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In the Spot Light
PHOENIX HO: "FINDING A CAREER IS A LIFELONG LEARNING PROCESS"
In this issue, we would like to share with you the “career search journey” of RMIT Vietnam Career Counsellor and RMIT Vietnam alumna, Ms. Phoenix Ho. Phoenix is amongst RMIT Vietnam’s Acclaimed Alumni, having won the TNT Award for Outstanding Graduate in 2004. Phoenix is an experienced counsellor who received her Masters of Educational Leadership and Management in 2004 and Masters of Arts in Career Development Counselling from Santa Clara University in the US.
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Her career pathway
Having taken many detours in finding her current career path, Phoenix believes that long “self-searching” journeys help make her a good career counsellor.
The first detour that she took was selecting a major, mathematics, which she was good at rather than passionate about. She chose a college rather than a university because “it’s easier, more fun and because [her] friends were there”. She got A’s in almost everything she studied but was confused about what her real strengths were. The confusion went on until one day when she spoke to a girl studying the same major; she saw the girl’s eyes shine with passion when talking about math… and asked herself “What am I doing?” She knew she needed a change.
Her “strength and passion” journey went on and at times it seemed never-ending. She switched to business; again not the right choice. It took Phoenix a very long time to discover what it was she really liked doing; and what it was that also matched her values. She returned to Vietnam and worked in a couple of organizations. She then decided to switch to the non-profit sector. However overseas Vietnamese, like her, were required to have a Masters degree. As she didn’t have a Masters Degree, Phoenix enrolled in the Masters of Education program at RMIT International University Vietnam. This was one of the biggest turning points in her life, and she believes this degree helped her a lot in strategic thinking.
According to Phoenix, many people can gain from getting broader life experience first before they move onto a Masters degree “so that they have enough experience and background to use and reflect upon” during these further studies.
Her career path includes flights back and forth from Vietnam to America. It includes job trials and several position changes until one day, when teaching a small group of students, she realized the light of hope at the end of the tunnel. Her heart told her she was born to become a counsellor. From the moment she stepped into her “Masters of Counselling class”, she knew her dream had come true - she had found the “real person” in her. It’s no surprise that the 2 years she has worked for RMIT Vietnam as a Career Counsellor is the time she has learned most about herself. Through student, parent, alumni and staff consultations, she found the beauty in her job was to enlighten people’s hearts and help them realise their real strengths, so that they could make up their mind on their own career decisions.
Most important factors affecting one’s career path
In her opinion, for different people there are different important factors that affect their career paths. There are people from a very young age who know exactly what they are good at. There are people who are good at many things, but don’t know what they are very good at. She used the example of her own sister, who is really talented in arts. Her sister realised her talent as a child and focused on it; everything was so easy for her. Phoenix thinks she belongs to the second group of people; those who find it really hard to recognise their real strengths. Culture also plays an instrumental role in helping find your strengths. If for example you live in a culture where only strengths in math and science are acknowledged, it’s hard if you excel at sports or have great interpersonal skills, because these strong points may not be considered strengths. It’s similar when students talk more than others because they’re extrovert; others tend to say they’re talkative. Therefore, it’s not always easy for people to learn about their strengths.
“My suggestion is to try every single thing you like. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you make a mistake, consider it something that you learn from. Whenever you hear a voice in your head telling you that you cannot do something, or it’s not your strength, then question, why. Did it come from your parents, did it come from society, culture or someone else you met in life that made you think you were not good at something. Always question, why we think the way we think. In short, I think the more you try, the more courageous you are; the better it is. You will never know what your strengths are until you discover them from trial.” According to Phoenix, “your strengths will come out naturally and most clearly when you suffer from obstacles and difficulties in life, because that’s when you realize your strong nature”. In this self-searching journey, good friends are very important. “You need friends who you can trust, who support and motivate you but dare to criticize you to make you better.”
Phoenix strongly believes in two things: First, before you know your career, you have to know who you are in terms of what you are good at, what your personality is, and what the values are in your life. Treat what you value most as the core and be comfortable with it. You need to love yourself before you can find out about your career dream. Otherwise, you will be continuously searching. At different stages in life, we have different priorities for our values and interests.
Second is to be open to happenstances in life, which are unpredictable happenings in your life. When they happen, instead of feeling sad, angry or afraid; what you should do is to embrace them and turn them into opportunities. For example, if you lose a job that you really like, instead of locking yourself in your room and crying, blaming yourself; I suggest you take a chance to travel, meet new people, talk with a career counsellor and let everybody know you are available for a new job.
For Phoenix, finding a career is a lifelong learning process.
NGO QUOC DUNG: I FIND THE BEST LEISURE WHEN WORKING
Ngo Quoc Dung - Jodric Group Chief
This interview was carried out in an office of Pi-Channel , which Jodric Group acquired last year. Ngo Quoc Dung gave informative but short and logical answers; creative thinking shone throughout the conversation.
Dung belongs to the first batch of RMIT Vietnam’s IT & Multimedia alumni. He decided to become a member of RMIT Vietnam when he visited the university and found it was “cool”, from the buildings to the teaching methods. At that time, he was a freshman of HCMC Polytechnic University. His approach to university was also special, he successfully applied for a scholarship to RMIT after he knew he had “fallen in love” with the university. It’s interesting to know that during his internship, he was an intern in his own brand new company, which he opened because he didn’t want to work for someone else. It was hard for RMIT lecturers to accept this idea, but he finally persuaded them and RMIT supported this adventurous student by sending an advisor from RMIT Melbourne, cum advisor for IBM Melbourne, to help him develop his business plan. His garage company at the time set the foundation of today’s Jodric Group.
From a garage company, then “Jodric Advertising”, which focused only on design work, Jodric Group has grown to have comprehensive services in four areas: Creative Division (Anna Creative Shop, Deryx Interactive), Consultancy Division (Jodric Brand Consultancy, NT& Partners – BusinessConsultancy), Media Division (Yacht Magazine) and Retail & Corporate Service ( Pi-Channel). Dung said “As a marketing and advertising company, you need to be exclusive.” For example, Pi-Channel not only sells stationery, but also concepts. “If you are a corporation and you want a notebook, you have two choices: You go out and buy a notebook, or you come to us and buy a concept. The concept is how people are going to use your notebook, how many slots you will have in the notebook, what kind of branding you should put in there, what kind of leather or smell is good for the notebook, what kind of recyclable paper ; then align all that with your corporate culture. Once we have created the concept, we help the client to ensure the manufacturer produces the notebook.”
You’d better work smart
Looking at the different divisions of Jodric Group, you’d think this is a big company with many staff. That used to be the situation, but the group has now restructured into a very “compact” company. Jodric Group now has about 20 staff, covering all aspects of the business. Dung stated: “Our philosophy is to retain Jodric as a very small scale company in terms of personnel. We prefer to work with less people. After years of operation, we have come to realize that our company is a kind of company that utilizes the smallest resource available, by which we save a lot of cost. We call it a smarter way of working. The more people you have in the organization, the more time and effort you need to just manage those people. It’s better if you’d rather have a group of very effective people and work and focus on really good and large projects. For the rest, we outsource to other suppliers in different countries such as China, India, Thailand, Taiwan, etc.”
From an IT student to an entrepreneur
When asked why he chose to open an advertising and marketing company while his background was Applied Sciences, Dung just smiled. He revealed his technical knowledge helps his competitiveness compared with other businesses in the same industry. For example, when his clients talk about technology, he and his team tend to understand more quickly than others.
The journey started when he was about 22 years old, the age when people are full of energy, bold and ambitious. In that founding stage, Dung and his partners worked 18 hours a day on average. Now as Dung said, they have to work smarter with the organisation revolving around passionate people. His three partners are still alongside him, and they are now stronger as a group.
Dung said if you have a business perspective, you can learn business skills from any source: from your clients or even from a “dry” course like Programming. “My lecturer in that course was Quan, who is also the director of a web development company. We are still friends. When Quan taught us programming, we developed a friendship and we talked about business. Besides the normal assignments, I really wanted to learn so I asked him questions like “OK, Quan, how are you going to sell this (calculator software)”, then Quan told me about how to organise programmers and developers, and such like”. You can always learn if you really want and know how to ask the right questions. If you have business sense, it doesn’t matter what you study.”
We survive because we found our niche market
Dung recalled at the time Jodric was founded, all the big companies took a long time to deliver their products, and all the small companies had difficulty meeting quality requirements. They were a middle ground, for those who could deliver quickly . “We delivered the same service as that of those big companies with a price significantly cheaper thanks to our small company size. Our list of clients includes HSBC Vietnam, Vietfund Management, VinaCapital, Mekong Securities, Diamond Island, RMIT Vietnam, Philip Morris Vietnam, Unilever, etc. Most of them like us because we are quick on our feet.” For Dung and his team, doing it fast is much easier than doing it long because people have a tendency to change their mind along the way. Clients will not shop around for ideas to reach decisions.
His service was also considered creative and comprehensive. They’re involved very closely in the whole product development process, until the product launch.
My life is most balanced when I work hard
Dung said “Ironically when I do something else, I think about work harder than when I’m at work. For example when I go fishing, all the ideas come up when you don’t do it. The most important ideas I have are the ones I come up with when I walk around the streets or go fishing with my friends. Sometimes when we go out for a drink late at night (10PM), I tend to forget about the time and phone people and ask “Can you note this down? Can you do this for tomorrow morning?...” But of course you need to work hard at work because your team is there. My friends say that I don’t rest. When you don’t think about it anymore, you’ll have a shift of perspective about things and more creative solutions for troubles.”
For this young entrepreneur, the perspective of people he hires is more important than their education, as people can always self educate. “What RMIT Vietnam teaches me is a good sense of perspective and how to teach myself.” Dung believes that’s what education should give people.
NGUYEN THI HUONG THU: A REAL-LIFE TRANSFORMER
Many things can be said about Huong Thu: she is outgoing, loves to laugh, quick witted, and easy to get along with. Proof of her success? Plenty: being the Vice President of RMIT Vietnam Alumni Association, a principle founder of RMIT Vietnam Business Club, Public Relations Manager of the Vietnamese Graduates From Australia Club (VGAC), and now a Regional Manager of INTO University Partnerships in Vietnam and Committee Member of Saigon Players as well. But only until immersing yourself in her environment can you catch a glimpse of her true self: a spirit of receptiveness.
A night in early April, I was lucky enough to be invited to her home party, together with her circle of friends in Saigon Players. Perhaps the name rings a bell. It’s a theatre group founded and run by expatriates working and living in Vietnam. They have just pulled off a hit show, “Miss-ed Saigon!, Mot Lan Nua.” in March. Tickets were sold out everywhere they performed.
We sat down to watch one of the “Miss-ed Saigon!” serial shows – revived the good times. Thu played a taxi driver with a crappy old car, ended up scaring the crap out of her foreigner tourist. She was a pushy Japanese tourist, at times trembling behind her “honourable” husband. By all means, she isn’t afraid, as long as it tickles the audience. She loves to entertain people.
Little does one know, the small-built, lively Thu has no lack of time being under stress and emotional pressure. Her job is not an easy one. She single-handedly runs a brand of a group of universities in the US and the UK. Overnights, constantly on business trips, heavy workload are just common in her daily life.
Thu told me how she had transformed from a timid, quiet little girl back when she was living with her family in Bien Hoa. Moving to the city, studying in a Vietnamese college, working for one year and enrolling into RMIT is a long history. It was the 6-month exchange program with RMIT Melbourne that exposed her to a whole new experience. Thu admits experiencing cultural exchange is such an important part of her life now. She loves travelling, interacting with and listening to international friends. She enjoys having her perspective challenged, flipped up-side down, and played with, like how a friend questioned her about motorbike registration or told her little things called “Vietnam moments.” That’s what she loves about being a member of Saigon Players.
Let’s rewind to the start of the night. Being her guest, once you walk in her apartment, suddenly all barriers are broken down. There was Emily – the “Dictator woman” of Saigon Players, Peter – the mild Englishman, Linda and Philipp – Thu’s very good friends, Markus – a funny German whom Linda had just met that day. There was pizza and drinks, and a beautiful little balcony. Emily would tell you to grab a bite. Everyone smiles at you, talks to you. You naturally become a part of them. Then you realize chemistry between Thu and everyone is so natural that it soothes you, makes you feel comfortable and at ease, even though they are from different groups of her friends.
The point is, to define Thu, it’s not just simply her, but also the people around her, how they are of every age, every nationality and personality. That Philipp is a person living a creative life, building his own pizza baking oven out of mud and brick, as well as an “iPodium,” a podium lookalike touch screen device. Or that Linda burst in pleasant surprise seeing on Thu’s wall the first picture of her and Phillip when they started getting together years ago. She is a receptive spirit, living a life of both Eastern and Western values. Thu has built a strong circle of social relationships by who she is, not money, not benefit. She became to accept that human has both good and bad sides, but not to judge them only based on this and that because she knows it is her friends who are going to take care of her in tough times.
Hoang Le Phuong Tuyen
RMIT Vietnam alumna – Project Assistant at APCO Worldwide
LEE SUN YOUNG'S DIARY: MY TIME AT RMIT VIETNAM
Lee Sun Young, a Bachelor of Commerce graduate of RMIT Vietnam, is sharing a part of her diary with us. Her dream, her time at RMIT Vietnam, her difficulties living in Vietnam, etc. were recalled in a lovely way.
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Scene #18 – A Nurse...?
‘My dream is to be a nurse’ SunYoung says. Her classmates talking about being CEOs, businesspeople, accountants and more, and give her bewildered looks as if they want to say ‘… and you are here because…?’
It was her first semester at RMIT and she really was not sure she ended up ‘walking the right path’.
Scene #23 – Only KimBob
At 5:30a.m, SunYoung’s mom cooks and prepares SunYoung’s lunch box and dinner box; a routine that’s now several months old. As you may know, choosing lunch box side dishes is hardly exhilarating; in fact it gets stressful if repeated. SunYoung knows this and counsels her mom ‘From now on, just give me KimBob. No other dishes.’ Then, from November to the end of January, SunYoung eats such an enormous amount of Kimbob that if connected end to end, it would stretch from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City.
Scene #24 - My dream came true!
SunYoung passed Korea University assessments (College of Nursing) with a stunning 1st screening score of top 0.02% (2nd place out of 9,195 applicants). She is so happy, having dreamt of studying Nursing in Korea Uni for many years. With this result, SunYoung will be granted a scholarship of around $5,000, which is equivalent to the tuition fee for one semester.
“RMIT and Vietnam were always warm and welcoming. To be exact, Vietnam was not warm, for me it was hot. Now as a student in one of the top Korean education providers, I can say without doubt that RMIT is a wonderful university with qualified lecturers, a well-organized curriculum, a dynamic and fun class atmosphere and a manageable workload.
Thank you RMIT. Finally, my dream came true!
*Each scene number refers to SunYoung’s age.
NGUYEN THUY TINH CA: A BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED MANAGER
Those who have met with Tinh Ca – Brand Manager of Remy Cointreau Vietnam will agree her dynamic and confident style in both life and work makes her a role model for her peers.
On meeting Ca, it’s quickly evident she speaks fluent English, has high standards in work and sets strict goals for herself as well as colleagues. However, behind that high profile, she is also quite sensitive.
When she was a high school student at Phu Nhuan High School, Tinh Ca was well known for … crying because her Year 10 final grade for English was not the highest in her class. At that time, many of her friends found it difficult to understand her, with some nicknaming her the “whining lady”. They didn’t know that Ca was crying simply because she was disappointed not to reach her goal.
That’s Ca’s personality. She started setting targets from an early age and tried her best to achieve them. Despite her resolute determination, she still listens to advice from friends. And since that student “scandal”, Ca has trained herself not to be overwhelmed by emotions so that she’s not misunderstood by others.
In her last years of university, Ca started grieving after learning her beloved father was in the terminal stages of cancer. Realizing that she would only have a few months left with her father, Ca cried her heart out in private every night. But in the morning, she wore make up to hide the dark circles under her eyes and smiled to please her father.
Being unable to lengthen her father’s life, Ca chose to study hard and participate in competitions. Winning several educational prizes made her father proud.
Independence
Though born into a family with a very prestigious background, Tinh Ca often hides all that information related to her family both at school and work.
Ca doesn’t mind sleeping only 4 hours a day, running errands around the workplace, or being scolded in the early days at work. When she was the only student chosen to do an internship in Singapore, she did everything she was asked to do no matter how trivial it seemed.
Thanks to her patient and strong character, soon after graduation Ca was chosen to be the Brand Manager for a prestigious cosmetics group. She faced many challenges working in this position. At the age of 25, she was the youngest manager in the company.
Few know that only one year earlier, Ca worked at the office in the morning (as an Assistant Marketing Manager) and spent the rest of her day in markets and cosmetics shops researching customer attitudes. At that time, the company had a lot of difficulties; there was insufficient human resource to meet the huge workload. Ca was in charge of transporting, importing, loading and even checking the goods in the warehouse.
And now, Ca is the youngest Brand Manager at Remy Cointreau, and the only female manager in the Board of Management there. From a “whining lady”, Ca has become a manager known for her strong and decisive personality.
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- Can you describe your typical day? - I took advantage of my time in taxis to work and read news on my mobile phone. Though busy, I never forget to go to the gym after work, then go home to have d inner and watch TV with my mother. I often stay up late to finish my day’s work and I rarely go out for a coffee with friends because I think now is not the time to relax. I am still young, so I need to work and try harder. - Besides work, are you involved in community activities? - I used to join and win some prizes when I was a student, such as English eloquence contests organised by Prudential, British Council and WUSC (World University Service of Canada). Besides that, I also did some community research and voluntary work with students of some Canadian universities. I won the JAL prize of Japan Airlines several years ago. I also went to distant provinces like Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and some Northern provinces with several Canadian students to teach people English and disseminate information on how to use clean water. - What do you think about failure? My life has been “packed in silk” since I was a child, but I chose to take all the challenges given by society when growing up without depending on anyone. Therefore, I have failed quite a few times. Some say I’m silly for not taking advantage of my family to succeed. However, I think differently. Life is very boring and has no value without failures. I love my achievements, but also treasure my failures. Once you have done your best, success or failure both have their value that make you feel proud when you look back. |
Translated from Tuoi Tre Online
(Source: http://tuoitre.vn/Nhip-song-tre/Tinh-yeu-loi-song/367012/Nguyen-Thuy-Tinh-Ca-Phu-nu-ai-cung-yeu-duoi.html)
NGOC BICH NGAN: RMIT VIETNAM ALUMNA WINS ENDEAVOUR AWARD 2010
Ngoc Bich Ngan giving her thank you speech in the 2008 Graduation Ceremony
An outstanding RMIT Vietnam alumna has just won the prestigious Endeavour Award 2010.
Ngoc Bich Ngan will attend the Master of Commerce in Finance program at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Ngan was formerly RMIT Vietnam Business Club President, and received the 2008 President’s Award and 2008 Golden Key Honorary Award for her outstanding academic and community development achievements amongst business and commerce students. She was the only student from the university’s Business College in any country to receive the award.
Ngan has shown exceptional performance in her current job at HSBC Vietnam where she has been ranked amongst the top 15% achievers in the Global HSBC workforce.
“I was strongly recommended by my predecessors at RMIT to pursue this scholarship,” Ngan says.
“The other two previous winners were also from RMIT Vietnam Business Club, Toan Doan and Tai Tran."
“Being awarded the Endeavour Scholarship, I think that the good time at RMIT and HSBC has brought me a clear vision for my future and motivates me in the scholarship application. I feel grateful to RMIT Lecturers and Staff who worked hard to provide me with good experience when at school, to RMIT Business Club - I learnt a precious lesson to grow up and learn how to love other people, and my family, who is always my best supporter and greatest inspiration of life.”
The Endeavour Award is a prestigious scholarship from the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations that provides full cover for tuition and living expenses. The Endeavour Awards provides opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the Americas to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia.
Awards are also available for Australians to do the same abroad. More information can be found in this link http://www.endeavour.deewr.gov.au.
Vietnam News on Tuesday December, 2009 had a good article about an alumnus of RMIT VN, Truong Nguyen Vu. Below is an extract from it.
TRUONG NGUYEN VU: CLOTHING MAKER FINDS IT’S ALL IN THE WRIST
Michael Smith
Truong Nguyen Vu, also known as Vu Tattoo by his ultimate Frisbee team mates, uses his devil-may-care attitude to the best advantage when it comes to both playing Frisbee and his sports apparel business.
Vu only became serious about the business potential of his ultimate clothing label, Zone, in February this year, but as the major sponsor of the coming Viet Nam Hat on the 26th and 27th of this month at the RMIT fields in HCM City, he will provide jerseys for 120 international players in eight different teams.
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Vu’s love for Frisbee began in 2006 and only two years later in 2008 the RMIT IT graduate volunteered to use his family’s apparel business to make jerseys for his team mates, to make it cheaper for everyone.
He didn’t have to invest anything to make his first set of team outfits.
“The first team was the Vudoo team going to Bali in April 2008.”
“I was talking to Lester (another Ultimate Frisbee player who was based in HCM City at the time) – the guy who was ordering the Vudoo uniforms – and he told me that he didn’t want to pay the high price that the other manufacturers were charging.”
“I had two jerseys that he had bought from other suppliers for the Viet Nam Hat 2007 and I thought I can do it.”
He started to research the fabric and found some cheap left-over sports material in a selection of colours at Tan Binh Market. Then he found some screen printers through a friend and brought them to his family’s factory. He paid their salaries but they used his family’s equipment.
“At first the printing would come off and the stitching would come out. So I gave the players a discount price of US$5 instead of $10.” (The other suppliers were charging $30).
The Vudoo players were grateful just to have the cheap colourful shirts with the cool designs. For a lot of the expat players they became souvenirs of their stay in Sai Gon or gifts for friends and family back home.
The free running sport of Ultimate Frisbee is populated by many different personalities and Vu’s signature ambivalence mean that a lot of players had no idea that the shirts they were wearing were made by a smiling tattooed 27-year-old, who just ran past them to snatch the Frisbee out of the sky.
By taking advantage of his family’s business, vu didn’t need any money to start his label, but now things have changed as he is beginning to invest. ….
“Last year was just a fun business, now it’s a real business. I can live with it.”
“I am not the guy who is always satisfied. I always want the quality to be better, better, better all the time. My fabric is lighter and more stretchy than my competitor.”
His first contact outside Australia was Indonesia because there was an Indonesian girl in Vudoo who was interested in the shirts. He has expanded the export side of his business since developing a small Indonesian market and recently went to Melbourne, Australia where he is sponsoring the Melbourne Hat by providing shirts at a discount.
It’s early days for the sporting entrepreneur but as Vu says in lackadaisical style, “So far, so good.”
He may seem like he is extremely easygoing, but he is a real go-getter.
“In the next three years I hope to be the most popular Frisbee clothing marker in Asia. I will cover Asia.”
In the same way that he plays Frisbee, Vu is in business to win. – VNS
RMIT VIETNAM ALUMNI GET TOGETHER
As Facebook is no longer widely accessible in Vietnam, we have just created a new account called RMIT VN ALUMNI NETWORK in Linked In so that RMIT VN alumni can stay connected and informed about our upcoming events.