In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions

In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions

ABSTRACT In real life, "career" is always an important factor in social life For each social community, the structure along with the change in occupational structure reflects the level of development of that social community in each historical period On a smaller scale, for each individual, his profession is a reflection of his or her position, role and prestige in the community For us - the final year students are preparing to enter the labor market, the career is a measure of the value, ability, knowledge and effort of individual students However, there are a number of studies done in different places that have shown and concluded that there is a very big gap between the quality of graduates and the demand of the job market nowadays For this reason, the internship program is created to help students get closer to the job market, bridging the gap between studying at school and real work in enterprises With the intention of helping final year students familiarize themselves with the workplace environment, with the job description of different positions, the internship programs are now being developed to become more and more professional In spite of these positive intentions, the interns faced many different challenges when taking part in a internship programme Understanding this problem, researching on the challenges that the final year students of Vietnam University of Commerce may face during their internship will help them to prepare better and solve all the problems to have a more effective internship ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my thankfulness to my supervisor Mr Nguyen Khac Nghia who helped, supported and encouraged me enthusiastically in all stages of the research Without his inspiration, motivation and instructions, the study would have been impossible to be done effectively I am very grateful for being adviced and supported as his student Beside, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude and gratefulness to all teachers at English Department of Thuong Mai University for giving me permission to commence this thesis and spending their time answering my interview questions to help me in my data collection Moreover, I would like to state my special thanks to 60 senior students at Thuong Mai University They helped me to collect and summarize the data to give research findings Especially, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family and all of my best friends for their continuous support They are always my motivation that help me overcome all difficulties and challenges during this study Once again, sincerely thanks all of you! Hanoi, 16th April 2021 Student Nguyen Ai Van TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study .2 1.3 Research Subjects 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Research methodology 1.6 Organization of the study .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Presenting theories related to the study 2.2.1 Senior student .5 2.2.2 Internships: 2.2.3 Effective internships .6 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 3.1 Methodology 3.1.1 Method of using questionnaire .7 3.1.2 Method of interviewing 3.1.3 Method of group discussion 3.2 Findings and discussions 3.2.1 Lack of specialized knowledges 14 3.2.2 Lack of soft skill 15 3.2.3 The working environment is different from the university environment 15 3.2.4 Time pressure .16 3.2.5 Working pressure 17 3.2.6 Competition between colleagues and other trainees 18 3.2.7 Lack of support from direct supervisors and internship agents 19 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 21 4.1 For Unuversity 21 4.2 For Senior students 21 4.3 For Internship agencies 21 CONCLUSION 22 REFERENCES APPENDICES LIST OF ABBREVIATION TMU: Thuongmai University IT: Information and Technology HR: Human Resources Gov: Government JD: Job Description LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Reality of joining an internship programme of final year students of Thuongmai University .8 Figure 3.1: The rate of completion of the internship program .10 Figure 3.2: The variety of internships field that the senior students of TMU applying 10 Figure 3.3: The relatedness between the field of internship programs and the majors of the senior TMU students 11 Table 3.2: Evaluate your own performance during the internships 12 Table 3.3: Evaluate the training quality that the internship agent gives you 13 Figure 3.4: Did you have any difficulty during your internship? 13 Figure 3.5: The level of impact of the lack of specialized knowledges on the effectiveness of the internship program 14 Figure 3.6: The level of impact of the lack of soft skills on the effectiveness of the internship program 15 Figure 3.7: The level of impact of the differences between working environment and university environment on the effectiveness of the internship program 16 Figure 3.8: The level of impact of time pressure on the effectiveness of the internship program 17 Figure 3.9: The level of impact of work pressure on the effectiveness of the internship program 17 Figure 3.10: The level of impact of Competition between colleagues and other trainees on the effectiveness of the internship program 18 Figure 3.11 The level of impact of Competition between colleagues and other trainees on the effectiveness of the internship program 19 Figure 3.12 All of the difficulties the senior students in TMU encounter during your internship 20 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Vietnam is a country with its own socio-economic characteristics, which is in a period of brilliant development and constantly changing Therefore, the issue of "career" becomes more and more important than ever in today's society The issue of training high-quality human resources to serve the needs of socio-economic development of Vietnam, especially in the period of promoting industrialization and modernization in recent years is an inevitable need The internship program was created to meet that need For scientific researchers, up to now, this has always been a large research field, with many issues, many aspects to exploit, and most importantly, of practical significance, serving for social development purposes In fact, there are many scientists who have been interested in studying “internship” problems at different levels of scale One common common point in all the researchs on internship problems is the research object The studies are aimed at young workers, who are still in the period of accumulating skills, knowledge and experience to step by step enter the labor market The current global integration period of Vietnam has created many opportunities as well as challenges for workers, especially the group of young workers mentioned above Facing these challenges, the orientation and training for this target group, especially final year students, is of great significance, both in terms of theory and practice For that reason, the study seeks to identify the direct challenges accruing to the interns as well as actions to remedy the situation for future improvement The study also focuses on impediments affecting the smooth flow of the internship process as well as the field process I hope that my research will help the senior Thuong Mai university become more aware and well- prepared for their internship At the same time, research can help the School board of TMU to come up with appropriate policies and support to meet the needs of solving the problems of students during internship programme as well as equipping the skills and knowledge for them In addition, the research is expected to help businesses shorten the time, money and effort to train professional skills for the young workers Talking about the research objects - the final year students of Thuong Mai University, this is a specific group that the relationship between training objectives and career orientation in the labor market can be easily seen Graduates of TMU have a relatively broad career goal and ability to participate in a variety of fields, but not have expertise in any field In addition, in the current social integration period, all of the businesses increasingly raise the requirements for new graduates, causing many challenges for them when applying for a good internship program or apply for job This raises an urgent issue regarding the realization of the challenges as well as the importance of the internship for a large number of graduated TMU students Besides, the selection of final year students is the most optimal research object because this is a group that has undergone a training process and has had a career exploration in a certain period of time As a student studying at the Vietnam University of Commerce, I have many advantages in the process of implementing this research, especially in the process of collecting actual data In addition, I conduct this research to express my desire to contribute to the construction and development of the University through the actual survey data of the research topic on an issue that the University and the students studying here are also very concerned about Thus, my own learning and research process, along with the research from the theoretical basis as well as the practical basis, I have come to choose a research problem: “In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions ” as my research topic 1.2 Aims of the study Identify, explore, evaluate, and compare all of the challenges that all the senior students of TMU may faced during their internship period; thereby proposing research directions and practical recommendations for management levels of Vietnam University of Commerce and the students themselves 1.3 Research Subjects The challenges and solitions for effective internships of senior Thuongmai students 1.4 Scope of the study - Research space: Thuong Mai University - Research implementation time: From 22nd February 2021 to 16th April 2021 1.5 Research methodology - Learn and generally evaluate the status of participating in internship programs of final year students of Vietnam University of Commerce - Determine and compare the impact level of difficulties faced by final year students of Vietnam University of Commerce during their internship period - Proposing practical solutions for the management levels of the University of Commerce and the final-year students of the University of Commerce on internship programs 1.6 Organization of the study The research is presented with the structure of sections: Abstract, Acknowlegement, Table of contents, List of abbreviation, List of tables and figures, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Conclusion, References and Appendices Chapter 1: Overview of the study - Chapter provides an overview of research issues, including the sections: Rationale, Aims of the study, Research subjects, Scope of the study, Research methodology, Organization of the study Chapter 2: Literature review - Chapter mentions the research situation and synthesizes theories of concepts such as: internships, effective internships, senior students Chapter 3: Methodology and research findings - Chapter provides research methods applied in the study, analyzes and gives results of online surveys on the perception of final year students of Thuongmai University about challenges and solutions for an highly effective internships Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions - Chapter provides solutions and recommendations for the TMU and the TMU students themselves to address and solve all the challenges they face during internship period CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies Some studies have shown that internship programs really affect the job orientation and future jobs for students who are about to graduate According to a few small surveys, it shows that 38.3% of students choose to practice in fields that are not in the right major or not related to their major, but 76.7% of students continue to pursuing the job that they are doing in their internship period Thus, it can be seen that the internship program has an effect on the students' perception and future career development orientation According to other researchs on internships, benefits include learning about business life, gaining experience, and developing problem solving skills (Abeysekera, 2006; Chang & Chu, 2009; Barr & Busler, 2011) Internships provide trainees with their first hands-on experience in the work place Internship activities provide on-the-job training, help senior students mature, provide the market with manpower, and allow an individual to gain expertise (Busby & Gibson, 2010) Busby and Gibson (2010) and Ross and Elechi (2002) identify the benefits of internship activities as: - Learning to complete tasks, engage in proper conduct, take responsibility, and manage others - Gaining experience in management and management methods - Developing maturity and self-esteem - Recognizing problems and determining solution standards - Offering opportunities and career choices for the future - With all the efforts spent to train new manpower, businesses gain employees with substantial previous experience In spite of the importance of internships, studies about internships are insufficient Identifying the problems that undergraduate students experience during their internships is a necessary first step to solving such problems and will help to maximize the contribution an internship can have to a university education the senior during their internship period A balance between work, academics, and personal life also seems to be a challenge Figure 3.8: The level of impact of time pressure on the effectiveness of the internship program 3.2.5 Working pressure Many firms hire lesser interns than required and put up the entire work load on the few If you happen to join such firms, you will feel overwhelmed to be trusted with so much work when you aren’t even familiar to working in a professional setting Figure 3.9: The level of impact of work pressure on the effectiveness of the internship program 60% of the students think that this factor affects a lot, 36.7% think it does not affect too much and the remaining 3.3% agree that this factor does not affect the effectiveness of an internship program 60% is an extremely big number, but that 3.3% of students think that this factor has no effect is completely understandable In addition to specific industries such as Sales & Marketing, for the rest of the fields list, KPI is not really the main factor 3.2.6 Competition between colleagues and other trainees Any development also needs competition as a root, a driving force for itself In the corporate environment, healthy competition is a culture to show one's internal strengths, as well as to learn and sharpen all of the employees’ skills However, the boundaries of competition and hostility are fragile In a corporate environment that emphasizes an unhealthy culture of competition, the labor productivity of enterprises will decline because employees not really focus on what they can do, but neglect and look forward to "opportunities" This is completely not beneficial for the business, even harmful to the business, because the corporate cultural environment has been dislocated, making the mentality of other employees also become negative: they think the efforts and real power will not be appreciated by the tricks of some other "mean" colleagues Because of that, the pressure on competition in the current business environment has actually been reduced Figure 3.10: The level of impact of Competition between colleagues and other trainees on the effectiveness of the internship program Only 28.3% of students see its impact on the quality of their internship, the remaining 72.7% not attach importance to this factor However, if you really want to give yourself a steady career path, and you want the team to recognize your dedication to the company, the best thing you can is compete to yourself yesterday That includes: efforts to complete assigned work, study to improve professional qualifications, and overcome defects in relationships with colleagues Most specifically, it's not discouraging when it comes to failure Most of those who go down the path of unfair competition are those who are afraid of facing failure, fear of being inferior to others, and choosing the "unorthodox" path Many employers believe that they appreciate employees who recognize defects, and know how to correct them to improve themselves On average, an average person will take about the first years in any company to settle with the work cycle When passing this time, any office worker can start to develop his professional strength Let your failures give you the impetus to perfection, not your low self-esteem to be jealous of others 3.2.7 Lack of support from direct supervisors and internship agents Figure 3.11 The level of impact of Competition between colleagues and other trainees on the effectiveness of the internship program How much you learn from your internships depend largely on your mentor If your mentor takes you seriously and helps you learn, your internship can be truly productive But on the contrary, if they are uncooperative, it can be one of the greatest internship challenges for you to face Up to 86.7% of students surveyed think that the lack of support from direct supervisors and internship agents greatly affects the effectiveness of the internship program they are participating in From all the above factors, below is a summary of all of the difficulties the senior students in TMU encounter during their internship Figure 3.12 All of the difficulties the senior students in TMU encounter during your internship From figure 3.12, in the next chapter of my paper I will offer recommendations and suggestions to increase the efficiency of the internship of all TMU final year students CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 For Unuversity - Should provide students with field-related internships - Organize an internship orientation program - One more time for students to internships and in the summer of 3rd year, organize workshops, seminars to share internship experiences from previous students so that students are prepared mentally and accumulate some practical lessons - Create conditions for students to practice more - Link with internship units to support students in difficult times - Support students with career counseling sessions for a career-oriented outlook Besides, it is possible to deploy student training sessions in an enterprise environment 4.2 For Senior students - Learn and gain experience - Always take the initiative to learn - Always listen and frankly express their point of view as well as get help from direct managers and colleagues - Learn more about the internship units - Experience different part-time jobs before going to internships to choose a desired internship and have more experience - Actively participate in activities that constantly improve specialized knowledge and soft skills - Focus on your work to be more effective 4.3 For Internship agencies - More carefully prepared internship programs should be offered - Dig deeper about the professional knowledge for the students - There should be a more formal training process, students still see what they learn, but there is no formal training on the location of the internship unit - Support and guide students to get acquainted when they internship at the company CONCLUSION The topic "In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions" has been presented briefly, concisely but relatively fully Although the scale of the investigation is not large, with the appropriate selected sociological methods, on the basis of careful research on the research area, the research object I have conducted the investigation steps , data processing and analysis, the obtained results have met the initial research objectives REFERENCES The Influence of Problems Faced During Internships on Interns' Views of Their Profession and Their Intention to Work in the Tourism Industry (Mehmet KAŞLI* Mehmet Oğuzhan İLBAN**) THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF INTERNSHIP PROGRAMMES IN AN ODL INSTITUTION: A CASE FOR THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY (Richard BUKALIYA Zimbabwe Open University, Mashonaland East Region, Marondera, ZIMBABWE) APPENDICES (The survey is build in Vietnamese on purpose of the author to gain thorough and clear all feeling, though, ideas of the people surveyed!!!) BẢNG KHẢO SÁT (Khảo sát Những thách thức giải pháp cho tập đạt hiệu cao cho sinh viên năm cuối ĐHTM.) Xin chào! Tớ sinh viên khóa 53 chuyên ngành Tiếng anh thương mại, trường ĐH Thương Mại Tớ thực hiên nghiên cứu chủ đề mong nhận trợ giúp đóng góp bạn sinh viên trường Bản câu hỏi khảo sát thuộc phần nghiên cứu, tạo với mục đích tìm thách thức giải pháp cho tập đạt hiệu cao cho bạn sinh viên năm cuối trường ĐHTM Bản câu hỏi ẩn danh nên bạn lo lắng vấn đề lộ thông tin cá nhân Nếu có thắc mắc xin liên hệ với tớ qua email: aivan130599@gmail.com Gửi lời cảm ơn chân thành nhất! Bạn tên là:……………………………………… Lớp: …………………………………………… Giới tính: Câu 1: Bạn hồn thành chương trình thực tập chưa? A Chưa B Rồi Câu 2: Lĩnh vực bạn chọn để thực tập gì? Sales/ Marketing Biên phiên dịch Logistics Giáo dục Hàng không IT Nhà hàng khách sạn du lịch Kế toán/ kiểm toán Nhân 10 Ngân hàng 11 Giải trí 12 Bảo hiểm 13 Bán bn/ bán lẻ 14 Sức khỏe sắc đẹp 15 Nhà nước tổ chức phi phủ phi lợi nhuận 16 Khác Câu 3: Tại bạn lại chọn lĩnh vực để thực tập? _ Câu 4: Lĩnh vực bạn tham gia có liên quan đến ngành học khơng? A Có B Khơng Câu 5: Sau tập bạn có tiếp tục theo đuổi ngành nghề khơng? A Có B Khơng Câu 6: Lí cho việc bạn tiếp tục theo đuổi/ không theo đuổi ngành nghề thực tập gì? _ Câu 7: Đánh giá hiệu làm việc thân suốt q trình thực tập Rất khơng Khơng Bình thường Hiệu Rất hiệu hiệu hiệu Câu 8: Đánh giá chất lượng đào tạo mà công ty nơi bạn thực tập đem lại cho bạn Rất tệ Tệ Bình thường Tốt Câu 9: Bạn có gặp khó khăn q trình thực tập khơng? Rất tốt A Có B Khơng Câu 10: Những khó khăn bạn gặp phải trình thực tập trường hợp sau đây: Thiếu kiến thức chuyên môn Thiếu kĩ mềm Môi trường làm việc khác xa môi trường học trường đại học Áp lực thời gian Áp lực tiêu công việc Cạnh tranh đồng nghiệp bạn thực tập sinh khác Thiếu hỗ trợ từ người quản lí trực tiếp đơn vị thực tập Câu 11: Mức độ ảnh hưởng khó khăn kể đến hiệu chương trình thực tập Khơng ảnh hưởng Ít ảnh hưởng Bình thường Thiếu kiến thức chun mơn Thiếu kĩ mềm Môi trường làm việc khác xa môi trường học trường đại học Áp lực thời gian Áp lực tiêu công việc Cạnh tranh đồng nghiệp bạn thực tập sinh khác Thiếu hỗ trợ từ người quản lí trực tiếp đơn vị thực tập Ảnh hưởng nhiều Ảnh hưởng nhiều Câu 12: Bạn đề xuất số giải pháp để cải thiện chương trình thực tập cho bạn sinh viên năm cuối ĐHTM đạt hiệu tốt hơn? Nhà trường _ Các đơn vị thực tập _ Bản thân _ SURVEY FORM (In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions) Hello! I'm a 53rd class student, majoring in Business English, Thuong Mai University I am doing a research on the above topic and look forward to receiving the help and contribution of you This survey questionnaire is part of the research, created with the aim of finding out challenges and solutions to a highly effective internship for the final year students of Thuong Mai University This questionnaire will be anonymous so you will not have to worry about disclosing your personal information If you have any questions, please contact me via email: aivan130599@gmail.com Sincere thanks! What is your lovely name:……………………………………… Class: …………………………………………… Gender: Question 1: Have you attended and completed the internship program yet? C Not yet D Yesss Question 2: What field you choose for an internship period? 17 Sales/ Marketing 18 Translating and interpreting 19 Logistics 20 Education 21 Aviation 22 IT 23 Hotel and restaurant service/ Tourism 24 Accounting and auditing 25 Human Resources 26 Banking 27 Entertainment 28 Insurance 29 Retail/ Wholesale 30 Beauty and fitness 31 Government/ Non government, non profit organization 32 Others Question 3: Why did you choose that field for internship? _ Question 4: Does that field have anything related to your current field of study? C Yes D No Question 5: Will you continue to pursue that career after your internship? C Yes D No Question 6: What is the reason for you to keep pursuing / not pursuing that career after your internship? _ Question 7: Evaluate your own performance during the internship Very Not effective Normal Effective Very effective ineffective Question 8: Evaluate the training quality that the internship agent gives you Very bad Bad Normal Good Very good Question 9: Did you have any difficulty during your internship? C Yes D No Question 10: Which of the following statement are the difficulties you encounter during your internship? Lack of specialized knowledge Lack of soft skills The working environment is different from the university environment Time pressure Working pressure Competition between colleagues and other trainees Lack of support from direct supervisors and internship agents Question 11: The level of impact of the above difficulties on the effectiveness of the internship program Not affected Little effect Normal Lack of specialized knowledge Lack of soft skills The working environment is different from the university environment Affected Affected a lot Time pressure Working pressure Competition between colleagues and other trainees Lack of support from direct supervisors and internship agents Question 12: Would you suggest some solutions to improve the internship program for the final year students of the Thuong Mai University to achieve better results? For University _ For internship agents _ For yourself _ ... SURVEY FORM (In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: challenges and solutions) Hello! I'm a 53rd class student, majoring in Business English, Thuong Mai University I am doing... depicting an overview of the real situation of the internships of the final year students in all universities in general and in Thuongmai University in particular Reality of joining an internship... location of the internship unit - Support and guide students to get acquainted when they internship at the company CONCLUSION The topic "In search for effective interships of senior Thuongmai students: