Xuanchen Ge

Country of origin: China

Placement: Xinhua News Agency

I chose to take a placement year as I knew that being an undergraduate student with 1 years working experience would allow me to stand out from the crowd, it would also give me the knowledge on what type of company I would like to work for when I graduate. I did not wish to graduate from university with no work experience as I knew that work experience allows you to put the university education into context which in turn would assist me with the final year of my degree.

Throughout my placement year I was mainly responsible for the initial client meetings and compiling a weekly statistical report. This required me to have excellent communications skills and have a professional attitude when at business fairs. To progress in my projects it was essential that I was flexible, could work independently and be able to seamlessly network both over social networks and at media industry events.

Through this flexible job role I gained the ability to work under pressure and developed a grounded knowledge of Sino-British relations, politics and international economics. As communication was an essential part of my placement I have become fluent in both English and Chinese. Additionally, experiencing working in a real-time newsroom developed my various office skills such as; editing; reporting and particularly photography. Attention to detail was vital and this allowed me to conduct thorough research among the organisations partners, including The Guardian, BBC, the Telegraph, and the Independent. The significant business fairs I attended included the China-Britain British Council conference held at Oxford University, the London Book Fair, the CFFC SMEs conference held at the Bank of China and HKETO’s New Year celebration held at Royal Westminster Hall. All of the above experiences opened my eyes and allowed me to experience a solid networking base in London.

I really enjoyed the free access to the media that the placement provided me with. I was invited to many different business fairs and celebrations organised in some incredible venues with some excellent and interesting people from around the world. The placement has suggested to me that the media is my preferred industry to work in once I graduate and I look forward to returning to work in London. It was also a bonus to have my photograph taken with so many high profile Chinese superstars!