Organisation: Flinders University SA
Job Title:International Business Officer
Word Limit: 3 Page Max
Location: Adelaide SA
Appropriate tertiary qualifications and subsequent experience or equivalent combination of professional experience and relevant education and/or training
In addition to my Bachelor Degree in Management, I have almost six years of experience working in a large corporate environment with strong links and relationships with universities in mainland China. During my role at Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd, I was made responsible for the marketing and promotion of the high technology ‘Digital Library for University’ database operation software. Tsinghua Tongfang was a commercial arm of Tsinghua University, and the software was developed and produced by the organisation for the university. It was during this role that I developed my skills in the development and maintenance of relationships within a university environment.
My skills in project management were developed during my role at Beijing Founder Technology, a commercial arm of Peking University. I was intrinsically involved in the close cooperation between the University and Founder Co. Ltd, and also took on the role as project manager for government funding. In this role, I wrote the marketing part of the application document that was submitted to government for funding, and was the spokesperson on the bidding meetings involving government officials. Due to my ability to work within a team environment, and the assistance of my colleagues from the IT development and finance departments, we were successful in our bid for government funding. This funding was in the order of 2,000,000 RMB (around AU$440,000).
The success within this role, as well as my ability to liaise and work with external parties and higher education providers, along with my qualifications, is a strong demonstration of my capacity to take on the International Business Officer role within Flinders University. In addition to my qualifications, I have undertaken a broad range of professional development courses including: case management, project management, priority management, functional department finance management, HR management, and team working and building.
An ability to provide solutions to business problems and create new business opportunities
During my role as Head of Administration for Unison Networking Services, I demonstrated my ability to not only identify areas that required improvement, but also solutions for these areas. Being responsible for the administration and the human resources departments, I took the opportunity to identify and write processes for a number of office systems.
Within my role at Beijing Founder Technology, my ability to create new business opportunities was demonstrated in my identification of the market for a particular library based software for Peking University. Working closely with Peking University, I could see they needed a software upgrade that would solve a myriad of problems they were having in their library system. In approaching our IT development department with my idea, they agreed they could develop the software. Once the software was developed it was then implemented within the university library system and is now the model for similar systems in other universities. This business opportunity was borne from my own identification strategies and came to fruition as a successful project.
Well-developed interpersonal, networking and relationship building skills to enable working with a diverse range of people and cultures, and at a variety of levels
I have excellent interpersonal, networking and relationship building skills, which I have demonstrated within a number of previous roles. During my role as Administration Manager, I was required to communicate with colleagues, as well as a range of internal and external entities, to complete my job successfully. Also in this role, I worked with and between a broad range of the organisation’s departments, demonstrating my interpersonal skills, no matter who my audience.
I have worked successfully in Australia and China with a range of people and suppliers from Japan, Canada, USA, Singapore, China, Korea and many others. This demonstrates my ability to work and communicate effectively with a diverse range of people and cultures. In addition, my experience with Asian, Western and European based cultures has given me an excellent understanding of all of these people and their wants and needs, which I can bring to your organisation.
Demonstrated organisational and project management skills, including the ability to identify priorities and meet competing demands for self and others, within a complex team environment
The evidence for my well-developed organisational skills and ability is that I was leader of a government funding application project when employed at Founder Technology. My role was the head of a five-staff team which consisted of two Engineers from the IT Development Department, one Senior Accountant from the Finance Department, and two ASO’s. My team met consistently to identify our priorities, based on the responsibilities of each person, and set ourselves clear tasks and instructions for requirements and deadlines. I made sure I was in contact with team members at all times, and this was rewarded by winning the significant government tender of 2,000,000 RMB.
Demonstrated ability to engage in processes and/or actions that reflect continuous improvement for self and the organisation
My ability to both engage and drive continuous improvement strategies are best reflected in my role as Administration Manager for Unison Networking Services Co. Ltd. It was during this role that I managed all resources for the office and ensured that processes and procedures were effective and efficient. My role required the organisation of large conferences, which I made a point of documenting the organisation of to ensure this information was captured for future conferences, leading to improvement.
Well-developed written communication skills including the ability to analyse and report on complex data and to exercise ethical and sound judgement
As Assistant to the CEO at Unison Networking services, I demonstrated my skills in producing reports on behalf of the CEO and the Management Team. These reports were drafted and included financial and other information for presentation at Board level. In addition, my role within the international Unison Networking Services required around 50% of my documents to be written in English. I have successfully passed a number of units of my Diploma in Counselling in Australia and have received excellent feedback on them and the language used within them. As English is my second language, I am still learning, however have improved significantly in a short amount of time.
Well-developed oral communication skills including demonstrated experience in providing information and advice to staff
As the spokesperson for Founder Technology Co Ltd I was responsible for speaking at conferences and with media about the upcoming software releases, as well as my role taking part in the Hainan Government Information Conference as the official spokesperson. In addition, I was involved in media releases on behalf of the organisation; and all of these demonstrated my superior oral communication skills and provision of information.
Strong computer and associated software skills
Having strong skills in the Microsoft Office suite of programs, I have used PowerPoint frequently in presenting reports and presentations at conferences to senior management and external parties. I have used MS Excel extensively to manage financial records and reporting, as well as keeping of records and financial flow charts. MS Word is an application that I use every day for documenting production and publishing, and I have a typing speed in English of around 50 wpm. My skill in using Microsoft Office software has helped me achieve a high level of efficiency in my administrative work, and I believe it will continue helping me in my career.
Proven experience in financial management
During my role as Administration Manager, I was responsible for the financial management of my team, including administrative cost management, expenditure and reimbursement, purchase and payment of assets and office supplies and petty cash. In addition, I was responsible for the administrative expenditure of another five branches country wide. At the beginning of every financial year, I assisted my director to draw up the budget of the administrative team, the report of which was comprised of different costs in my team, including reception, daily costs, rental, purchase plan and car costs, among many other line items. I was required to submit the reports quarterly and annually.
As the Assistant to the CEO at Unison, part of my role was to assist with budget monitoring on behalf of the CEO and ensure his monthly financial reporting was accurate and up to date for presentation to the Board.
Desirable Characteristics
As mentioned earlier, I have a good understanding of university systems, having worked very closely with two of China’s premiere universities for some time. Through this experience, and also through being an immigrant to Australia, I have an excellent understanding of international communities, and have the ability to engage with a broad diversity of people.
I hold excellent standards in the Mandarin language as my native language, a good command of written and spoken English, as well as an understanding of Cantonese and 5 Chinese local languages. I can read Japanese and have understanding of a little Korean as well.
