Leading Women with International Careers - Gill Meller Viewpoint careers advice blog

Leading Women with International Careers - Gill Meller This is the third feature from our series “Leading Women with International Careers”. In this interview, Gill Meller, Legal Director at MTR, based in Hong Kong, shares her experience of moving internationally and describes how being globally mobile has benefitted her career. Gill Meller, Legal Director at MTR What was your route to Hong Kong? I spent six months in Hong Kong when I was training to be a solicitor, many years ago, and always hankered after coming back. Before Hong Kong I was in private practice in the UK but spent some time working in India and in the Middle East, and also some time on secondment in the UK with a company associated with the partial privatisation of the London Underground system. I suppose therefore you could say it was trains that brought me out here… What’s your role now? I am MTR’s Legal Director Secretary, which is a role on the Executive Team. My responsibilities include all legal issues faced by the Corporation, looking after the Board of Directors and company secretarial issues, insurance matters, enterprise risk management, corporate responsibility and sustainability and procurement and contract management â€" which encompasses the procurement of everything from paper clips to multi-billion dollar construction contracts. I manage a team of around 350 people across these different disciplines. How has moving internationally impacted your career? It has certainly made it more challenging â€" from a work and a personal perspective â€" but has also provided many more opportunities. I honestly don’t think I would be in the role I’m in now if I had stayed in the UK, but thanks to a couple of lucky breaks and because I was here on the ground in Hong Kong, MTR was prepared to give me the opportunity not only to run the legal team but also to get involved in a number of different areas of work. It’s easy to generalise, but my sense is that you don’t need to stop on every rung of the ladder when you’re overseas or globally mobile â€" opportunities come up and, if you’re prepared to take them, you can skip a few steps along the way. I also think that, in our ever shrinking world, businesses have to be increasing global in outlook and so it helps to have experience in different jurisdictions. Understanding the culture of another country and the way that business is done there can help provide insight into managing a more global business and addressing the associated challenges and, in turn, make you a more valuable commodity. You’ve worked in a number of different countries, what were the highlights? There have been many â€" singing on stage in Cantonese in front of 1,700 people (some people may have considered this to be a lowlight!), having prayers mid-meeting, dragon boating, climbing over a cow to get into the office, being offered chicken’s feet for lunch, hanging out on the 100th floor of the tallest building in Hong Kong before the windows were put in, having to climb onto the roof through the ceiling of the Chairman’s toilet to use a satellite phone. These were not all in my current role, I should hasten to add! What did you do to prepare for your relocation? Some research, both professional and personal â€" people who live away from home tend to be very generous to others making that move and so asking around to get names and numbers/email addresses of contacts in your new location can be invaluable â€" some of my closest friends now are people I met when I first arrived here. Also, research on your hobbies â€" playing a sport or undertaking some other activity is a great way to meet people, so try and find out how to get involved. Financial research is equally important â€" expat life can be expensive and you don’t want to arrive in a new city or country and find that you can’t afford to experience the place and enjoy yourself when you get there. What were the main challenges you faced when relocating? There are always days when you question what you’re doing 6,000 miles away from your family and friends at home, but it’s so easy to keep in touch these days that those relationships can be maintained. At work, as with any new role, it’s about understanding the culture and how to get things done, which can be affected not only by the company that you are working for, but also by the country or state. You have to learn what works and what doesn’t. If you were to move again, where would you like to go? In terms of a legal role, I am a little bit limited by the type of law that is practiced in a particular country or state, but there are lots of places that I would consider â€" the US maybe? What is your career plan from here? I’ve only been the Legal Director here at MTR since 2011 and so ideally a few more years in this role and then we’ll see. I’m a big believer in corporate responsibility â€" from a strategic perspective â€" and so this is an area that I might like to pursue. Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about mobilising their own career? Go for it! When I left the UK for Hong Kong, someone told me to have a fabulous time and that, as soon as it stopped being fabulous, I could go home, and it was one of the wisest â€" and most comforting â€" pieces of advice I received. If you’re exploring the possibility of making an international career move, read my recent article  â€˜Move yourself’  for further advice and guidance. Our previous Leading Women with International Careers articles: QA with Jill Von Berg, CIO at Calix in San Francisco   QA with Jessica Spence, VP Commercial at Carlsberg in Hong Kong //