Yilin (Water) Qian

What's your job about?

1. First of all, tell us in one sentence: What's your employer doing and what are your areas of responsibility?           
   My employer covers lots of services including business analytics and risks consulting. I am in the risk consulting team.
2. What are YOU exactly doing? Tell us details about your daily work and your specific tasks. Best is if you describe an exemplary day, a week or a project of yours. 
   I am required to understand clients’ business processes and provide advice regarding how to improve these processes.
3. Additional information? Does a teenager understand what you are doing? State any kind of interesting details!
   A teenager may understand the business processes after demos.

What's your background?

I grew up in Shanghai. I came to Sydney as an international student after graduating from high school. I have some backgrounds relevant to this role, including Accounting, Finance, and Big Data. I have been doing my job for one and a half months.

When I was a child, my parents got divorced. This shadow was always with me as a teenager, who was painfully not able to accept her true self. However, this did not last forever. After graduating from high school, I left the place flooded with the memories of happiness and tears to start a new life, where I did meet lots of kind and intelligent people who enlightened me to find more meaningful things in life. By devoting to society, I felt a strong sense of fulfilment and deep happiness because I started to love myself and believe I am a valuable person through contributions to this world. This is one of the reasons why I am passionate about consulting, which solidifies my belief that I am no longer the little girl passively waiting for miracles to appear in her world but instead a young and strong adult capable of manifesting love in life and bravely achieving her dreams and goals.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes. People with different backgrounds can bring diversified skills to the project and helps the entire team more effectively solve problems. My colleagues are from engineering, business analytics, finance, accounting, consulting, etc. The team needs people with diversified skills to create more innovative solutions for clients.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

The thing I love most about my job is that I am learning new things every day. When achieving significant progress in our team performance, I know that all efforts we make are worthy.

What are the limitations of your job?

 As a risk consultant, I am responsible for my client to ensure it complies with laws and regulations while operating effectively at the same time. I have not found a big limitation in my job so far. I do encounter some problems sometimes, but they will always be resolved after effective communication with clients or with the help of my managers and colleagues.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student:

1. Don’t be afraid or feel lost or confused. You will eventually find your own path gradually unfolding to your dream by taking baby steps every day.
2. Be brave to reach out to people and expand your network, and you will find many excellent friends who will guide you to different realms that you never know before. You will know your strengths and true interests as they will stimulate your potential and enlighten your thoughts.
3. Leave your comfort zone because the only thing that won’t change is the change itself. Current comfort could be easily destroyed by unexpected life events, but the only thing that won’t be deprived is your resilience and inner strength. Therefore, be courageous to take risks and try many different things to better understand yourself. When you find your genuine interest, focus on that and persistently sharpening any relevant skills required.