work, I have gradually established my credibility both within the circle of co-workers in the US and with the local clients. Now I feel much more natural when I speak up in case team discussions or client meetings; I feel confident enough to take on more roles and responsibilities inside the team.

I am very thankful that Monitor has made my past 3 years of consulting so unique, exciting, and memorable.