In September 2020, our Founder, spoke to Mônica Zionede Hall, who is the Founder of Feliz Consulting, Hong Kong among others, to understand what Mônica and foreign organizations looks for in their interns.
FELIZ Consulting’s Founder and CEO Mônica Zionede Hall Speaks on What She Looks Out for in Interns and Job Seekers
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
As part of Internship Bank’s interview series aimed at diving deep into different topics on how to ace internships, we bring to you our very first interview of this series.
In this interview, our Founder Debolina Saha Narayanan talks with Mônica Zionede Hall, Founder and CEO of FELIZ Consulting, Hong Kong (FELIZ), an experienced corporate trainer and coach with over 15 years of experience in the learning and developmental space, working particularly with leading law firm clients.
Started in early 2015 by Mônica Zionede Hall, FELIZ is a leading boutique training and coaching company based in Hong Kong providing bespoke, fun, meaningful and interactive corporate training, coaching and consultancy services across the Asia-Pacific region.
FELIZ has gained a quick and unique reputation in Hong Kong and APAC region, especially in the legal and financial industries for providing truly customised training workshops, coaching sessions and facilitations that meet the clients’ needs while making a lasting positive impact not only at the business but at the individual level as well.
In June 2020, Internship Bank successfully placed an intern with FELIZ and since then the journey has been exceptional with FELIZ extending the one month internship of Alice Tsui to five months! FELIZ promised to hire more candidates from Internship Bank and to continue this positive relationship. In this interview, our Founder Debolina discusses with Mônica some of the business’ expectations. They hope that all interested applicants at InternshipBank can gain new insights and some guidance on how to tailor their applications for an internship at FELIZ and perhaps at other places too!
FELIZ has gained a quick and unique reputation in Hong Kong and APAC region, especially in the legal and financial industries for providing truly customised training workshops, coaching sessions and facilitations that meet the clients’ needs while making a lasting positive impact not only at the business but at the individual level as well.
In June 2020, Internship Bank successfully placed an intern with FELIZ and since then the journey has been exceptional with FELIZ extending the one month internship of Alice Tsui to five months! FELIZ promised to hire more candidates from Internship Bank and to continue this positive relationship. In this interview, our Founder Debolina discusses with Mônica some of the business’ expectations. They hope that all interested applicants at InternshipBank can gain new insights and some guidance on how to tailor their applications for an internship at FELIZ and perhaps at other places too!
Q: What do you think are some of the basic professional attributes that all potential candidates should acquire?
In an ideal world, there are a lot of things I wish candidates had, but I believe in people development, this is what I teach. So, I believe that everyone can learn, improve and develop in their roles. For me and FELIZ, I feel there are five main attributes I am looking for in a candidate: proactiveness, humility, good organisational skills, good listening skills and a growth mindset. Interns should also be curious, proactively seek feedback and learn to take negative comments in a positive light.
Q: What sort of interests do successful applicants need to show to secure an internship experience with you?
It is nice for candidates to have diverse interests. This gives candidates the ability to think from different perspectives and therefore to present different view-points in any kind of discussion, which enriches any dialogue, as well as the end result. It also helps develop the candidate to come up with “out-of-the-box” solutions and suggestions, which I highly value – and my clients do too.
In addition, general interests such as travelling and reading are also helpful given that such activities often help broaden one’s outlook and make an individual more open-minded. Diversity in interests also demonstrate a candidate’s willingness to learn about additional subjects other than their main “academic topics”. Lastly, my business is very much a “people business,” which means that it is important for me (and candidates) to come across well personally, with real interests, ideally beyond just business or academic skills. I for instance love yoga, meditation, running, reading and lately I started learning mahjong (just for fun!).
Q: Are there any specific applications or soft skills which candidates should be well versed in or develop in order to have a successful application and a fruitful internship program?
Soft skills have gained a lot more importance over the years. In fact, nowadays in business, soft skills are referred to in the HR/L&D space as “professional skills” rather than “soft skills”. They are often as important – or even more important – in my view, than technical skills. Organisations are investing heavily in training programs, coaching and mentoring that help build such skill-sets in their workplace – emotional intelligence, resilience, communication skills, presentation, personal branding and presence, feedback, leadership and so forth. These will only become more important in the future.
Therefore, I believe that students should develop both their technical skills and their interpersonal, social skills. They should also develop the habits of asking more questions, being active listeners, attending webinars, events and putting themselves “out there”. In general, they should show a genuine interest in learning.
Q: How important do you think activities like public speaking and acquiring leadership positions, such as editorial positions, are when reviewing applications of students?
Of course it goes without saying that such activities definitely make a candidate stand out among other applicants.
In fact, I definitely notice that most internship applicants these days have a host of extra-curricular activities on their curriculum vitae. So securing internships has definitely become more competitive! However, I think students should not feel pressured into undertaking such activities for the sake of taking them. They should only do activities if they have a genuine interest and see the benefits. That way, students can dig deeper and get more out of the process.
For example, my 15-year-old daughter is very eco-conscious, and therefore volunteers at an organization called ‘Us For Planet’. She really likes the work because she is motivated by the meaningful cause and therefore gains a lot from the experience, both in terms of learning more about the subject, but also the process of doing lots of things in an organization. However, having fun should not translate into doing the same thing over and over again, staying in the comfort zone. I suggest students to push themselves out of their comfort zone and never be afraid of trying new things. That’s how we grow and there is always something new to learn!
Q: What are the major attributes you look for in your candidates for internships?
As I mentioned earlier, I believe some of the most essential qualities that a candidate should have are high doses of proactiveness, humility, active listening, mindset and organizational skills. At FELIZ Consulting, I also look for interns that have good social skills and the ability to continue developing their interpersonal skills by observing how I interact with my clients during various meetings online or face to face, and during training programs, webinars and different events. Having curiosity is really important!
Q: What level of societal awareness do you expect from your candidates?
While I expect a high level of social awareness from my interns, I understand that this is a new professional environment for them and so I always try and mentor, share my experiences with my interns in order to help them get as much out of the overall internship. I constantly seek curious candidates who are eager to learn, receive/give feedback and ask questions.
Q. How important do you think it is for young professionals to have an opinion as well as general awareness on prevailing social issues? Do you think this helps them in the long run?
I think it’s very important for young and older people to think over issues of social justice and equality, and figure out ways to help. What can we do in our day-to-day to add value? With our interactions? At home? Outside? On an internship or other work? And then later when we get to higher career positions? An interest in social issues can also help foster a sense of gratitude among students, empathy and care. For example, in my home country of Brazil, many people are struggling to earn a basic living wage. It is good to look at all our privileges, and be aware of such social inequalities and be more grateful for what we have- and then see how we can help to improve the situation?
I also think that interns have an important role to play in ‘reverse mentorship’. While many may see the new younger generation as result-oriented and “spoiled”, I actually think that young people today are very socially aware and dedicated to changing the world for the better. They want to make a difference. It is therefore helpful if students take the initiative to educate their seniors, share new and different perspectives… of course in a careful and polite manner using their best interpersonal skills!
Q. In light of a growing trend towards specializing in a certain field, do you feel that specialization at a junior/ college level is beneficial or at all recommended to candidates?
It is difficult to judge whether specialization is a good thing or a bad thing. It depends on both one’s own interests, and the specific job description and requirements.
But one thing I suggest is that students should always tailor their cover letter and curriculum vitae to the specific job they are applying to. In fact this is something I teach to my coaching clients. We should look at the “AIMB” (Audience, Intention, Message and Benefits for your audience). With the AIMB model we should always tailor the communication to the audience we are interacting with. If it is an email, a call, cover letter, resume, or in person, it matters a lot to customise it.
For cover letters, it is important to highlight the skill-sets interns bring to the table after carefully considering the nature and business of the company and the job description. If the job requires specialized skills, then it is important to show that you possess the requested skills and even use similar words that emphasise your match for the job. In case the job description is more general, then it is good to show that you are flexible, adaptable and versatile.
Q. In your view, what should the applicant have gained after the completion of the internship program?
There is no one single answer to this question. I strongly believe that what an intern will get from the internship depends on how much effort the person is willing to put into the internship opportunity. Interns in any position should try to hone their organizational, interpersonal, communication and drafting skills, including learning how to write effective e-mails, thank-you notes, handle enquires, see how a RFP (request for proposal) works, building rapport with a client and beyond.
As FELIZ is mainly involved in the business of training and coaching (a lot of lawyers in particular!), interns will specifically have an exposure to different training programs that FELIZ regularly conducts for leading law firms in Asia such as Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Mayer Brown, King Wood & Mallesons and so forth, including topics such as ‘diversity and inclusion and unconscious bias’, ‘ways to make effective presentations’, ‘forging lasting client connections’, ‘effective giving and receiving feedback’, ‘executive presence’, ‘time management’ and so forth.
Q. Do you have any advice for potential candidates? Whether their application is successful or not, any particular quality or skill which generally helps in professional life?
My advice to the candidates would be to expose themselves to new learnings, opportunities and experiences as much as possible. I strongly recommend watching TED Talks, taking a course at Coursera, listening to podcasts, doing mindfulness daily, attending new webinar events, engaging in your community and outside, – basically anything that can expand the mind and motivate!
Also, at the cost of repeating myself I would say, continue being proactive, humble, a good listener, organized and working on that growth mindset!
Q. Do you have any book suggestions or a quote to give to the readers as we come to the end of this interview?
A few weeks ago I finished reading “Becoming” by Michelle Obama and I loved it! There is a lot of wonderful stories and inspiration, very eloquent and relatable- a reflective coming-of-age story that is really inspiring to so many women. A wonderful read!
Since mentioning the book, here are two wonderful quotes from it as well:
“If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming
“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming
To know more about Mônica and FELIZ Consulting, please Follow FELIZ on LinkedIn https://ph.linkedin.com/company/feliz-consulting