RMIT student gains leadership experience at overseas summits

Tiếng Việt

RMIT student gains leadership experience at overseas summits

Le Nhat Huyen, a recent RMIT Vietnam graduate with a Bachelor of Business (International Business) degree, says she has gained the bulk of her international leadership experience through student conferences and summits.

Le Nhat Huyen, a recent RMIT Vietnam graduate with a Bachelor of Business (International Business), has gained global experience through student conferences and summits.

Her leadership journey began during a semester-long exchange program at the University of Florida in the autumn of 2016.

“I learned about Golden Key there,” Huyen explains. “In North America they have different chapters for different universities, even Harvard. The mission is to build a community and support fellow students.”

She was inspired by the members of the chapter at the university, and when she returned to her home country to continue studying at RMIT Vietnam, she was invited to become a member of the national Golden Key chapter.

Huyen was elected as Golden Key Vietnam President because of her potential and her desire to connect people.

“Golden Key Vietnam was still very young, with few activities,” Huyen says. “I was elected to be the president because the group believed in my potential and my desire to connect people and organise more activities.”

The business student wanted to learn how to improve the local Golden Key group, so she began applying to attend international student summits and conferences in order to gain leadership knowledge.

“In 2017, I joined the International Leadership Summit in Sydney, and I learned how to understand market trends, improve soft skills and build a network,” Huyen shares.

“From there, Vietnamese and Australian Golden Key members connected, and we promised to see other at the next summit, in the US.”

Huyen and her international Golden Key fellows attended the International Leadership Summit in Sydney, Australia.

However, her application to attend the American summit was rejected.

“Through my mentorship with Mr Melvin Fernando from Career & Industry Relations, I learned that I hadn’t proven my abilities and what I could bring to the summit,” she says.

“He helped me to realise the weaknesses in my application and learn how to improve them.”

Melvin Fernando, RMIT Vietnam’s Manager of Employment & Industry Relations, says many students have difficulty seeing their strengths and promoting themselves.

“Huyen was very active in extracurricular activities, but on her CV she was not able to translate this experience into personal strengths,” Mr Fernando shares.

“I helped her realise and identify her strengths, and then revise her CV. Our office helps all students customise their CVs for whatever they are applying for, whether that’s for scholarships, postgraduate programs or conferences.”

Huyen has now been accepted to attend the US summit which will be held from 29 June to 1 July 2018.

“It’s an opportunity for students to gather together, learn and network in various hard skill and soft skill workshops,” she explains.

“The guest speakers are well-rounded individuals with academic achievements, industry expertise and public speaking experience.”

In addition to Golden Key summits, Huyen has honed her skills at the Asian Student Forum and Indonesia Model United Nations (Indonesia MUN) 2017.

She also joined the Asian Student Forum 2017 to hone her leadership skills.

Recently she was awarded a Future Leader Scholarship to study a Master of International Business (MIB) in Boston, and hopes to begin building her own professional network during her upcoming trip to the US.

“I have been supported a lot by RMIT Vietnam, from the Career & Industry Relations team to clubs and other RMIT students and alumni in particular,” Huyen says. “I am very thankful for that.”

Story: Michael Tatarski