“I did not know about AlphaSights, or even about the existence of the industry prior to my job search. I came across AlphaSights several times on Linkedin, however, it wasn’t till I saw a posting on CUHK’s job portal till I decided to give it a shot.

AlphaSights is an information services company that connects experts known as advisors with its clients on specific topics. Clients of AlphaSights include strategy consulting, corporates and investment clients such as private equity. The company is headquarted in London and has offices in 8 other cities across the globe including: New York, Hamburg, Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The first week of the internship was called “AlphaCamp”. This is an orientation week given to all new joiners to AlphaSights and for the internship scheme it was no different. During this week, we were thought on how to work on projects by learning how to do a vetting call, understanding client briefs and learning how to write expert summaries. At the same time, we also had sessions with Client Protection team, which basically was the compliance division of AlphaSights.

After the week of AlphaCamp, mock calls and CP test I got onto the desk where I was assigned a trainer and a manager on a specific team. I joined the consulting team and was working on AlphaSight’s “growth” consulting account segment. For the first week on desk, I shadowed my trainer and got used to AlphaSight’s interface. I then also got familiar with using AlphaSight’s headhunting platforms and using Boolean key words to search for custom advisors.

AlphaSights has a heavy emphasis on monitoring the professional development of their associates. With interns is was no different and every 2 weeks we would have a 1-hour professional development meeting with our manager or trainer.

Overall, I had a fruitful experience at AlphaSights and most of my tasks involved connecting clients with the appropriate expert for 1-hour phone interactions. Through the internship I learned about the importance of following rigorous compliance rules in the expert network industry. On a personal level, I was able to refine my teamwork, time management and presentation skills. The company's values also taught me the importance of tracking my personal development when I start my career.

There were a couple of opportunities where I had the chance to conduct presentations regarding weekly team performance statistics, future targets and any interesting findings I had to share. Throughout my GLEF courses I have had several finance, GLEF and economics courses of mine involved group presentations. These group presentations gave me an opportunity to learn how to make good decks and refine my presentation skills.

Furthermore, with GLEF being a small course, I had access to having several meetings with Prof. Chow where we discussed my weaknesses and strengths and also had help setting goals. These encounters helped me develop planning skills, time management and an understanding to take things day by day and not worry too much about the future. These teachings that our well-respected Program Co-Director, Prof. Chow, and Program Manager, Holly, have instilled me with are what motivated me to improve my academics to a level where I have been able to secure a competitive summer internship and also perform at it so well to achieve getting a return offer.”