What matters to you. And why?

I still have a vivid memory when I first stepped into one of the most prestigious colleges in Ho Chi Minh City – Foreign Trade University. At that time, I believed accumulating sufficient knowledge and obtaining good skills is a must which can offer me a large window of employment opportunities with expected salaries and other benefits in the future. So, I have to be perfect at those two things. Back then, what really concerned me was how to achieve good grades or what extracurricular I should engage in. After three years, now I reflect on what has been done so far and realize everything is different from what I thought it should have been.

Regarding an ongoing internship, I was exposed to many novelties and inevitable failures due to my rigid performance based on hypothetical groundings. However, after failures come valuable lessons. At first, giving a mechanical response to the assigned tasks had impeded my comprehensibility to the essence value of the job; then, I myself strove to observe and perceive learning attitude or respect towards surroundings plays a pivotal role. From then, I could notice how my working life has changed day by day thanks to my proactive behaviour. Also, more added values are created for myself and other people with my can – do attitude. Therefore, this led to higher efficiency and much faster-paced workplace.

Undeniably, life does not just revolve around studying and practicing – this is what I learned from the 3 – month internship. It is apparent knowledge and skills may support you at some phases, but attitudes promote lifetime improvements. Thus, instead of relying too much on theoretical understandings, I would reckon our rising generation should pay more attention to pragmatic guide. When adopting humble and enthusiastic attitude in academic environment, I could acknowledge how positively my friends were influenced through my consistent making effort. Hence, I wholeheartedly believe this change will be conducive to self – development and community, especially in a workplace where people often label it “stiff competition”.

In this day and age, most enterprises seem to appreciate staff’s attitude rather than their understandings or skills. After the exposure to a practical job, I sincerely consent to this mindset due to its contribution to work values. As a result, I as well as my peers have to figure out how to suit this trend since a minor change in attitude can entail a significant result.