Graduate Success Stories UK

Qien Huang graduated from UWE with an MSc and is an International Relations Coordinator at the Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office. Below he talks about his career and how he accomplished his goals, and gives you advice on how to be successful in your future.

My job is mainly to liaise with my counterparts in sister cities or friendship cities of Guangzhou, to enhance official and social exchanges between these cities.

These could range from exchange visits of government officials, culture groups, professionals and academics, to specific project-based activities or governmental cooperation. One recent example involves organising a group of painters to hold a Chinese painting exhibition in our sister city of Frankfurt, Germany.

I think my position is good for people with good coordination skills and interpersonal communication skills. You need to have a clear picture of the work remits of different organisations and the proper working procedures in the governments, both in the home country and in our sister cities, so as to get the right people involved.

To ensure efficiency, you need communication skills to circulate information, clear up any confusions, and sometimes provide advice and suggestions.

Of course, there are some other skills that are helpful in our job, like language skills (translation), time management and ability to search and compile information.

Group work is the most useful practice a student can undertake to improve their communication and coordination skills

There are working skills that are helpful to every job, like group working, creative thinking, and the ability to work out a plan and implement it, which you can learn via actively participating in student society activities.