Career Development plan

Reflective Analysis

Experienced, changed to targeted

At the beginning of my Drexel life, I did not know anything about majors and career. There were two reasons why I chose Marketing as my major when I was a freshman. The first reason is my hometown and my family. My hometown, Yiwu, is famous an international trade city in the world. There is a huge market in the city, attracting thousands of visitors and businessmen from all over the world. My parents also have a company and a store in this market. They do business with customers from more than 40 countries. From this city, marketing is like air, which I can breath all the time. Another reason is that I had an internship in a marketing department before went to Drexel. I learnt different cultures, contacted with foreigners and won their convince. In a month, I competed a contract worth $20,000 from a new Moroccan customer. I found many interesting things and learned a lot from this internship such as communication skills, marketing strategies, different cultures, so I chose to learn marketing in Drexel.

However, everything changed with my experience. When I took FIN301 in Drexel, I felt I love Finance more than Marketing. I get on better with data than too many words. I started to think about adding Finance major. In my sophomore summer vacation, I found another internship in a micro-loan department of a local bank. Because I am a marketing major and familiar with the local market, so I joined in this new department to do the market research. I have also taken a marketing research course in Drexel. That’s why this department chose me. I used what I learned in Drexel with my knowledge of the local market to design a scientific questionnaire. Our group did more than 10,000 questionnaires and got almost feedbacks. I have learned a lot I have not seen in the textbook or in the lecture. The marketing job was interesting with more marketing skills, but I saw other jobs about Finance in the bank. I talked with colleagues in other department and participated in what they were doing. I was sure I want to know more about Finance. At the mean time, I found the big data is the trend in the future. Like bank, they will more focus on the data collecting. Thus, I add other two majors—Finance, MIS at the beginning of my junior.

Every experience changed some of my mind in the past. When Senior year was coming, some of students began to preparing GRE or GMAT; some of them started their own business. I was confused with what was my career goal. By chance, I knew my classmate in Drexel was preparing the CFA exam. I searched some related information and talked with some advisors, professors and my parents. Finally, I found this exam was valuable to prepare. CFA is a professional credential offered internationally to investment and financial professionals. There are still not too many CFA charter holders in the world, especially in China. I think whether I chose to stay in America or come back to China, it will strengthen my resume. I do not want to pursue the master degree, because I think people who is the business major needs more job experience rather than lectures. I want to go to a top business school in America for MBA. Thus, after graduate, working in the United States for about 5 years before I go to MBA school is a good idea. If I took more than three years to prepare CFA exam, I will more prefer work in the investment bank in U.S. I did not want to waste my effort, so I must choose a job related Finance. Considering my parents, I want to come back to China, when I finish my MBA study. Hong Kong where the financial market is mature is a good choice for me.

These three years, I experienced a lot, changed my opinions and target my goal in the future. The two internship made me more rational, skillful, and professional. I will enhance my ability and rich my knowledge all the time to reach my career goal.