Career Path

Like many accounting students, I used to believe that public practice is the only way to go about after graduation. Sure enough public practice offers constant challenges, endless learning opportunities, and various clientele. However, the more networking events that I go to, the more that I question if this is truly what I want. Goes without saying, I did not get an offer. I did not even get an interview with that skeptical attitude. Upon facing my failure, in a period of time I was deeply lost. I failed to achieve my one and only career goal. But that wasn't the end of the story. It was merely an opening of a new chapter.


 

PNE Fair

When I first heard about the PNE Fair, I was reluctant to pay the admission fee...you have to understand I am a poor student XD But then, my brother mentioned that they are open for free on August 20 from 9am to 12pm. I hesitated for a while, but then I decided to grasp this opportunity to witness something new, even though I had to wake up earlier than usual. 

We got off the skytriain, and headed toward the bus stop near Renfrew Skytrain. We waited for the bus for a long time and realized that every single bus passed us were full already, and they wouldn't accept more people to get on. In order to get to the fair before 12pm, we went on foot. 

To me it was exhilarating to watch different kinds of shows, but for my brother he didn't bother to stay and linger around. lol He left the exhibition after two hours, whereas I stayed there for about seven hours watching shows and enjoying my life. :D 

4-H Sheep, Dog, Chicken & Goat Competitions

The audience were waiting for Peking Acrobats to start. Over 80% of the seats were taken!

Peking Acrobats

Ferris wheel

Evolution of Extreme

Some of the tricks those motorcyclist did really took my breath away! 

SuperDogs

Family Feud Live

Hang Johnny

A very interesting musical instrument! The sound actually makes people feel relaxed. 

Evolution of Extreme

DrumBeats

I love the way they performed with confidence and great energy! 

Meditating X Strolling X Reading

As school almost starts, I wanted sometime off to think about what I want to do in the future, and what strategy I want to use when coping with schoolwork and extracurricular. Successful people talk about how important it is to have your own vision towards the future, maybe in 10 years, 20 years what do you want to see yourself to be? This question is hard for me to answer for the time being. My vision is so vague that I can't really fill in the details. In other words, I'm still trying to figure out what is the dream I want to pursue the most. Maybe I can find it as I go along with the opportunities that I encounter... 

What other places are better than English Bay to take a wake and meditate?! It was a relaxing day. I was in no hurry to do something else, just thinking, walking along the beach, and reading my economics book. 

When I was getting to the skytrain, I passed by one McDonald's, and a pack of teenagers were approaching a homeless woman. I thought they were up to something bad, but the next thing I saw, I instantly knew that I was totally wrong. The kids asked the woman, if she wanted to eat a free McDonald's meal, which they just got it from the restaurant. I have to say Vancouver is the most friendly place I have ever seen! Back in my hometown, we were taught not to approach strangers, and don't spare the homeless any coins. But that's not how the Vancouverites do when somebody else is in need of help. Although I doubt by giving them coins can help the homeless in the long term, at least you show your sympathy towards their misfortune. I was touched by what those teenagers did. : )

CA Speaker Series

At one point of time, I was so determined that I wanted to pursue the CA designation. Recently, I rather questioned myself a lot. Am I able to do this? Is this really what I want? So I went to this event to seek for my answer.

Kingsley Chen

He told us two stories. The first story was about buying mattresses. He told the sales person he wanted to buy mattresses, but he didn't say how many. So the sales person was recommending him one brand for $799. Later on, Kingsley asked for a deal of 50 mattresses for $300 each. The sales person discussed with the owner and took the offer. The point of this story is that people are the most difficult thing to deal with. I'm not sure if I get this story totally, but it's worth to think about.

The second story was he went to an interview, even though he got there 15 minutes earlier, his interviewer accused him of being late. "Respond. Don't react." are the words Kingsley gave us. The day after that, when I was contacting one of the textbook sellers, we got some misunderstandings. I ended up being angry with him, but then I remembered those words "Respond. Don't react." I calmed myself down before I replied the text message. Thanks for the lesson, Kinsley. : )

Barry MacDonald

He is a partner of PwC, and he is in the recruiting group. Some of the attributes of being a CA is you have the opportunity to go abroad and the flexibility you get. Barry himself had practiced eight years in Hong Kong. As Barry has described, PwC  is a firm that embraces different culture. For example, over half of Barry's colleagues who works on the same floor as he does are Asian. PwC got a significantly diverse culture. Barry also mentioned the culture of supervisors helping novices to succeed in the firm. I believe that when people are generous of helping others, actually help themselves grow at the end. That's how a firm succeed.  

Barry mentioned several things to look out when applying to PwC:

• They are not concerned with your degree. No matter you are an art student, business student or others, it's not so important as other skills. They have the confidence to give you accounting knowledge and build up those skills. 
• GPA? As long as your GPA is above 3.1, it should be fine. 
• What makes you different? Recruiters are looking for curiosity, passion, confidence and authenticity.  
• At the end of the interview, ask questions that shows you have done some research, or you can refer back from the events what the recruiter had said about himself/herself or the firm. It shows that you were paying careful attention to what have been said.  
• Transferable skills from your experience. Sports shows your teamwork skills; music background shows the discipline; volunteering might show how well you can put up an event. Never underestimate the experience of working in a retail store or a restaurant. Those part-time jobs offer you the opportunities to work with people and deal with customers. 

Peter Kingsten 

• Networking! This is not a new concept to me anymore, but it's still intimidating. Vancouver is a small place. You never know what connections you made will help you in the future.  
• Grab opportunities to learn and grow. Sometimes when you are going straight line towards something, you might miss out other chances to learn, and you never know what surprises you'll get if you never take the chance. 
• Keep learning. Peter himself is a CA, but he has the certifications of realtor and CFP. I love the idea of keep learning even if you have already reached your goal. 
• Seek mentors. 
• Build and maintain your personal brand. I don't know if it's because I don't have much work experience, I can't quite understand how I can build my personal brand...

Q&A

1. How to build rapport? You have to show you are genuine and basically get people to like you. If they don't like you, it's not possible to have further relationship. Be known for delivery is crucial. Keep your promise and gain their trust. 
2. How to deal with stress? Face the issue. If a customer is not happy with your service, ask them why. By understanding the root of the problem helps you decide what to do next.  

Battle of Prices

School almost starts! I have 7 courses for the fall term, which means....around $700 will be spent on textbooks. I have no intention of spending that much money, so I started to search for used books. I was able to find many textbook sale posts on craiglist. It was fun to compare the prices each seller is offering, and don't forget that edition can affect the price. I don't want to buy a cheap textbook, but end up having difficulty following the instructor in class. Thus, it's actually a lot of work to compare the prices, and check out the edition and author.

Top Goal: Cheapest but Newest Edition I can Find

After several success in finding the lowest price of the edition that I've targeted, I had the confidence to do it again with accounting textbook. First thing I did was to contact the sellers who offered the price that I targeted. One of them replied me first, and he was offering two accounting textbooks for $110. I've seen some posts offering two accounting textbooks for $100, so I assumed that it was the cheapest price I can get. I took the deal and asked the buyer to meet at 7:30pm. Around 4pm, another girl sent me an email, said she was offering "both for $70." She was originally offering each for $45. It sounds too good to be true. So I asked her if she meant "both for $70 each or both for $70?" She didn't reply me instantly. I just thought...never mind I'll get two books for $110 then. By the time I get my books, she replied and said she meant both for $70. Regret. Lots of regrets. If I didn't act on impulse, I could have saved $40.

Lesson learned: Don't rush it. I can wait.

Even though a lot of people offer a set of textbook for discounts, I still insist on buying the lowest price of each one. Why? Because sometimes I don't need certain books in the list, and I had the confident that if I bought individually, I can still beat the discounts they offered. At the end, I spent about $350 in total. I saved up over half of the money. Mission accomplished! :D

Whistler Trip

It's always nice to do something exciting once in awhile to stimulate myself after a period of uneventful life. This time I chose to join the tourist group to visit Whistler. Since my brother hadn't done any outdoor activities for some time, I dragged him along with me. I would never join a tourist group if I have other means of transportation. I like taking time to enjoy the food, observing people, and savoring the view. When following a tourist group, that means I have to follow their schedule, and most of the time, time is being compressed so that we can get back on time or whatever other reasons might be.

Village Fair

I went volunteering again yesterday! This time was mostly there to accompany my brother. He needed 9 more hours of volunteering to meet the school's graduation requirement. Thus, we stayed there for the whole 9 hours! It wasn't that bad though. Mainly, we just needed to pick up the trash. However, there wasn't that much trash on the floor.