Hello! My name is Paul Parisi, and I am a new alumnus of Villanova University. I graduated from VSB in May with a degree in Finance and International Business, and just about six weeks ago, I started a job in Hong Kong. From the moment my plane took off, this has been a wonderful adventure, full of interesting sights, sounds, tastes and smells. It’s been a bit of a challenge at times, but the rewards have been infinitely worth the effort.
Through this blog, I hope to share with you my experiences, both in and out of the workplace, so that you have a first-hand glimpse into the life of a young college graduate living overseas.
Perhaps I should begin with a little background about the series of events that brought me here.
I grew up in Old Bridge, New Jersey, and started at Villanova in August 2005. The summer after freshman year, I studied and interned in London on a program run by VSB—which was still called C&F (the College of Commerce and Finance) at the time! I journeyed to England with about thirty other Villanovans, got a taste of living in the heart of a major city, interned in the marketing office of the English National Opera and studied management at the London School of Economics. Each aspect of the program helped make it an unforgettable experience. I realized during those ten weeks that I wanted to work overseas.
Back at Villanova, I began making preparations for a semester-long study abroad adventure. A French student since sixth grade, I naturally wound up in Paris for the second half of sophomore year. Those months in France were even more life-changing than I'd ever dreamed they'd be. What I had decided in London was further confirmed by my time in Paris: any way I could, I was working abroad after graduation. But I still had half of college ahead of me.
That summer, I interned on the fixed income trading desk of a major financial firm in Manhattan. It went by quickly, and back at Villanova, I began to take more and more international-themed classes: International Comparative Management, International Finance and Global Business Ethics. First semester senior year, I even took a Chinese cooking class that I never thought would have any practical application in the real world. I had no idea life was leading me to Asia, but then we never know what life has in store.
Senior year, I was frantically searching for a job in the middle of a financial crisis, like the rest of my classmates at Villanova. I was also trying to savor every moment of my final year of college. I was sending my résumé out, going on interviews and dropping hints with family friends that I was looking for a job. Then, one day in early March, I was out to dinner on Staten Island when my dad rang me. My first reaction was one of annoyance—“You know I’m at dinner, why are you calling!?!”—but for some reason, I excused myself from the table and answered.
“What’s up Dad?” I asked, and the irritation quickly faded as he explained the reason for his call. The company he worked for had just announced that they were opening a new branch in Hong Kong. If I was interested in applying for a position, he said, I could submit my résumé for consideration.
A few weeks later, on a Friday morning, I was on an Amtrak en route from 30th Street Station to New York Penn Station for my first interview. I was asked a ton of questions about my career goals, my educational background, my opinions on market conditions and my thoughts on working overseas.
I was invited to come down for another interview a few Fridays later—in fact, it was that very night that I was road-tripping to Detroit for the Final Four games, and it seemed like a nuisance to go to Manhattan again. However, at the end of the interview I was offered the job, which I immediately accepted.
I graduated on May 17, and on June 1, I reported to work at the New York office, literally around the block from the New York Stock Exchange. My primary task was to pass two licensing exams. First up was the Series 7, which is needed to be a registered representative for a securities firm. I passed the test in late July, and the very next day I was given study materials for the Series 24 Exam, to be a registered principal. You see, every office should have a principal, and as I was going to be one of the first employees in Hong Kong, they figured I should get the license right off the bat. While studying for the exam, I was sent to our London office for a week, to spend time shadowing the brokers and training in an international setting. In mid-September, I passed the Series 24. When I came back to the office afterwards, my boss flashed me a huge smile: “All systems go for Hong Kong,” he said.
The final step before leaving was to actually speak with Asian banks and begin to get an idea of the trading markets overseas. With a twelve hour time difference, this can be a nearly impossible task. It became clear that I was going to have to work the “night shift” for my final two months in the States, so I could partially overlap with Hong Kong’s trading hours. Working from 2am till 10am was tough, but I knew there was no other way to prepare for the big jump.
My last night in the States was spent cheering on the Yankees in the final game of the World Series. Between innings, I was frantically packing twenty-two years of my life into two suitcases and a carry-on. Just after 5am on Thursday, November 5, a car pulled into our driveway to take me to the airport. A three day stopover in London went by quickly and before I knew it, I was on the plane to Hong Kong.
Through this blog, I hope to share with you my experiences, both in and out of the workplace, so that you have a first-hand glimpse into the life of a young college graduate living overseas.
Perhaps I should begin with a little background about the series of events that brought me here.
I grew up in Old Bridge, New Jersey, and started at Villanova in August 2005. The summer after freshman year, I studied and interned in London on a program run by VSB—which was still called C&F (the College of Commerce and Finance) at the time! I journeyed to England with about thirty other Villanovans, got a taste of living in the heart of a major city, interned in the marketing office of the English National Opera and studied management at the London School of Economics. Each aspect of the program helped make it an unforgettable experience. I realized during those ten weeks that I wanted to work overseas.
Back at Villanova, I began making preparations for a semester-long study abroad adventure. A French student since sixth grade, I naturally wound up in Paris for the second half of sophomore year. Those months in France were even more life-changing than I'd ever dreamed they'd be. What I had decided in London was further confirmed by my time in Paris: any way I could, I was working abroad after graduation. But I still had half of college ahead of me.
That summer, I interned on the fixed income trading desk of a major financial firm in Manhattan. It went by quickly, and back at Villanova, I began to take more and more international-themed classes: International Comparative Management, International Finance and Global Business Ethics. First semester senior year, I even took a Chinese cooking class that I never thought would have any practical application in the real world. I had no idea life was leading me to Asia, but then we never know what life has in store.
Senior year, I was frantically searching for a job in the middle of a financial crisis, like the rest of my classmates at Villanova. I was also trying to savor every moment of my final year of college. I was sending my résumé out, going on interviews and dropping hints with family friends that I was looking for a job. Then, one day in early March, I was out to dinner on Staten Island when my dad rang me. My first reaction was one of annoyance—“You know I’m at dinner, why are you calling!?!”—but for some reason, I excused myself from the table and answered.
“What’s up Dad?” I asked, and the irritation quickly faded as he explained the reason for his call. The company he worked for had just announced that they were opening a new branch in Hong Kong. If I was interested in applying for a position, he said, I could submit my résumé for consideration.
A few weeks later, on a Friday morning, I was on an Amtrak en route from 30th Street Station to New York Penn Station for my first interview. I was asked a ton of questions about my career goals, my educational background, my opinions on market conditions and my thoughts on working overseas.
I was invited to come down for another interview a few Fridays later—in fact, it was that very night that I was road-tripping to Detroit for the Final Four games, and it seemed like a nuisance to go to Manhattan again. However, at the end of the interview I was offered the job, which I immediately accepted.
I graduated on May 17, and on June 1, I reported to work at the New York office, literally around the block from the New York Stock Exchange. My primary task was to pass two licensing exams. First up was the Series 7, which is needed to be a registered representative for a securities firm. I passed the test in late July, and the very next day I was given study materials for the Series 24 Exam, to be a registered principal. You see, every office should have a principal, and as I was going to be one of the first employees in Hong Kong, they figured I should get the license right off the bat. While studying for the exam, I was sent to our London office for a week, to spend time shadowing the brokers and training in an international setting. In mid-September, I passed the Series 24. When I came back to the office afterwards, my boss flashed me a huge smile: “All systems go for Hong Kong,” he said.
The final step before leaving was to actually speak with Asian banks and begin to get an idea of the trading markets overseas. With a twelve hour time difference, this can be a nearly impossible task. It became clear that I was going to have to work the “night shift” for my final two months in the States, so I could partially overlap with Hong Kong’s trading hours. Working from 2am till 10am was tough, but I knew there was no other way to prepare for the big jump.
My last night in the States was spent cheering on the Yankees in the final game of the World Series. Between innings, I was frantically packing twenty-two years of my life into two suitcases and a carry-on. Just after 5am on Thursday, November 5, a car pulled into our driveway to take me to the airport. A three day stopover in London went by quickly and before I knew it, I was on the plane to Hong Kong.
.
The adventure of a lifetime had begun!
.
A picture I took one of my first days in
Hong Kong, from the top of Victoria Peak
