For the most part, the
professional businesses we visited seemed similar to those in the United
States. The businesses we visited seemed
to be made up of the wealthiest people in Vietnam. For example, everyone was dressed
professionally while at work. The
businesses all gave off a wealthy feel.
On the other hand, the stores we would shop at in our everyday routine
had very bad working conditions. They
were all dirty and just unpleasant to walk into. I didn’t notice much discrimination in the
workplace though. It caught my eye that
Navibank only had female tellers working and the people giving the presentation
were all females too. Also, there was
one part of the factories in II VI that had only females working. Other than that, I noticed no racial or other
types of discrimination. A few of the
businesses informed us about their employee benefits that stuck out to me. Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park had some
outstanding pluses to working there.
There’s like a whole, little town inside the industrial park! Aside from the housing offered to employees,
there are all sorts of recreational facilities, such as, restaurants, shops, a
bank, and a postal office and police station right outside the park. Such benefits make businesses more attractive
to employees.
Having a broad education
is crucial to understanding engineering and business on a global scale. In this day and age, more and more businesses
are expanding internationally.
Therefore, knowledge in certain areas, such as foreign language and
culture, are important to have. When
communicating with branches in other countries, you will need such skills in
order to be as successful as possible.
One thing I noticed about the UEF curriculum was how English classes
were required for all students. Being
able to speak fluent English as a Vietnamese native will set you aside from
those who cannot. Since there are many
countries around that world that speak English over Vietnamese, these
English-speaking students will not suffer from the language barrier. Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park prepares
students in the Eastern International University with necessary skills to
succeed in business in Vietnam. VSIP is
the location of an array of different businesses that require certain
skills. Since EIU is located within
VSIP, there is more knowledge of which skills in particular are most valued in
being successful in the business world.
Just like UEF, every student is required to take English. It is apparent that the more knowledgeable
students are more prosperous.
Some aspects of people’s
jobs are learned prior to employment, whereas other skills are learned on the
job. There are general studies that
everyone is required to take in school, such as English, which are used in
their everyday endeavors. Other, more
field specific, abilities are learned at the time of employment during training
sessions. For example, the factory
workers at II VI probably learned their most used skills when they were
hired. Each person has a different task
that they just repeat over and over again countless times each day. Tasks such as how to use certain machines or
how to assemble small objects together are not taught in school. Also, many Vietnamese cannot afford to go to
school so they do not have the type of knowledge necessary for some higher
ranked jobs. These people must find jobs
that will teach you everything you need to know in order to work there. Just like in the United States, some people
find jobs that have nothing to do with their major. For example, my father was an accounting
major but ended up working for a commodities company. He had the basic knowledge needed to work for
Louis Dreyfus, but all the schooling he went through to get to this place was
irrelevant. This will happen in Vietnam
too. With the economy we have today,
people will take any job they can get.
In my opinion, I saw
that people kept their social life separate from their professional life. For example, one of the professionals from II
VI had kept in touch with one of the Pitt students and asked if we wanted him
to show us around the city a little bit.
When we went out with him it was strictly social. We didn’t talk about business, it was all
about what’s going on around the city and it was on a more personal level. On the other hand, while he was giving us a
presentation and tour of his company it was all business. As for their knowledge of the United States,
they seemed sort of informed. They weren’t
really aware of some of the current events going on today, but for the most
part they knew the United States geographically. Students would ask what part of America I was
from and when I replied with Connecticut, quite a few of them knew where that
was. I was very surprised by that since
Connecticut seems like sort of a pointless state to most. Before I knew I was coming to Vietnam I had
no knowledge whatsoever of the country.
I couldn’t even tell you the capital.
Vietnamese students seem to be more informed of the United States than I
am of Vietnam.
I
think combining business and engineering students in this trip was a clever
idea. I saw it as an opportunity broaden
my knowledge of different disciplines.
If it were just business students, it would have been a trip learning only
things that I’m familiar with. Adding
engineering into the mix allowed me to be informed of topics I know nothing
about. I had no background in
engineering whatsoever. I didn’t even
know there were different types of engineering until the first pre-departure meeting
we had. Visiting companies, such as II
VI, that focused mainly on engineering would have been pointless if it were
just business students. We wouldn’t have
been able to generate such relevant questions to ask, which the engineering
students took care of. Also, when
visiting business oriented companies, sometimes the engineering students would
look at it from a different perspective and it opened my mind to new things I wouldn’t
have thought of on my own. Even the business
students helped to do that. For example,
at Navibank, a lot of the business students are more knowledgeable than I am so
I had learned a lot just by the questions that they had asked. Working in a team of different interests has
helped to open my eyes to different things and made the experience of traveling
abroad an overall more rewarding experience.
