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Programme Information Pack Cross-cultural Career Coaching

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Version 20.02.18

About Mandarin Consulting

Cross-cultural Career Coaching

Testimonials from Candidates

What to do next?

Press Releases

“During the last few decades in China, many people’s lives have changed for the better. At Mandarin Consulting, we continue to improve young people’s lives through helping them to start and build their international career.”

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Carrie Waley is the CEO and founder of Mandarin Consulting and a leading specialised China consultant in the UK. She has wide-spread Sino-British business experience and has worked in public relations, education, media, recruitment and training. Carrie is fully conversant with both Chinese and British culture and has worked in China, Hong Kong and the UK.1

ABOUT MANDARIN CONSULTING

Mandarin Consulting is a cross-cultural career coaching industry leader, arguably offering the most comprehensive and effective career enhancement service for Chinese students and graduates in the world.

Our highly experienced Western coaches have helped thousands of ambitious Chinese students and graduates to secure positions in top-tier global firms. Strategically based in the UK, US and China, we provide a round-the-clock worldwide coaching service, enabling our clients to succeed in the highly competitive, global job market for internships and post-graduate employment.

For more information, please visit us at www.mciworldwide.co.uk.

• We enable ambitious Chinese students and graduates to launch and progress their international careers effectively. We help them to enter top-tier global firms.

Our Mission is to Change People’s Lives:

We are:

• A cross-cultural coaching industry leader, arguably offering the most comprehensive and effective career enhancement service for Chinese students and graduates in the world.

• A company of dedicated and experienced Western professionals with multi-industry experience engaged in coaching, with the support of bilingual Chinese professionals with an in-depth understanding of our clients’ needs.

• Strategically based in the UK, US and China, providing round-the-clock worldwide assistance.

• Proud of our highly successful track record of helping thousands of clients.

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• Bridging cultural differences to achieve effective communication and connection.

• Leveraging a Chinese background as a competitive advantage and strength to compete in the international job market.

• Strategically planning personal career goals based on skills and interests, to make the optimal career choice and direction to achieve success.

• Discovering and making the most of personal strengths, talents, interests and abilities during job applications.

• Understanding Western international companies’ recruitment and selection processes and thinking.

Client Benefits:

• Learning to demonstrate passion, motivation, confidence, commercial awareness, critical and independent thinking, and key competencies during interviews through all stages of the recruitment process.

• Learning to be at ease and communicate effectively with Westerners through vital practice in one-to-one coaching sessions.

• Develop professional knowledge, behaviour, understanding and skills to utilise such knowledge and understanding in their application process and in their graduate careers.3

Key Coaching Team Members

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Our coaches are senior professionals and executives from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries including: banking, accounting, FMCG, legal, and investment industries. All have worked in Western international firms using English as their first language.

They are dedicated, highly skilled and knowledgeable about Western business culture and practices, most have lived and worked in several countries.

Many have long HR careers and know the graduate recruitment processes thoroughly from the inside.

Brian Renwick has lived and worked in six major organisations in six countries. He undertook one of the very first full-time post-graduate programmes in HR Management. His career therefore spans almost the entire history of modern day HR management. After 12 years in the UK, Brian worked in manufacturing in the Middle East for five years before top HR roles in Hong Kong with the Jockey Club and HSBC. He started his own Hong Kong based management consulting business in 1995. The company has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Brian now lives in the UK but commutes regularly to Hong Kong. He joined Mandarin Consulting three years ago and is now Head Coach.

Sally Patterson began her journalistic career at the BBC after graduating. She went on to work in radio and television as a journalist, broadcaster, political commentator and writer in Hong Kong. Sally hosted her own weekly television current affairs programme and has extensive radio broadcasting and reporting experience. She has also written for daily newspapers and periodicals. Her journalistic work took her to China and elsewhere in Asia as well as to the United Nations and Europe. She has experience in publishing, public relations and marketing. Sally’s broad work experience, her multicultural background and her empathetic manner give her excellent qualities for coaching and giving careers advice.

Sarah Olsen qualified as a Chartered Accountant before gaining a First Class degree in Modern Languages and Business Studies. She has held an on-site investigation, reporting and trouble-shooting role at the German subsidiary of a FTSE100 company.

5 Advisory and Support Team:

Sarah also worked as an internal consultant on business risk at a leading, multinational life insurance company. Sarah is a qualified Coach and Mentor. For the last 12 years, she has coached hundreds of executives, professionals and students as well as delivering workshops and seminars to business groups, SMEs and large corporations. Sarah is keen to work with our candidates and support them to realise their goals and ambitions.

Amy-Louise Goldberg is the Vice President Head of Coaching and Talent Management of our coaching team in the US. Previously she worked as a search consultant for over 19 years, placing executives in human resource roles at firms such as American Express, PwC Consulting, and Cummins Engine. Amy-Louise’s commitment to developing a professional skill base among those individuals seeking global careers informs her ongoing coaching work and dovetails with her passion for helping others reach their career goals.

Claire Lyell graduated with a Modern Languages degree from Cambridge University. She was one of the first two women recruited into the Swire Group graduate scheme. Postings in the Hong Kong head office, Manila and Bangkok allowed her to develop a strong feel for different Asian cultures. She has taken her career into the luxury goods industry, strategy consulting, headhunting and leadership development.

Eric Waley was educated at Eton College and Cambridge University with both a BA and an MA in Law. He has worked for the Hong Kong Government and also practised as a barrister-at-law in Hong Kong and in the UK. Eric’s legal career has given him an in-depth

We also have a group of highly dedicated Chinese bilingual programme consultants to advise students, graduates and UK based job seekers on all issues concerning international job opportunities for Chinese graduates.

The support team will ensure our candidates can use our programme effectively.

Please visit our website for more information about our team.

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In addition, Mandarin Consulting has a team of part time specialists. These are selected from top young native English speakers who have all succeeded in applying to international companies for internships and graduate schemes.

These specialists receive training from Mandarin Consulting in order to provide support to candidates during

the early stages of their applications.

qualified as an Equity Investment Analyst and has been an associate member of the Institute of Investment Management and Research and the European Federation of Financial Analysts. She has also established a second career in the arts.

Greg Gaynor has long established connections with China after graduating from the University of Leeds and Nankai University with a BA in Chinese. Greg has worked as an English teacher followed by working for foreign international companies in a variety of positions. His last role at Alltech, a large multinational company as an IT and business consultant has given him in-depth understanding of various business functions. Greg has a Chinese wife and his fluency in Chinese and understanding of Chinese society make him a valuable member of our coaching team in China.

Monica Chetal-Sharma has spent 20 years working in leading multinational organisations within IT and HR Management. She grew to work for Coca-Cola India as their Assistant Manager in the Training Centre. Monica led strategic HR projects and initiatives, including areas such as management development,

understanding of people through his many cases. Eric’s 11 years working in Hong Kong gave him a good understanding of the Far East region including China.

Georgina Kvassay is truly a motivated professional, dedicated to nurturing and developing the talents of determined graduates at KPMG. She holds 17 years of in-house graduate recruitment and development experience, working across an extensive list of over 140 KPMG member firms around the world. Her early career with this prestigious firm witnessed significant increases in graduate recruitment focusing on KPMG’s European Internship Programme. She also helped launch one of the first 100% online recruitment processes and partnered with Cambridge University.

Gisele Edwards has a BA Hons in Oriental Studies from Cambridge and a Postgraduate Diploma from SOAS. She was awarded a British Council scholarship to study at Nanjing Normal University. Professionally Gisele has been involved with aspects of asset management, analysis and due diligence, and subsequently with editing and writing on investment strategy for asset management houses. She is

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coaching, performance management and conducting budgetary and bench-marking exercises. This experience has given her great insight into such a cutting-edge and innovative company.

Patrick Reid gained a Biochemistry degree, an MBA and a PhD in Biochemistry from Manchester University. He worked in leading multinational pharmaceutical companies such as ICI and AstraZeneca for some 20 years. In AstraZeneca he was a founding member of an internal innovation team. Prior to this he worked as Director of Global eMarketing. More recently he has worked with WCI Consulting and Eden McCallum. Patrick’s work in a number of leading UK business schools, including Warwick and Manchester, demonstrates his strong interest in helping individuals realise their potential.

Peter Ward has led a successful career at IBM spanning more than 30 years. He started off his IBM career in the Automotive Industry becoming Technical Leader for Europe, responsible for implementing the technical strategy for delivering IBM’s business objectives. During this time he worked with clients such as Ford of Europe and Red Bull

Racing. Later, Peter held other roles such as Client Technical Advisor Programme Manager for Europe and Technical Sales Executive for the Middle East and Africa, where he was in charge of leading and representing business-critical technical leaders in a sales environment targeting revenue of $1b. His IBM career culminated in 2014 as Eminence Programme Manager for Europe, setting goals and direction for professionals at all levels of IBM, and showing them how to lead by example.

Mike Potter has 45 years’ international experience, 30 of which are with the British Council in educational management, project design and management for English language programmes, including teacher training, curricula, syllabuses and professional conferences. Since leaving the British Council in 1999, Mike has worked as a consultant in programme design and management for a number of prestigious organisations. In 1998 Mike received an OBE from Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth for his lifelong outstanding contribution for promoting British education abroad.

These are just a few of our current team of coaches. For full details of all our coaches please go to: [Our Team]

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Every year, thousands of internships and graduate vacancies are offered by international companies worldwide, many of which offer work permits for international graduates, including Chinese students and graduates.

The biggest challenge for Chinese applicants is their lack of understanding of the recruitment process adopted by international companies and their selection methods and thinking. There is also a deficiency in their basic knowledge of international companies and other essential insights into professional life internationally. Even good quality students fail to pass the first stage of the application process.

Our programme aims to provide essential coaching to enable candidates to reach their potential.

CROSS-CULTURAL CAREER COACHING

9What do you get from the Cross-cultural Career Coaching?

Mandarin Consulting helps graduates and students like you to have a better chance of getting jobs in international companies through a structured, tailor-made and one-to-one programme designed specifically for you. The programme helps you through each part of the application

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process and is supported by our large team of highly experienced international professionals who have management experience in major companies and a track record of successfully helping candidates get these jobs.

Our programmes also help you to develop your business knowledge, which will not only form an essential part in helping you to get a top internship or job offer but will also be the basis for a great career, wherever you are.

At Mandarin Consulting, we believe:

• The whole aim of coaching in Mandarin Consulting is to close the gap between the potential and actual performance of our candidates.

• Through coaching, people are able to find their own solutions, develop their own skills and change their attitudes and behaviour.

• Our coaching helps candidates develop their job seeking skills and develop professionally with a correct and deeper understanding of professional life, so that they can realise their full potential in the job market.

• YOU provide your strong drive, determination and willingness to learn and improve.

Gold Package

First Step Coaching + Personal Application Skills Coaching

1. First step documents

To be sent for self-study and reference which includes Application Guidelines and Programme User Manual.

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2. First step coaching

Small group workshop, conducted by one of our workshop coaches, on the following key areas:

• An introduction to the differences between graduate schemes and internships in Western international companies and why we recommend graduate schemes wherever possible

• Motivation questions and how to answer them

• Competency-based questions and the best way to approach them

• General questions and how to deal with them

• Commercial awareness questions and what is required to answer these types of questions

• How to produce an effective CV and cover letter

• The revision procedure and how to get the best out of our programme

One-to-one coaching by one of our designated CV revision coaches:

• One CV revision session

• Personalised common online application questions coaching (six main competency examples will be discussed during the coaching). Further help can be obtained by your personal coach as included in the personal coaching programme.

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3. Follow up one-to-one coaching:

• Application revisions – eight sets of open question revisions

• Further support to be provided by the personal coach

• Interview coaching – unlimited for all internship and graduate scheme applications

• Assessment centre coaching – unlimited until the first graduate scheme offer is accepted; unlimited for all internship applications

4. Application skills coaching:

1) Career planning – candidates will have the opportunity to have in-depth discussions with their coach, who has a wide range of experience and contacts in various sectors in the UK. A set of company sector lists, specially selected, will be sent to the candidate after the career planning session to help them understand their chosen industries. Candidates will be expected to start carrying out research and then start applying for positions agreed on the schedule.

2) Personal development plan – to be created by personal coach and candidates. The plan aims to assist the coach to effectively plan how to help the candidate with basic application skills over the course of the 15 personal coaching hours included in this package.

3) Vacancy research – the personal coach will show candidates how to find opportunities through networking and how to carry out self-referrals using on-the-ground social and business activities, career fairs, university career seminars, open days, insight days organised by companies, voluntary work and through social media such as LinkedIn.

4) Planning for the interview process – practise verbal, numerical and situational judgement tests, telephone interviews, video interviews, face-to-face interviews and assessment centres, including how to dress and improve appearance.

5) Motivation questions – the personal coach must be sure that the candidate has a genuinely strong motivation before he or she makes an application to a particular job.

6) Key competency questions – leadership, teamwork, communication skills, creativity, overcoming difficulties, innovation, problem solving, analytical thinking, and others.

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7) Commercial awareness-related questions – the personal coach must facilitate the candidate’s understanding in this area by finding a few topics that interest the candidate. By reading financial news (e.g. The Economist) and practising with the coach, the candidate can get used to discussing commercial awareness issues with a professional.

8) General questions – the personal coach must prepare candidates to be able to talk effectively about personal interests, passions, hobbies and other types of questions during the entire application process.

9) Business and social awareness – how to behave in an appropriate international business manner, this includes: dress, food, manners, eating and drinking, fitting in, joining in events, how to say ‘no’, and mobile phone courtesy.

10) Improving written and spoken English – the coach can assign some time for this exercise but the coach should also be aware of English improvement programmes since it is hard to make a significant difference in just a few hours.

Platinum Package

Gold + Professional Development Coaching

Suggested topics

1. Understanding Western international company values – in Western international business, a key factor of success is understanding Western values. It is not a question of right or wrong but each group has its own way of looking at the world and at values, moral issues and so on. Our candidates need to know what is expected of them once they are at work in an international company.

2. Different Western organisational structures – how they operate; why they are needed; different structures to meet different needs; understanding corporate hierarchies and values; the overall role functions for each division.

3. How the key functions interact – HR, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Production, Research and others. What are their roles? We are talking about not only what the functions do but also how they interact. The point here is to highlight the roles of each function but also the tensions that necessarily and correctly exist between them (checks and balances). It is similar to the teamwork topics below but describing how a whole structure works.

4. Teaming and teamwork – how to fully play your part in a team; what to do and what not to do; team leadership UK style; motivation of teams and structures; helping others; being ‘easy to work with’; what are their own preferred team roles?

5. Importance and skills of networking – what this means in practice; getting involved in

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voluntary activities; keeping track of friends and colleagues; being interested; how to avoid office politics and how to deal with them; being fair and straightforward.

6. Common challenges in a trainee’s life – what to do when you have nothing to do; how to observe and learn; how to volunteer yet not be a shoe-shiner; doing whatever you do perfectly; asking questions.

Diamond Package Gold + Platinum + Professional Insight Coaching

1. Leadership and management – theory and practice, situational leadership, do’s and don’ts on becoming a supervisor, performance appraisal as a team leader, different types of bosses. Here, we are talking about a (very condensed) standard junior management course.

2. Important general technical skills – report writing, PowerPoint and presentations, emails, correct use of e-media, budgeting and margins, forecasting and planning. Here, we explore how to write a report well,

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how to prepare and deliver a presentation well (with or without PowerPoint) and how to prepare a basic budget and make a business forecast.

3. Career self-development – what you need to do; how to learn more; the need for patience and accepting reality; typical schemes and their advantages/disadvantages. At the start of a career, upward movement may seem to take a long time – this may seem far too long for some. Most corporations will not consider real career progression for at least two years after joining.

7. How your performance will be judged – targets and target setting; appraisals and reviews; how to react, learn and respond; generally, target-setting is the norm but so are competency-based assessments; most companies also ask for employees’ own assessment of themselves and to set their own targets; we show candidates how to do this to their advantage.

8. Communicating with others – the art of being seen and being appreciated; how to shine without being pushy; how to be fluent and precise in public and private conversations; how to impress; making a good presentation; how to write good corporate English.

9. Work/life balance – is it important to you? How do you achieve it? Should you follow your UK colleagues? What are your life goals? Planning for a good career long-term. This is a personal matter that depends on the person’s position in life, family status, health and engagement with work.

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4. Business etiquette – how to communicate well, eating and drinking with others, trust and lack of trust, active listening and work ethic; how to behave professionally in various situations (joining, resigning, being promoted, being turned down for promotion, and being fired).

5. Entrepreneurial spirit and skills – these are needed to perform well, even in a large company. Candidates need to learn what this means and how to find opportunities to develop and demonstrate such skills. A successful “Entrepreneur” needs not only to be able to understand all aspects of the external environment, but also to navigate the large, and sometimes maze-like, internal corporate environment which can often be weighed down with politics.

6. Social life in business – Clubs and societies, entertaining, being entertained, understanding how (and how not) to ‘use’ others, and CSR in your company. Much of this section is likely to be personality-based. It will become even clearer to the candidate that life is about choices and few of these are black and white. Each choice has consequences.

7. Cultural awareness for international business – comparison of the main cultural differences between varying regions and countries. The impact of this on business life (power distance, sociability, authority, relations with bosses and peers, etc.). This topic examines the significant cultural differences which our candidates will face in real life when dealing with someone from a culture they have not encountered before.

8. Public affairs – being an ambassador for the firm; participating in public life; becoming a ‘go-to’ person; acquiring real specialist expertise; press, media and candidate relations. It is unlikely that many new employees will have to face the media, but some employers will feel proud of having a well-qualified Chinese graduate to show off to the world in some way.

9. Awkward moments – how to deal with colleagues, bosses and senior management; how to ask for a raise; dealing with complaints about yourself; complaining to the boss; and conflicts of loyalty. In this topic, we talk about how to handle every experience that might make an individual feel awkward or deal with situations in which the candidate lacks experience.

10. Coaching for life – how does my personality and ambition fit in; how do I fulfil my ambition; how can I make the best use of my talents in this organisation; problem-solving and situational judgement; confidence (but not too much!).

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* until the candidate accepts their first graduate job.

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Topic Gold Platinum Diamond First Step Documents

• Application Guide and Programme User Manual

First Step Coaching

• Workshop

• Generic CV revision and production

• Six common competency questions coaching

• Eight application revisions

Ongoing One-to-one Coaching

• Interview coaching (unlimited)*

• Assessment centre coaching (unlimited)*

Application Skills Coaching

• Personal development plan and career planning

• Vacancy research assistance, including self-referrals through various on-the-ground and social media platforms

• Planning for the interview process

• Motivation questions

• Competency questions

• Commercial awareness questions

• General questions

• Business and social awareness coaching

• English improvement

Professional Development Coaching

• Understanding Western international company values

• How different Western international organisations operate

• How the key functions work and interact in a company

• Teaming and teamwork

• Importance and skills of networking

• Challenges for trainees

• How your performance will be judged

• Communication with others

• Work/life balance

Professional Insight Coaching

• Leadership and management

• General professional skills (budgeting, report writing etc.)

• Career self-development

• Business etiquette

• How to be an entrepreneur within a corporation

• Social life in business

• Cultural awareness in multinational companies

• Public affairs

• Awkward moments

• Coaching for life

“My CV was not very balanced as I had a lot of university debating experience, but not any internship experiences.

MC helped me a lot to revise it, adjusting the layout and polishing the language. During my interview at the United Nations, my interviewer even commented that, of all the CVs he had seen, mine was the most impressive!”

TESTIMONIALS FROM CANDIDATES

M. Chen – UNESCO

“I was frustrated about my job applications before I turned to Mandarin Consulting.

I’d like to give a big thanks to my coach on receiving my dream offer from PwC. In addition to my job offer, I gained understanding about businesses and cultural differences. I improved my commercial awareness and learned a lot from our discussion on some hot issues such as Brexit and the One Belt One Road initiative.

My coach had work experience in both the UK and China, and he shared with me his understanding of cultural differences in businesses between the UK and China.”

X. Meng – PwC

J. He – BP

“I only started applying for jobs after finishing my Master’s degree, when I only had 2 months left on my visa. However, this was not an excuse to not try and get a job.

I followed the coaches’ instructions and advice thoroughly, utilised my coaching sessions fully, did my homework and asked many questions. It is never too early, nor too late. The coaches were really great; they gave me so much help and encouragement!”

2019

“Thank you so much for today’s amazing session!! It is the first time I feel truly happy. The sessions have been so helpful to me! They gave me a lot of encouragement and guidance, both academically and practically!”

We have further detailed success stories from many candidates. For more examples, please go to: [Success Stories]

“I just received an email from Mazars saying that I have passed the first round interview with them and they will confirm my assessment centre date soon. Thank you very much for your kind help and useful suggestions. I used some techniques that we had discussed in my interview and it was successful.”

“I feel lucky to have you as my coach. You gave me great information about how to prepare for the interview. I learnt a lot about what a company looks for, how to be an appropriate candidate and how to sell myself. This experience of finding a job has been unforgettable and valuable for me.”

“I would like to say many thanks to Jennifer Melia. Her interview sessions are very very useful! All of the questions asked in the interview had been prepared in my sessions!!!”

“I really appreciated the interview skills I was taught. When I finished the coaching sessions, I really grew in confidence. When interviewing, from the tone of their voice, I could tell that what you had taught me was really working.”

Your overseas education has cost a great deal of money. By starting your career in an international company you will make your investment really worthwhile. You will gain valuable training from the international company, realise your potential, use and further improve your English language communication skills, and benefit from the great success of the Chinese economy. Our coaching is essential for any student who has started their university education. The fact is the earlier you start, the better!

You can start from internship applications and build an impressive range of work experience before you even graduate. Mandarin Consulting’s highly experienced and dedicated team is waiting to assist you!

WHAT TO DO NEXT? • Come and speak to us to get a free career consultation

• We will help you to identify international career opportunities

• Get a realistic assessment of your position in the international job market

• Decide which of our programmes is most suitable for you

A Collection of Press Releases...... ......to learn more about Mandarin Consulting

PRESS RELEASES

CEO of Mandarin Consulting admitted as a Founding Freeman of the Guild of Entrepreneurs

[Read More]

CEO Carrie Waley’s Debut on US TV

[Read More]

CEO Carrie Waley Interviewed by BBC

[Read More]

Keynote Address by Premier Li Keqiang at Mansion House [Read More]

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United Kingdomhttp://www.mciworldwide.co.uk

Email: info@mcilcn.com

Head Office

223a Kensington High Street

London W8 6SG

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 207 376 1037

London Office

WeWork

12 Hammersmith Grove

London W6 7AP

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 207 376 1037

Manchester Office

Office 9

2 Mount Street

Manchester M2 5WQ

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 161 302 6670

Edinburgh Office

Regus Office, Suite 3-13

83 Princes Street

Edinburgh EH2 2ER

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 131 247 6711

United Stateshttp://www.mciworldwide.com

Email: info.us@mcilcn.com

New York Office

575 Fifth Avenue

14th Floor

New York, NY 10017

United States

Tel: +1 (646) 866-7925

Los Angeles Office

US Bank Tower

633 W. 5th St

Suite 2669 and Suite 2671

Los Angeles, Ca, 90071

United States

Tel:+1 (213) 223-2002

CONTACT US

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Chicago Office

401 North Michigan Ave

Suite 1200

Chicago, IL 60611

United States

Tel: +1 (312) 840 7998

Chinahttp://www.mciworldwide.com.cn

Email: service@mcilcn.com

Beijing Office

6 - 7th Floor

Yuan Yang Guo Ji Zhong Xin (A Zuo)

56E 4th Ring Rd Middle

Chaoyang District

Beijing

P.R. China

Tel: +86 (10)-80753932 (14:00-18:00)

Shenzhen Office

1st Floor BeePlus,

No.9 Li Yu, G&G Creative Community

Nanshan District

P.R. China

Tel: +86 (10)-80753932 (14:00-18:00)