Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Shell Trading Career Stories: Lifei Liao, Gasoline Trader

I joined Shell about six years ago

as a trader graduate programme participant

because I heard it's a company that takes care of its employees very well

in terms of development.

Then I got interested in Trading and Supply

because it's a combination of the financial world

and the industrial world.

The programme lasts about two and a half to three years

and through the programme I got the necessary training

and resources provided by the company to become a trader.

What I enjoy most about my work is

the unpredictability of the future.

Markets are moving all the time, it's very volatile,

you never know what's going to happen next.

Our job then is to link the information we have, then form a view

about what's going to happen next.

So this is a constant unknown situation,

vast information for us to process, constant improvement,

and you will get to know about whether we are right or wrong immediately.

When you think the market is going to go up, you go long

and you will see whether we will make a profit,

so it's amazing, it's fascinating.

It's true that over the history of oil trading there are a lot of men,

but over the past few years

there are more female traders in the market as well.

We're equally capable,

equally willing to learn and improve,

equally strong to defend our positions

and to negotiate and to conclude business.

Applying is already 50% of the success.

Don't be intimidated by the requirement itself.

Keep trying yourself and you will realise that this is an organisation

that embraces challenges and delivers,

and what's more important, it's really fun working here.