Business
Mentors: Ms Ivy Lam (Head of CEO’s Office) (Sogo Treasury Operations)
Camellia Cheng & Janice Cheng
On August 15-16, 2017, we were fortunate to undergo a job shadowing program at Sogo's Treasury Operations department. Under the mentorship of Miss Ivy Lam and Miss Jacqueline Wong, we had the precious opportunity to observe the Investment Manager’s day to day work, updating investment portfolio trends and keeping up-to-date with current market trends. The mentors used all sorts of lively examples to help us understand the theory behind managing portfolios. This helped to broaden our horizons and also widened our knowledge of investment products and finance.
Furthermore, the mentors were open in sharing with us their previous work experiences which helped us to better grasp business-related career paths. While observing the daily work of the investment manager, we appreciated the importance of being fully aware of market trends in a rapidly changing world through exposure to more business-related news.
To conclude, thanks to the school, we were given this valuable and memorable learning opportunity at Sogo which inspired us tremendously to be more aware of economic trends and investments.
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Mentor: Ms Ivy Lam (Sogo)
Janice Li
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On August 10th and 11th, 2017, I was given an opportunity to job shadow at Sogo Department Store to get a better understanding of the retailing business. Through this experience, I learnt a lot about the various departments within the store and how a supervisor manages his or her staff.
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Getting this practical exposure helped me understand the working environment in the real world. I developed a deeper appreciation of the importance of communication and leadership skills for leading a team and carrying out daily operations of a large department store. If a customer is dissatisfied with the level of service provided, then it is the supervisor who has to solve the problem as soon as possible. There may be times when work would become repetitive but I understood that it is important to follow the daily operations process to ensure smooth business running every day. I'm grateful for having been given this chance to experience Sogo Department Store's retail operations and this will definitely help me give direction to my future career choice.
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Mentor: Mr. Edward Jr. Ma (Executive Director, Asia Petrochemical Supplies)
Stephanie Chung, Jasleen Kaur Gill, Annika Wong, Lidia Leung, Mary Ko and Tiffany Yeung
On the 16th of August, six of us were given a valuable opportunity to shadow Mr. Edward Jr. Ma, Executive Director at Asia Petrochemical Supplies. This was a great learning experience for us as we got an insight to the practical side of working in an office and learnt about the different departments of the organization. Time spent in various departments was quite interesting as we gained some knowledge of accounting, contract execution and other technical areas. We also learnt what is it like to deal with businesses in the real world. Mr. Ma offered us lots of insightful details about the company including how his father had started the business, how the company earns its revenues from importing chemicals from America and re-selling these to China etc.
Mr. Ma emphasized that trust and interpersonal relationships are vital in order to succeed in the corporate world. While advising us on our further careers, Mr. Ma also stressed on entrepreneurial skills and imbibing that spirit to succeed. He also discussed job interview techniques and advised on how to make an impression in an interview.
From the observation of different functions of various departments and seeing their day-to-day operations, we now feel a keen interest in pursuing a career in the field of business. It was a valuable experience to shadow Mr. Ma. His expertise in the field of business and willingness to share his experience benefitted all of us. Furthermore, his sharing of his life experience as a student and then as a businessman, helped us to better understand the future choices we will need to make. We deeply appreciate our school for giving us this amazing learning opportunity.
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Mentor: Ms Rendy Ng (Director, Chief Gemologist and Diamond Investment Consultant, Bee’s Diamand)
Kaelynn Mak & Camille Lau
Trying to make the most out of three days (22-25 August, 2017) of job shadowing experience and learning new things wasn’t easy. Working at Bee’s Diamonds was definitely a rewarding experience. Not only were we able to apply our accounting knowledge and gain practical experience at book-keeping when assisting the accountant, we also got to know more about a possible career that we may pursue in the future. We learnt about how different departments help in the daily running of the company. For example, Accountants who are in charge of preparing financial statements will pass on the financials to the internal auditors for inspection. We also had the opportunity to sit in meetings and observe how people made decisions and communicated in a business setting. This made us understand and appreciate the importance of communication in daily business dealings. Furthermore, we also realized how important it was to be able to adapt business operations in dynamic and constantly changing market conditions. We, as students, also must also learn to adapt, engaging in active learning and being prepared to grasp every possible opportunity in future.
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