JCU Welcomes Alumnus and Alliance Director at Ernst & Young Fares Sheik

Marketing Professor Antonella Salvatore welcomed JCU Alumnus Fares Sheik to her class “Professional Skills for Career Development” on February 26, 2021. Fares is Alliance Director of EMEIA at Ernst and Young (EY), a multinational professional services network that provides consulting, assurance, tax, and transaction assistance to its clients.

Fares Sheik

Fares graduated from John Cabot with a double major in Economics & Finance and Business Administration in 2014. While studying at JCU, he decided to become a professional Thai boxer and eventually won the Thai Boxing World Championship in 2013. He had to wait two years to finally get a work permit from his native Lebanon. In the meantime, he worked at his family business, an experience that provided him with a solid professional background. “Everything you do, will constitute a valuable asset for your future,” Fares said.

According to Fares, the first step in building a successful career is to understand your goal for the future and to identify the skills you need in order to reach it. He advised students to set priorities and think about what they are doing at the present time. While implementing a plan to achieve your objective, it is also important to account for some days off, so that you do not feel demotivated when you need to rest and relax. However, “do not feel too comfortable about your lazy days. If you’re not doing it, someone else is working for it,” he said.

Fares pointed out there is a lesson to be learned even when you are not selected for a job. He said that “rejections make you stronger,” and they give you the possibility to learn from your mistakes, fix them, and return with a different attitude.

Fares understands that all the experiences and challenges he had to face made him the person he is today. Commitment and hard work, together with flexibility, are the key to success and are the jumping off point for a successful career.