Second year Economics student is a 'Future CFO' finalist in Undergraduate of the Year Awards 2016

Second year Economics student Martin Li has been listed as one of the finalists in the ‘Future CFO’ category at the Undergraduate of the Year Awards 2016.

The TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year is an annual awards competition which aims to find the best undergraduates in the UK in a range of categories. Martin was selected as a finalist for The Future Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Year Award and has been invited to attend the final awards ceremony in London on 22 April where the winner will be announced.

About the awards, Martin said:

After seeing the Department emails a few months back about the awards, I decided to apply for the 'Future CFO' category. After several rounds of psychometric tests, video interviews, assessment centres and a debate with an MP about the potential impact of Brexit, I am very happy to be listed as one of 10 finalists.

The application process for the awards involved answering motivational questions and online aptitude tests, with the highest-scoring students asked to record a short video outlining their thoughts on Brexit. 16 students were then invited to an assessment-centre style day ran by ACCA.

This event took the form of a debate with Laura Sandys, chair of the European Movement UK and ex-MP, and ACCA professionals about the pros and cons of Brexit. About this part of the process, Martin said:

It was harder than it sounds because I literally had 48 hours to prepare my research and with 16 people around a table you need to make sure you get heard but do not dominate.

Students were judged on key points such as communication, commercial awareness and clarity, with ten finalists selected to attend the awards ceremony.

The Department would like to congratulate Martin for his success so far and wish him luck for the final stage.