Mathematics and Career Planning Questions - Admission/Application Essay Example

Sur Supervisor Mathematics and Career Planning Questions Please describe your short term (3 year) career goals. Answer After finishing my MSc Finance, if I could get the opportunity I would like to work in the UK for a brief period and then would like to migrate to China where I wish to develop my career. I would also like to do CFA to broaden my scope. I am choosing China for my career growth instead of my home country Malaysia because the Chinese economy is developing at the rate of over 8 percent consistently, and it will provide me with a plethora of opportunities there. With so much investment coming into China, the banking industry will grow at an astounding rate and so will the credit risk of the banking sector. Credit risk assessment will always be crucial as banks will have increasing stakes in medium and small enterprises. As a short-term career goal after having a brief stint in the company in the UK, I would like to begin my career with a commercial bank in China focusing on risk management, particularly credit risks associated with small and medium enterprises in China. My understanding and knowledge of finance that I will gain in my MSc Finance course will come handy during my job. 2. Please outline the challenges you think you will face in achieving these short term career goals and how you will overcome them? Answer Challenges are various and numerous while pursuing short-term career goals. First of all, I must secure admission in the MSc Finance course. This is very essential, without which I cannot proceed further for my dream job. While securing admission in the MSc Finance is the first step, equally crucial is to exploit the opportunity granted to me so that I have a good grasp of the financial theories that I come across during the course. I am aware that my understanding related to financial theories must be reflected in my grades as well; it will help me get a good job in a reputed banking company. The financial sector in general and the banking industry in particular are passing through tough times across most parts of the world, and that will pose a big challenge to me to find a good job in the UK for a brief period so as to have firsthand experience of working systems in a developed country. Based on my first job in the UK, the next challenging task will be to find a job in China in a reputed foreign bank in the desired field; however, I am pretty sure to overcome these challenges successfully. 3. Please describe your long term career goals or, if these are not clear, please outline the roles and industry sectors that are of particular interest to you and why. Answer Finance plays a pivotal role in running any organization; that is what I know from my school days. Firms grow and progress year after year – so far and so long as they fulfill the objective of making money; however, I have seen that even the best firms fail in their endeavour to make money despite their years of expertise and knowledge. Chrysler, Jaguar or General Motors are the glaring examples of this phenomenon. When two of the large organizations succumb to the market pressures, then, in a bid to survive, they have no option but to merge with each other. Alternatively, one of the organizations acquires the other so that they have to spend less in their operations, and survival becomes possible. The acquisition of BSkyB by News Corp in the UK can be described in this category as both of them were losing money. With competition becoming intense in the international markets, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become a necessity. I would like to shape up my long-term career in M&A. As the Chinese market matures over time, M&A business will increase manifold. My long-term goal will be to become an M&A expert serving in the large organization and conducting such deals nationally and internationally. 4. What skills do you think are important in the career that interests you, how would you demonstrate that you have been developing these skills so far? Answer Currently, employers look at many kinds of skills while hiring a candidate for their organisation. Apart from having a proficiency in the main functional area for which the employer is hiring a candidate, they also look for a good command of English. They also wish that the candidate possesses a good written and verbal communication skill, adapts to new roles quickly and believes in teamwork. I have been debating quite often during my school years and thereafter on a variety of subjects, which has helped me to improve my verbal expressions to a great extent. As and when I get an opportunity to attend a seminar or a workshop that can help me improve my verbal and written skills, I will never miss the opportunity. Analytical skills are necessary for any finance job as plenty of raw data are generated from several quarters and often they lead to a great confusion. One needs to discard unrelated and unimportant data while working on the subject, and concentrate purely on the related information so that one can focus on the core issue. At times, tens of pages of raw data can be crystallized in a single page and that is needed to arrive at the correct solution of the problem. For this, it is essential that one be well versed in running programmes in spreadsheets for critical and meaningful analysis so that a clear solution to the issue is arrived at. Moreover, a good understanding of statistical tools and its application can help a lot while arriving at a final solution. I have been focusing on developing these skills since my school years and have often demonstrated these skills in many competitions from time to time. In future, too, I am quite confident to apply them as and when opportunities arise. Read More