 Okay, hello and welcome. I'm joined by Flavia, who is joining the call from Hong Kong, but she's going to talk us through her journey since completing the Ampli summer internship program in 2021 to what she's doing today. So Flavia, how's it going? Hi Anthony, thanks so much for having me, first of all. And yeah, like Anthony said, my name is Flavia. I'm a third year at their university. I study Chinese studies. I'm currently in Hong Kong doing an internship at a boutique asset management company. I have secured an internship in IBD at JP Morgan. And yeah, I mean, like you said, I come from a bit of an unusual background, I do Chinese studies. So yeah, that's basically that's basically me. So I guess the first thing that jumps out to me is for people who are doing kind of untraditional disciplines at university that end up going to something like investment banking division. So Chinese studies. Has that been a hindrance to applications? Has it been a benefit because it's different and it stands out? Like, what has the general vibe been with having Chinese studies on your CV and then applying for IBD roles? Absolutely not a hindrance, if anything, a benefit because most people come from economics or business background, maybe math engineering, and I'm usually the only person in the room who has a humanities background or languages background. And in any case, it makes you stand out. It makes your application stand out. It gives your interviewer something different to ask you about something. And genuine curiosity, people are really interested why I decided to study Chinese studies. You know, why I'm in Hong Kong, all that sort of stuff, why I was in Taiwan was when I was getting interviewed by JP Morgan, for example. It's all these questions that make you stand out and everyone, it's so hard to stand out when applying. And so anything that's small that you think that will help you stand out, you should definitely mention. So, you know, Chinese studies. And yeah, actually amplify for me, for example, did that as well. There's so many things that I did through the summer program that also I was able to put my cover like they're mentioned in CV on my CVs. And so on that helped me stand out. So I think it's about, yeah, just leveraging, leveraging your differences to really put you in a great step for for interviews. So, prior to coming to amplify. How did you know you wanted to learn more about finance, for example, any role in finance. Sure, so I basically, my first year at the university studying Chinese studies, I was, I was a bit confused with what I was going to do with my degree in Chinese studies I was like am I going to become a translator will I become a political risk analyst. Yeah, so I, yes. So I went to the Freshers Fair and just tried out different, you know, met different people, looked at different career paths and found the finance society and honestly I knew absolutely nothing about finance. Some people asked me like, did you, did you always want to go into finance. No, I had no idea what finance was. I went into their networking drinks to the finance studies networking drinks in first year. And I just immediately clicked with people it just this environment and I just vibed with the people there. And for me that was the first time that this is something that I could really, you know, pursue something that could potentially interest me. There were there there were these these two roles micro report analyst and investment fund analyst I could apply for and do. And I applied for both of them I got both of them and, you know, learning by doing kind of thing the more I was, I was, I was putting like the more I was putting into these roles and more I was getting out of it the more I was learning about finance, you know, turning up to finance to the finance societies events as well and networking that sort of stuff. Yeah, I mean it was really, really baby steps and I guess a lot of self teaching and if you're from a non finance background you'll know that that's really the case like there's a lot of a lot of self teaching but but you do get there and I think it actually as a benefit to maybe not do a finance degree just because, for example, I know I know I now know Chinese alongside finance for example. You are going to be you are securing your future with with learning that language and that culture I'm sure we've been half Chinese. Hopefully I can navigate my way through the coming coming years but tell me about the application process I mean you're going to JB Morgan. I assume JB Morgan wasn't the only one that you were looking at or applying to at least at the time so what was that experience like. What were your failures was there something you did that really worked or didn't and any advice on that side. So for me I guess controversy, spring weeks were the more challenging thing that thing than the summer. Yeah, for me for the for the spring weeks, there were a lot of reject a lot of applications and a lot of rejections, and there were times when no morale was kind of waning and I think it's it's a sort of time when you want to rely on those around you to have a have a strong support network around you for that and the ability to you know do one more application learn from that application because what I like to say that any application that you do is just not a waste of time it might seem like a waste of time because you spent X number of hours. You know, applying for that company but it's still it's still something that you learn. And for me I guess the sort of turning point was when I started practicing my interviews. I had an interview at Lazard for example and it just was an absolute car crash. I couldn't I couldn't answer the questions. They asked me something I started answering the question that one of them to have asked me when a massive tangent and at the end of it I was like, sorry, what was your question again. So, you know, it's answering the question that you asked that's one of the big things and also practicing your interviews. And do it with someone else but you can also do it yourself if for example just have a list of questions, cut them up put them in a hat, and then record yourself answering them on zoom. For example, and then you can see the small, the small things you have to for example for me to be playing with my hair I'd always be playing with my hair or looking up and sort of like looking at the camera. Small things like that that actually make that difference that give you the confidence. For me, applying for spring was a massive, massive, massive steep learning curve. But then I think that sort of started to level off come summer. I did the amplify program. Yeah, as Anthony mentioned in 2021, and that gave me a massive boost in confidence because I think the benefit of the program was. So many minutes that I like to think of it like sort of like fourfold so for example the networking taught me how to network properly. And the community at amplify was just incredible so everyone was happy to help each other to leverage off each other to leverage of their knowledge. Something else for example was the technical knowledge coming from a non finance background. It was absolutely invaluable that was exposed I was exposed to, I mean all to expose to other different divisions and exposed to so much technical knowledge that I could then apply in my in my interviews. And the third and fourth thing are sort of joint. The application process is quite, quite long quite complex that there's a lot of steps and I almost like to think of as an art or a craft they sort of have to hone sort of thing and you know it takes a village to to get into to get into into into into banking and amplify was that village for me. Amplify taught me how to apply how to my cover that in my CV, and so on. Then apart from that there's like the soft skills that people sort of forget about like in an assessment center you have group exercises for example. And you need to know how to interact in the group in a group and it sounds so silly because I was like oh I can interact in the group I'm a social being. But there's more things like, you know, being that person who takes lead of the conversation without being too overbearing or arrogant or that annoying person who just won't shut up. And you learn these things to the group exercises for example that, or I did, I did with amplify for example. Yeah, look, I mean, talking to you the thing that's always stood out is like your your amazing energy. I think it's, you know you radiate it and that's really like good to be around and have you as part of our team for that period and. You're into ship now it's paying dividend and it will in the future so a final thing then and this might sound a bit off tangent but just before we came on, we were talking about some ideas about potential things that we could collaborate on in the future to help other people. And I'm sure I'll drop the link in any description when this video is shared to Flavia's LinkedIn I'm sure she's more than happy to help people. But we were talking about just little things that people generally don't talk about, but are something what a lot of people think, but perhaps don't know where to go, and one was about shoes. Tell me about shoe, women and heels. Oh, absolutely. So for me, one of my stresses, going into work both in Hong Kong and also just thinking about starting to work in Canary Wharf. What am I going to wear. What do people, you know what's the sort of uniform that people that people have is it high heels is it medium heels is it is a flat. Do I stand out too much if I wear high heels. So it's really the small things I think we should be more open in talking about because they seem so superficial but they're genuine concerns and you know, general anxiety inducing sort of things like you want as you want to you want to fit in like there's this desire to fit in. So yeah, I think I think it's something that needs to be spoken spoken about a bit more. So you're in your experience then what is it high heels medium flats. What's been your experience. Oh, so, for example, as well. A general time so for example I turn up to work in Hong Kong in a suit so this is basically what I'd be wearing, but there's other people who turn up in jeans, and then in, for example, in Canary Wharf I've heard of people just turning up in some of the companies in flats, but the people turning up in small heels. Maybe high heels are a bit too much. I started offering high heels for example here at my work here and ended up in converse, because no one really. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no one seemed seemed too upset about it so it really depends, you have to feel comfortable in what you're wearing regardless of what the norm is, like if yours go to is high heels. Go in high heels, you know, and other people can follow suit I guess. Yeah. And then, how have you found just being in Hong Kong as a, as a place as a financial hub. I mean what's that experience been like. Oh God I absolutely love Hong Kong. I've absolutely fallen in love with the city I think it's so great you have this financial district that it's, you know this hub. But then you can take a 20 minute ferry and you can go on these amazing hikes on these islands with white beaches and turquoise turquoise water. And there's there's there's there's an energy there's a buzz. There's incredible networking opportunities, which I've been trying to leverage on as much as I possibly can. Honestly, networking. That's another piece of advice don't underestimate it so for example the reason why I'm in Hong Kong right now. The way I was able to find this internship when I didn't think I'd be able to find one is through networking so there was someone that I met on my JP Morgan spring week who I spoke to carried on chatting to cheat him throughout the summer and I was in Taiwan in October looking for an internship in Hong Kong they were the ones who recommended me to the CIO of the company that I work with now. So yeah networking is just absolutely crucial. Cool. Well look on that very good piece of advice will end the conversation but but thank you very much for joining me I know it's the evening your time so I really appreciate you taking the time after work and yeah stay in touch and all the best. Thank you. Thank you so much Anthony for having me.