Meet our people

Alex Ni

Dalian Office | Tax | Manager
Host Country: Moscow, Russia

Can you tell us a bit about yourself, Alex?

I am from Dalian. I have a bachelor degree in stomatology, but I changed fields later when I went studying abroad in Australia where I completed the Master of Professional Accounting program. In 2009, I joined the tax team in Deloitte Dalian office and was seconded to Moscow office in June 2017.

Why did you join the global mobility program?

At Deloitte, my colleagues always encourage me to take up overseas opportunities and in 2017, I started my secondment to Moscow office after working in Dalian office for 8 years.

What's the takeaway you've had so far?

In Moscow, I have the opportunity to understand the work and matters of different business units. Having to deal with clients now, I can have more frequent and in-depth exposure to services and contacts. Also, in Russia, I get to understand how the "Belt and Road" policy has changed China as a whole: we are now going to other countries to invest, and help other countries to develop; in this process, Chinese enterprises are faced with many challenges such as lack of talent and experience. While we are helping clients solve problems, I am also growing fast in China and Russia.

Do you have any tips for graduates who are going to attend interviews?

Show your true self. Interview is the first step and the most important step for companies and candidates to understand each other. During the interview, you do not need to care too much on the result because things will work out. What you should care about should be how you can demonstrate your real strengths, because you can hide things like personality in the interview process, but you cannot hide it at work. If your personality does not match the job nature or the industry requirements, you will be in pain or want to switch job. This is a waste of resources for both the company and yourself.

Some students will worry about his major, but what I can tell you is Deloitte is committed to develop different talents, our team comes from diverse background.

Finally, can you share the things that inspired you a lot when you first joined the workplace?

I recalled reading a story written by a career blogger years ago. When she was under internship in a company, she assisted her boss to stick receipts on expense claim forms. Through this simple task, she observed which clients her boss was dealing with every day, and which clients her boss was paying extra efforts on. Later, the company had an internal opening for a marketing position. She applied and successfully got the offer.

During the interview, she not only knew the company's business well, but also had clear and consistent ideas about the company's strategy - even the interviewer was surprised. At the end of the story, she explained it was all because of the task (sticking receipts on claim forms) that her boss assigned to her which allowed her to understand a lot of her boss' daily activities, and thus the company's marketing strategy.

It tells you that even if it is a simple task, you can still learn a lot as long as you are willing to. In our profession, whether you are helping clients to do translation, or arranging daily meetings, you still need to take them seriously. Whether you can gain the trust from your clients and provide additional value for the project all depends entirely on every single detail. Your extra efforts will be counted.