Students on the Blog: Q&A - Check-in with Deloitte Audit and Assurance Manager Diana Ge
Yiping Yang is an MS Accountancy candidate set to graduate in 2019. She first met alumna Diana Ge (MS Accountancy '12) at a social event, and then when she started her internship at Deloitte last spring, Diana was her training facilitator. Yiping was impressed by Diana's confidence in giving lectures in front of dozens of interns and by her kindness in sharing great advice when interns approached her.
From Yiping: "During my internship, I ran into Diana a few times in the office, she always seemed energetic, productive and efficient through her work. I was curious about her background, and when I asked her to do a phone interview, Diana was very happy to share her thoughts on what has led to her success."
1. Can you briefly introduce yourself, including your background, your current job and career path?
I am from Beijing and I came to US for my Master of Accounting at Baruch. My current job is an audit and assurance manager at Deloitte’s New York office in the financial service industry, specializing in banking, securities and asset management industry.
My career path is straightforward. I started as a first year and got promoted to manager after four and half years. I started in January, so that’s why I started right through busy season.
2. You graduated from Baruch in 2012. What do you miss the most about Baruch?
I miss the Baruch community the most because everyone at Baruch is supportive and approachable, especially the advisers from GCMC. I received a lot of help from them. I remember when I first came, I was really shy but thanks to the help from GCMC, I developed my communication skills and became comfortable and prepared for the job application process. I also miss my professors and my classmates because I learned from them and they all helped me to adapt to American culture here.
3. How did you land your career at Deloitte? How did you prepare for it?
I applied online and I got an interview. I went to GCMC a lot and did mock interviews, I also asked people who had received offers from the Big Four for advice and to have them to share their experiences on what questions I could expect during the interview. I was lucky to have met my interviewer through a recruiting event at Baruch. At first, when I met him, I was too shy. He came to campus a few times and I finally talked to him, introduced myself and I felt that I knew him already before my interview. Preparation was important because I needed to know myself, my own story, and how to present that story to people. I made sure that others could understand my experience, what skills I could bring to the table, and why I wanted to pursue my career at Deloitte.
4. Can you share your working experience at Deloitte from the past five years?
During my experience, I learned most skills on my job from my seniors, managers, and partners. When I first started at Deloitte, I was very shy and I didn’t even get a chance to talk to clients as a junior and didn’t know how to interact with my client. My partner gave me many opportunities because every time he went to a meeting with assurance or CFO he would take me. Even though at that time I was just listening, I learned a lot through observation and through conversation with my manager, my partner, and the clients. As time went on, I started picking up tips and tricks on how to interact with clients, especially in building relationships with them. Every time I stopped by my client’s office, I made sure to talk to them, even if we didn’t have anything new with the audit, I would make conversation about their life and their families to keep the relationship. If you put in a lot of time to maintain the relationship, clients will see how hard you have worked. As long as you show your sincerity and authenticity, they will learn to trust you and eventually become friends with you. While the business culture and language were hard to understand at the beginning of my career, I came to learn the reasoning behind it, realizing that the pressure to meet deadlines can make people tough. You can learn different personalities and gain many experiences.
5. What do you think is the most challenging part of your job at Deloitte?
I am from a different culture, the Asian culture, and sometimes people act differently towards certain things. For example, when I first started, I wasn’t brave enough to ask for time off even if I was sick. Because from Asian background, I was trained to be diligent and committed to work even I felt sick or uncomfortable. At one time, I was so sick and couldn’t stop coughing. My team member noticed, and my manager went straight to me and said if I didn't feel comfortable to go home to rest. I said no because I still had work to do. Later, I learned that if you feel sick or if you have personal matters to take care of, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If you don’t ask, people will never know the situation you are dealing with. It’s important to speak up sometimes and it’s one of my biggest challenges with my work here.
The other challenge is to speak up for opportunities. Especially in audit there was projects or industries I found very interesting and I wanted to get involved in but, due to my shy personality at the time I never spoke up. Then when these opportunities went to someone else, I regretted my silence. I realized that sometimes it’s important to speak up, even though it often takes a lot of courage.
6. You are currently the manager of the Deloitte Audit Financial Service team. What do you think is the most important skill/ability for the field, or what quality or skill has helped you succeed as a leader?
When I started at Deloitte we all worked based on projects. I worked with different people and observed many diverse styles of leaders and team interaction. Meanwhile, through conversations at work and from with my mentors, I learned the how to build my leadership skills. This is something that Deloitte promotes. Many corporations now are focusing on building leaders within the organization. That’s something helped me stand out. Meanwhile, Deloitte’s focus on personal development has encouraged me to spending time investing in other people’s career. It is important because I have become team-oriented through the working relationships with my coworkers. I care about everyone on my team, not only in their ability to handle work assignments, but also their work satisfaction and desire to learn new skills. I also want to support their interest in any extracurricular activities, such as initiatives in which they want to get involved. Furthermore, I try to remain conscientious to their wellbeing and work life balance. In this way, at busy season if a team member needs to go home early her work can be taken care of by the rest of the team. It is important to balance the struggles of daily life with the intense rigor of busy season. In my team, some members like to go to the gym once a week, while others choose to have dinner with their families. In this way, the team understands their work at Deloitte has been valued and been recognized by others, so in return, they will become committed to their work as well.
7. Do you have any suggestions/advice for Baruch students?
One thing that is very important is to always improve your communication skills. I still remember after I came to the US, I felt like I spoke broken English and soon I realized that language and communication skills are so important in the business world. Another suggestion is to always keep up to date with what is going on in the world. Know what’s in the happening market, the latest news, and how these will affect the business world or the economy. Students should improve their business sense and their knowledge in business. To know the industry throughout the networking process and personal study, building important work relationships and career will be easy.
Students should learn interpersonal skills. For example, I became involved in the mentoring program at ASCEND. Sometimes students approached me and asked for my business card in a strange way. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable to share it because I didn't know much about them. They didn’t share their background, start with small talk, or even try to build rapport, just wanted to send me their resumes. This is unprofessional and not a way to behave during the job search experience. However, with practice during networking, interpersonal skills can be refined and honed.
Lastly, everyone should find a career they enjoy and can become passionate about. At the end of the day, if you don’t like what you are doing and just want to have a job for personal gain, you will soon find that won’t work at Deloitte. That’s why networking with other people is important because you will find out what professionals are doing and if you are interested or not in that type of job.
In the end, I appreciate all the education I received at Baruch; I found it so helpful. After I migrated to business world, I met so many alumni from Baruch at Deloitte or client sites. Every time I met a Baruch Alum, I became instantly connected. The strong network with Baruch students and alumni is truly meaningful.
From Yiping: "During my internship, I ran into Diana a few times in the office, she always seemed energetic, productive and efficient through her work. I was curious about her background, and when I asked her to do a phone interview, Diana was very happy to share her thoughts on what has led to her success."
1. Can you briefly introduce yourself, including your background, your current job and career path?
I am from Beijing and I came to US for my Master of Accounting at Baruch. My current job is an audit and assurance manager at Deloitte’s New York office in the financial service industry, specializing in banking, securities and asset management industry.
My career path is straightforward. I started as a first year and got promoted to manager after four and half years. I started in January, so that’s why I started right through busy season.
 |
| Diana Ge (MS Accountancy '12) |
I miss the Baruch community the most because everyone at Baruch is supportive and approachable, especially the advisers from GCMC. I received a lot of help from them. I remember when I first came, I was really shy but thanks to the help from GCMC, I developed my communication skills and became comfortable and prepared for the job application process. I also miss my professors and my classmates because I learned from them and they all helped me to adapt to American culture here.
3. How did you land your career at Deloitte? How did you prepare for it?
I applied online and I got an interview. I went to GCMC a lot and did mock interviews, I also asked people who had received offers from the Big Four for advice and to have them to share their experiences on what questions I could expect during the interview. I was lucky to have met my interviewer through a recruiting event at Baruch. At first, when I met him, I was too shy. He came to campus a few times and I finally talked to him, introduced myself and I felt that I knew him already before my interview. Preparation was important because I needed to know myself, my own story, and how to present that story to people. I made sure that others could understand my experience, what skills I could bring to the table, and why I wanted to pursue my career at Deloitte.
4. Can you share your working experience at Deloitte from the past five years?
During my experience, I learned most skills on my job from my seniors, managers, and partners. When I first started at Deloitte, I was very shy and I didn’t even get a chance to talk to clients as a junior and didn’t know how to interact with my client. My partner gave me many opportunities because every time he went to a meeting with assurance or CFO he would take me. Even though at that time I was just listening, I learned a lot through observation and through conversation with my manager, my partner, and the clients. As time went on, I started picking up tips and tricks on how to interact with clients, especially in building relationships with them. Every time I stopped by my client’s office, I made sure to talk to them, even if we didn’t have anything new with the audit, I would make conversation about their life and their families to keep the relationship. If you put in a lot of time to maintain the relationship, clients will see how hard you have worked. As long as you show your sincerity and authenticity, they will learn to trust you and eventually become friends with you. While the business culture and language were hard to understand at the beginning of my career, I came to learn the reasoning behind it, realizing that the pressure to meet deadlines can make people tough. You can learn different personalities and gain many experiences.
 |
| Yiping Yang (MS Accountancy '19) |
I am from a different culture, the Asian culture, and sometimes people act differently towards certain things. For example, when I first started, I wasn’t brave enough to ask for time off even if I was sick. Because from Asian background, I was trained to be diligent and committed to work even I felt sick or uncomfortable. At one time, I was so sick and couldn’t stop coughing. My team member noticed, and my manager went straight to me and said if I didn't feel comfortable to go home to rest. I said no because I still had work to do. Later, I learned that if you feel sick or if you have personal matters to take care of, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If you don’t ask, people will never know the situation you are dealing with. It’s important to speak up sometimes and it’s one of my biggest challenges with my work here.
The other challenge is to speak up for opportunities. Especially in audit there was projects or industries I found very interesting and I wanted to get involved in but, due to my shy personality at the time I never spoke up. Then when these opportunities went to someone else, I regretted my silence. I realized that sometimes it’s important to speak up, even though it often takes a lot of courage.
6. You are currently the manager of the Deloitte Audit Financial Service team. What do you think is the most important skill/ability for the field, or what quality or skill has helped you succeed as a leader?
When I started at Deloitte we all worked based on projects. I worked with different people and observed many diverse styles of leaders and team interaction. Meanwhile, through conversations at work and from with my mentors, I learned the how to build my leadership skills. This is something that Deloitte promotes. Many corporations now are focusing on building leaders within the organization. That’s something helped me stand out. Meanwhile, Deloitte’s focus on personal development has encouraged me to spending time investing in other people’s career. It is important because I have become team-oriented through the working relationships with my coworkers. I care about everyone on my team, not only in their ability to handle work assignments, but also their work satisfaction and desire to learn new skills. I also want to support their interest in any extracurricular activities, such as initiatives in which they want to get involved. Furthermore, I try to remain conscientious to their wellbeing and work life balance. In this way, at busy season if a team member needs to go home early her work can be taken care of by the rest of the team. It is important to balance the struggles of daily life with the intense rigor of busy season. In my team, some members like to go to the gym once a week, while others choose to have dinner with their families. In this way, the team understands their work at Deloitte has been valued and been recognized by others, so in return, they will become committed to their work as well.
7. Do you have any suggestions/advice for Baruch students?
One thing that is very important is to always improve your communication skills. I still remember after I came to the US, I felt like I spoke broken English and soon I realized that language and communication skills are so important in the business world. Another suggestion is to always keep up to date with what is going on in the world. Know what’s in the happening market, the latest news, and how these will affect the business world or the economy. Students should improve their business sense and their knowledge in business. To know the industry throughout the networking process and personal study, building important work relationships and career will be easy.
Students should learn interpersonal skills. For example, I became involved in the mentoring program at ASCEND. Sometimes students approached me and asked for my business card in a strange way. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable to share it because I didn't know much about them. They didn’t share their background, start with small talk, or even try to build rapport, just wanted to send me their resumes. This is unprofessional and not a way to behave during the job search experience. However, with practice during networking, interpersonal skills can be refined and honed.
Lastly, everyone should find a career they enjoy and can become passionate about. At the end of the day, if you don’t like what you are doing and just want to have a job for personal gain, you will soon find that won’t work at Deloitte. That’s why networking with other people is important because you will find out what professionals are doing and if you are interested or not in that type of job.
In the end, I appreciate all the education I received at Baruch; I found it so helpful. After I migrated to business world, I met so many alumni from Baruch at Deloitte or client sites. Every time I met a Baruch Alum, I became instantly connected. The strong network with Baruch students and alumni is truly meaningful.
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