Hannah Wang held a long-standing passion for media, although she wasn’t sure how to break into the industry. So she pursued an MBA to facilitate that transition. 

After her MBA at Tsinghua University, she landed a job at Thomson Reuters and is now working in Strategy and Business Development at the international media company.

“An MBA program enables people to make a broad range of career changes, whether it is industry, job function or location,” she says. "The MBA opened a path for me to make all three changes after graduation.”

So how did Hannah undergo her career transformation, known as the MBA triple jump?

Why Tsinghua MBA?

Before business school, Hannah worked for German automaker Daimler in Beijing, focusing on employer branding, HR marketing, and talent management.

When looking into her MBA options, Tsinghua University’s Global MBA Program quickly stood out. Not only is Tsinghua one of the most prestigious business schools in China—the university is ranked first in Asia in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2021—but the program also offers students the opportunity to immerse themselves in many international learning experiences. 

Hannah travelled to Dubai, Singapore and Switzerland during her course, and completed an exchange program at the Yale School of Management. Those experiences expanded her horizons and enabled her to collaborate with dynamic teams and look at business issues from different perspectives. 

                                                                                Hannah Wang at her Commencement Ceremony

International MBA experience in China

In Dubai, she participated in the Hult Prize case competition, an annual event that crowd-sources innovative ideas from MBA students about solving social, environmental, and governance challenges. 

“Having this opportunity to travel to Dubai to discuss building a social enterprise to support migrant workers in China was a unique cross-cultural experience,” she reflects. “It allowed us to think beyond traditional rarefied MBA circles and keep us grounded on social issues.”

In Singapore, she visited Temasek, a sovereign wealth fund as well as various other local companies, enabling her to better understand the country’s business success, and its journey from a humble beginning to a global economic hub.

In Switzerland, Hannah participated in the St Gallen Symposium, the university equivalent of Davos. It’s a symposium of prominent world leaders in business and government, with a mission to foster cross-generational conversations on economic and social development. 

Hannah submitted an essay on China’s millennial generation and their ambitions, which made her one of the winners of the Global Essay Competition. This qualified her to directly participate in these panel conversations. 

“All of these experiences help you build confidence and give you a global perspective that is fostered by the MBA program,” she adds.

In addition to this knowledge about global business, Hannah acquired expertise on China’s role in it—echoing the Tsinghua’s slogan of “China Roots, Global Vision”.

“China is going to continue to play an important role in reshaping the global economy,” she says. “To understand the remarkable technological and business innovation happening in China, one needs to have on the ground experience, coupled with a nuanced understanding of its market and cultural context. This is precisely what a Tsinghua MBA can provide.”

Tsinghua Global MBA— with its faculty and student body hailing from around the world—also gave Hannah ample opportunities to practice working as part of a diverse team. 

“We had a lot of group projects during the program, where you try to tackle a business issue as if you were in a real-life work environment,” she says. “That taught us how to work with others and complement the skill sets of other team members.”

Landing an MBA job at Thomson Reuters

Armed with a new global outlook and refined teamwork skills, Hannah got her foot in the door of her dream career.

In the summer after her first year of the MBA, she successfully applied to be a Summer Associate at Thomson Reuters’ Beijing office.

She took a short stint at Reuters Beijing Bureau, focusing on company news and technology sectors, and then had the opportunity to start a rotation as a Management Associate in New York. After a second rotation in Reuters New York office, she landed at her current job. 

Now a Senior Manager in the Strategy and Business Development team, Hannah analyzes growth opportunities and builds strategic partnerships in the media and technology space. “I see myself at the intersection of business and media, complemented with an international perspective,” she says. 

She credits her MBA for providing her with the competences, confidence, and sense of initiative required to thrive at Thomson Reuters. 

“You learn about the basis of strategy but more importantly you learn critical thinking, problem solving, and develop communication skills,” she says. “Then it's up to us as students to assemble those different building blocks and create a path that can help us achieve our goals."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          By Chloé Meley