Cherry Huong

This afternoon (April 14th) at 1P.M, 43 Trang Tien Street – it is a restaurant and coffee shop; I had an interview with two international consultants for the post as an assistant/translator.

I get there 10 minutes earlier than expected time. When I entered the restaurant, I saw two men sitting together next to the window. I guessed that they were my employers and it was true. How surprising it was! I had thought that Mr. Mitch was female, yet he turned out a tall handsome man. The other was Mr. Dan, an economist working with Mr. Mitch. He was shorter and fatter than his colleague.

At first, I was a bit nervous; but later, I became normal again since they were quite elegant and friendly. They started the interview by explaining about their job – consultancy. Both of them were freelance consultants working for many organizations on a wide range of fields like economics, social problems, and gender-related issues. Some candidates from universities came to see them to apply for the job, which meant they had a lot assistants working at different times. In order to succeed in development field, they emphasized the importance of “Flexibility” because assistants had to finish separate tasks on a variety of areas. Sometimes, consultants sent their assistants to remote villages to observe minority’s life, listening to villages’ problems and they were supposed to survive alone with a map and some money. That was one of the parts of a development project.

After the introduction were the interview questions. They asked me a lot of questions involved in myself and my social knowledge. The first question came as: “Give me three traits to describe you”. Hesitating for a while, I gave them three traits, which were “activeness”, “flexibility” and “strong”. I also supported some ideas following them (but I forgot all). I really cannot remember all of the questions and answers in details. I think the best way is to enlist them; here is the second part of the interview:

2. What do you want to improve yourself?

Logical thinking skill: I want to become a journalist in the future, so I think this skill is rather necessary for me.
Experience: Some students just learn in school and they never go out the society. I don’t like that. I want to experience many jobs and do many things outside.

3. What is your goal in life?

I want to become a journalist in the future. I have been preparing for it by reading a lot of books and trying to write every day. This is one of my steps to go to the PR career.

4. Which kinds of books do you read?

Books teach us how to write articles.

5. Which one affects you the most?

I don’t remember the name of those books, but articles affect me the most.

6. Can you visualize Vietnam in the future?

Vietnam is developing very fast. I think it be more and more developed in the future. For example, in the streets, there will be more cars and people will use public transportation instead of motorbikes.

7. What are the three problems of Vietnam today?

The first is child trafficking. Children were sold abroad (children are innocent, they don’t know any thing. So when a stranger comes to them and says: “Hey, baby, do you like candies?”, then they follow the stranger and they are sold. I don’t know what happens with them next.).The second is education. Many students, nowadays, complain about their universities as universities don’t provide them with essential skills helpful to work; Universities do not meet enterprises requirements. When students go to work, they don’t know how to manage their time, how to work in team, even how to write a CV. The third is traffic jam. It happens at any time. When I went from my house to here, I got congestion.

8. Can you think of ways to solve these problems?

For child trafficking: The mass media should have responsibility to tell people about it, to warn parents about the danger of trafficking so that they can protect their children from it. In remote areas, where there are no T.V or radio, government should organize campaign to warn people about the danger of trafficking.

Education: Enterprises and universities should unite together to open short courses teaching students essential skills.

Traffic jam: People should go by public transportation or go by bicycles. I go by bicycle from my house to school even the distance is 7 km. Going by bicycle can avoid pollution and traffic jam.

There were some other questions but I don’t remember all. If I mark this interview, it will be 6. The good point is I was rather confident and relaxed. I tried to answer the questions as logical as possible. Where as, my communication English was quite bad then. I found it hard to understand fully what the interviewers were saying, so I had to ask them again and again and. Sometimes I just nodded in a silly way and sometimes I misunderstood their stances.

Additionally, I wonder if I told a lie today when I said that I was self-studying journal, I was reading a lot and trying to write every day. Actually, I like writing, reading and especially, I like electronic journal, but I am not studying it on my own. I haven’t read many books related to this area, just a few articles. What I said is my intention. I intend to borrow some writing-related books from libraries and find some e-books involved in writing skills. I also intend to surf the internet to read more articles, then write review or summary. Nevertheless, it is still in my plan. After all, I will do it. I always carry out my plans right way. Let see what I will do.

Finally, they asked me about my free time. It is on Sunday and every evening from 10 to midnight. They said my time was limited. It was hard for me to join them because they might send me to somewhere within week days. That’s right! Study comes first. I do not want anything to impact on it. Therefore, the solution is that they will train me from now until I finish my first year at school so that I will have an overview about the concept of development, improving my critical thinking. I am supposed to write articles, summary, essays, and then send to Mr. Mitch and he will correct it for me. After that, I will be able to take part in their projects. It sounds quite good, doesn’t it? Truthfully, this is both my opportunity and my challenge. Let’s analyze it. What is the opportunity? I will improve my writing skill thanks to Mr. Mitch, who will train me how to write a clear and logical article/essay. This is also helpful to my future job as a journalist or a PR professor. What about the challenge? I must do my utmost to fulfill the tasks given by them in due course. If not, I will be looked down on and sacked easily. In addition, I must write as well as I can. If I do not write well enough, I will be rejected soon. That’s why I must try my best!

Right! Keep my chin up! I have much work to do. I will learn as much as possible. I will experience myself with jobs. I will be the best I can. There is nothing people cannot do unless they do not keep on trying.