“In the later half year on 2019, I had my off-cycle internship in Alibaba Group, Cainiao Network in Hangzhou, China, being the Finance Intern in the Corporate Finance and Relations team under the supervision of Mr Daniel Zhu. It was an amazing and invaluable experience working in one of the Fortune 500 companies.

The duties and responsibilities included assisted team in data mining, research and analysis in various projects such as the Alibaba Investor Day, Cainiao Post Stations Financial Modelling; conducted company quarter reports, competitor reports and market research and database maintenance; and provided support to handle related documents in Equity Financing and M&A projects. There were many opportunities to work with colleague from different departments and different business units, investment bank and shareholders.

The tasks were challenging but fun and the internship provided me with opportunities to integrate the knowledge I’ve learnt in university into the workplace and improved my skills from different perspectives. My excel skills improved while carrying out data analysis and financial modelling and my PowerPoint presentation skills improved while preparing for more than 70 versions of Investor Day presentation for Director and various company quarter reports and market and competitor research reports. 

Moreover, I utilized my knowledge in university such as accounting, corporate finance and financial markets into the workplace and the internship equipped me with deeper understanding of the business operations and deal transactions in the practice. I obtained more business insights and inspiration from my duties and the corporate culture of the company which inspires me to have a better career planning. 

Lastly, the most essential treasure harvested from this internship was the soft skills such as leadership skills and being a team player while I was working and negotiating with colleague and thus my communication skills also improved. And the internship motivated me to be more result-oriented and be able to multitask and deal with tight deadlines. Besides, I became more optimistic and be more open-minded towards new challenges or obstacles and tried to modify my strategies and adapt to changes in order to fit in a fast-paced working environment.

In conclusion, I am grateful to have a wonderful internship experience in Alibaba Group Cainiao Network during my undergraduate study. I have achieved many goals and accumulated more skills and foundations before entering the financial industry. This internship experience and the key learning outcomes from this fruitful journey keep reminding me of the importance of self-evaluation and self-motivation.”