Top 3 Deloitte Mobility Destinations

#1: London

“I’m a Manager at the London office, mainly overseeing the overall progress and guiding the team while we are doing fieldwork. The Global Mobility Programme is an excellent opportunity for growth in many ways.

The London firm’s diverse working environment, with colleagues from different cultures and varied levels of experience has exposed me to non-Asian perspectives, which was refreshing and sometimes challenged the ‘status quo’. I was involved in more complex and larger scale engagements and broadened my skill set.

On a personal level, working and living in a foreign country allowed me to reorganise my lifestyle and step out of my comfort zone. I also forged new relationships and made new friends with people from all over the world.

In London, I’ve done the usual – watched musicals, shopped at Primark, visited countless museums and popped by the beautiful England countryside (Oxford, Bath and Cotswold are personal favourites for now). One can never get bored of this city, but like most people, the highlight is travelling out of this country. Many public holidays in the UK are on Fridays or Mondays, making long weekends perfect for a short getaway to the nearby European countries. Last December, I spent two weeks hopping around Christmas Markets in Europe. The most memorable leg of this trip was exploring the snowcapped forest at Hallstatt, Austria.

Karene Wai Audit Manager (GMP secondee from Singapore to London)

#2: New York

“My experience in the New York office has been excellent so far. Meeting new people, gaining exposure to different audit assignments, and being immersed in an unfamiliar cultural environment has allowed me to develop my technical, interpersonal and cross-cultural skills. It has been a great learning experience and my teammates and managers whom I interact with on a daily basis have been very friendly and supportive.

What’s more, I have visited the main tourist attractions in New York City, including Times Square, Central Park, the Empire State Building and the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum. During my first week there, I also went onboard the the harbour cruise, which presented an awesome view of The Statue of Liberty!

My current role in New York is Audit-In-Charge, where I work on an audit engagement for one of the world’s largest financial services firm. Some of my key responsibilities include assisting to carry out field work, designing the work approach, performing audit procedures pertaining to complex areas of the client’s financial statements, supervising staff assistants and interacting with clients to discuss field audit issues that we encounter.

Perhaps the biggest difference in terms of work is that the engagement team members in New York focus on only one engagement throughout the year due to the nature and complexity of the engagement. As such, they often have an in-depth understanding of their client’s business, environment and internal controls.

I feel that being able to participate in the Deloitte Global Mobility Programme is an extraordinary opportunity that brings with it a chance to gain invaluable international experience and pursue career advancement goals while living abroad. It is also a great pleasure and a privilege to experience what work is like in another Deloitte member firm. I am very grateful for this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to broaden my horizons in both my life and career development.”

Tew Kok Seng Audit Manager (GMP secondee from Singapore to New York)

#3: Sydney

“I wanted to experience a new culture as well as to develop myself personally and professionally by stepping out of my comfort zone. Hence, I decided to apply for the Audit Mobility Programme to Australia as I heard about how innovative Deloitte Australia is.

The AMP experience at the Western Sydney office has given me the opportunity to develop new perspectives and to forge new friendships. I have learnt so much within the last two months as I am continuously challenged, not just in terms of my technical knowledge, but most importantly in terms of my management and interpersonal skills.

Working in multi-cultural teams and getting to know people of different nationalities – from South African, Canadian, and French to Argentinian – allowed me to be exposed to different industries apart from what I am used to in Singapore. In my first week in Sydney, I had a once-in-alifetime opportunity to visit a copper mine to perform audit!

Sydney has amazing beaches and coastal areas. During weekends, my friends and I would choose a route to take long walks along the coasts, for example, from Spit Bridge to Manly Beach and Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach walks. Such walks help clear my mind and increase my physical wellness. Other than coastal walks, Sydney is a vibrant, multi-cultural city with different festivals almost every weekend. On one of the weekends, I went for the world’s largest short film festival, Tropfest, which was held at the park just 100m away from where I stay.”

Tania Harsono (AMP secondee from Singapore to Sydney)