Young Park

 

 

Professional skills are the base. Having the business/industry knowledge and network definitely is an asset. CGI services many industry sectors: public, health care, insurance, banking, utility, telecom, and etc. Having the industry knowledge in one or more sectors and as well, developed networks in those areas are definitely strong assets for progressing through a career. Another aspect is the dedication to work while balancing personal life. I believe that you cannot progress through your career at a normal pace while doing everything others enjoy. I generally work 60-70 hours a week and I know my colleagues do, too. A secret is to find social satisfaction within professional life. Lastly, professionals need to manage corporate politics. You don’t have to be political, but you should understand the corporate politics and respond appropriately.

 

I believe there is no secret method. You should leverage your basic skills such as intuitiveness and strong interpersonal skills. Then, you could learn other skills such as negotiation and effective communication. You could also learn about yourself and how to work with others through tools such Myers-Briggs or leadership training program. Other than having skills, you should understand the corporate management and network. Now with great sources such as LinkedIn, you can learn about your management team’s professional background and their network. Finding a good mentor/coach and your sponsor would definitely help. I recommend that young professionals define their values early on and let them be their professional foundation and guidance.

 

Working in small companies has its advantages. Small companies generally tend to have smaller scaled initiatives and fewer positions defined, hence the scope of each position tends to be wider than larger companies. For example, a team manager may be also a project manager and a system architect. Therefore, you have an opportunity to take a broader role and progress through the career quicker. I had a chance to work in a small private consulting company for 2 years. The business owner was an entrepreneur without any large corporate experience but had business acumen to grow the company to $20M annual revenue with multiple clients. They were facing some governance and management challenges, so I was offered a job as VP to address their IT challenges. Although I was a VP, my scope of responsibilities was much broader than other VP colleagues at large companies.

During that period, I realized that I had learned more than what I thought I learned by working at large companies for over 15 years. Subconsciously, I learned how to implement an organizational structure and governance processes, learned industry best practices and tools, took a full advantage of the strong training program, and more. Being in a large company, you learn lot more than the core technical skills you are performing at your level. These foundational elements are great assets later in your career.

Also, when working in a large company, you have greater career development/change opportunities without moving to another company. I like learning, creating new things and implementing new initiatives. Working in a large company enabled me to develop end-to-end IT management skills, work in many departments, and work in many industries.

In conclusion, there are benefits to working at small or large companies. You should understand your career objectives and career path, then pick a company that aligns to your goals.

My success was mainly from having two mentors who really helped me with my career planning and increase my self-confidence when I lacked. Their sponsorship was the catalyst to my swift progression at CGI. Finding a mentor who understands you, supports you, and can pull you up as they progress through their career as well is critical to young professionals.

First of all, students should know the field they are interested versus what their parents expects.  I believe some of the popular professionals are medical doctors, university professors, lawyers, engineers, and architects. However, they may not be the right field for many students.

Secondly, students should research the field they are interested in. For each area, there are many different types of career options. For example, in IT field, there are hundreds of career paths; consulting vs operations, technical vs business, business processing vs research and development, non-management vs management, then there are industries to choose from…  Universities don’t explain all of the career options. I have 2 suggestions. The first one is to enroll into a co-op program. Having hands-on experiences in corporate environments provide opportunities to validate your expectation. Also, you have an opportunity to work for a few companies and learn their culture. More importantly, in case of the co-op program for University of Waterloo, you build up to 2 years of professional experience, and that would give you the edge over other graduates with no professional experience. The second suggestion I have is to learn about the field you are studying by reaching out to a network such as JoinTheLeaders, attend free seminars, talk to alumni, etc. These steps also help you build your own professional network.

 

I was stronger in math and analytics, but I didn’t know what career options were available.  High School teachers and adults around me were suggesting engineering, architecture, etc.  However, one of the high school guidance councillors recommended Computer Science program at UoW. As I went through my co-op terms, I knew that I didn’t want to remain as a programmer. And I also knew that I wanted to move into management. With that objective, I balanced my training between technical and soft skills courses. When I met my 2 terrific mentors, I was encouraged and inspired to be an executive.

 

 

CGI is the 7th largest independent business and IT consulting company in the world. With 31,000 professionals in 125 offices worldwide, CGI provides end-to-end IT and business services to clients to achieve their business goals. Currently, I lead the Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance vertical for the GTA business unit in CGI. With that, I am responsible for our business growth strategy, sales, services to P&C clients across Canada, annual revenue of $100+M, and 200+ IT professionals.

 
How did being one of the few women in IT industry affect your career?

 

IT industry is quite advanced now. As a result, I believe a glass ceiling for female has been raised, or in some companies/industries, it is completely removed. There are many female CxOs in fortune 500 companies to support that fact. However, I often see female choosing to take a greater role in raising children and participating in their activities. That choice may limit their opportunities to network after-hours, limit their career options, and potentially slow their career growth. I had turned down several promotional opportunities, however, once I was focused on my career, being a female didn’t impact my career. As I progress through my career, I have been struggling with the work-life balance. Generally, sleep is what I sacrifice. I believe this is due to my appetite for work versus being a female.

 

Relationship absolutely is important, especially during the opportunity development phase.   However, it is not the only factor that will win the business. Customers make sound business decisions based on critical business facts. All being equal, having a strong relationship with clients will tip the scale to your side. These days, especially after a few bad scandals in the public sector, everything is traceable and auditable. Most companies run through RFP (request for proposal) processes, and contracts are won based on the best price, highest value, strong track record, competencies and relationship. Hence, in the end, you need to have the fundamentals to actually win the business.

What patterns and trends do you see in the Korean Canadian community today? How would you situate the young Korean professionals in Canada over the next 5 to 10 years?