THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH INTERNSHIP REPORT Company EDUSHINE VIETNAM EDUCATION COMPANY LIMITED Student’s name Nguyen Thi Thu Ha Class K55N4 Student code 19D170221 Supervisor Nguyen Thi[.]
THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH - - INTERNSHIP REPORT Company: EDUSHINE VIETNAM EDUCATION COMPANY LIMITED Student’s name : Nguyen Thi Thu Ha Class : K55N4 Student code : 19D170221 Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc M.A Hanoi, 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .iii INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATION .3 1.1 About the company information 1.1.1 General information 1.1.2 Mission and vision 1.1.3 Business service 1.1.4 Organizational structure 1.1.5 Business performance 1.2 About the department CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE 11 2.1 Tasks assigned 11 2.2 Difficulties and experiences acquired 12 2.2.1 The difficulties 12 2.2.2 The experiences 14 CHAPTER 3: THE REALITY OF ENGLISH USAGE AT ORGANIZATION 16 3.1 The english usage in practice 16 3.2 Solutions to improve English capacity 17 3.2.1 Solutions for the company 17 3.2.2 Solutions for employees 17 CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTION TOPIC FOR GRADUATION PAPER .19 CONCLUSION 20 REFERENCE .21 i LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES No List Content Page Image 1.1 Logo of the company Diagram 1.1 Organizational Structure of EduShine Diagram 1.2 Organizational Structure of Haiphong Branch Table 1.1 Business results of EduShine from 2020 to 2021 Table 1.2 Business results of EduShine from 2021 to 2022 Chart 1.1 Business Results of EduShine from 2020 to 2021 Chart 1.2 Business Results of EduShine from 2021 to 2022 ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HR Human Resource SEO Search Engine Optimization VND Vietnam dong iii INTRODUCTION From a young age, we were taught that theory is always attached with practice It means nothing when we can not apply knowledge and skills observed from faculty, school into a real working environment to create true value for yourself, business and society The existence of the internship process in university programs is extremely important and necessary for every single graduate It is a golden opportunity and also a challenge for university students to experience all kinds of things that they never have been through in school life From my perspective, after four years learning in university, I grasped theories but by doing internship, I gained the practical approach on dealing with problems, solving them and actively contributing to the company’s development by applying the knowledge I obtained. I went through my internship course for the duration of approximately four weeks excluding holidays I took EduShine Vietnam Education Company Limited as the host company for me to complete my internship The company specialized in processing procedures for those wishing to study abroad There are several reasons why I chose EduShine First of all, the trend of study abroad is blooming in Vietnam According to the General Statistics Office, there are 190,000 Vietnamese students who choose to pursue their academic education in foreign countries With such an impressive number, I supposed that the consulting area has bright prospects in the future, thereby setting the stage for my career path after graduation Secondly, EduShine is a newbie in the industry, but I found out that the CEO and Founder has over ten years of experience so I believe I can learn actual knowledge about the market from him Furthermore, because of being newly established, the warm welcome for undergraduate or fresh graduates like me is also a reason I took consideration into applying for the internship Most and foremost reason is the job I was responsible for in the company As an intern consultant, I had a chance to apply knowledge and skills such as communication skill, persuading skill to accomplish tasks assigned and achieved positive outcomes. During my internship, it allows me to learn about and discover myself from a variety of perspectives It also assists me in controlling and developing my attitude and behavior when dealing with various types of people and situations The internship somehow has also taught me where I still fall short as an individual and as an employee As an intern and working in a structured organization, I could identify my weaknesses and my strengths. It teaches me how to be self-sufficient and accountable for all tasks assigned to me, which I lacked when I was in school. In this report, I would like to present my position and responsibilities in the internship, discuss what I have learned and the skills I developed as well as the difficulties encountered throughout the process At the end of the report, I will offer some solutions to improve english capability for employees in the company and suggestions for the graduation paper The report divided into four main parts following: Chapter 1: Overview of organization Chapter 2: Overview of internship experience Chapter 3: The reality of English usage at organization Chapter 4: Suggestion topic for graduation paper CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATION 1.1 About the company information 1.1.1 General information EduShine Vietnam Education Company Limited was established in 2020 by several experts in international education and study abroad consulting field The headquarter is located in Hanoi, the small branch is set up in Hai Phong EduShine grabbed the customer’s demand of living and working in developed countries filled with top quality education, civilized living environment and great career opportunities, hence, the company committed to provide superb services along with the most affordable costs With ten years experienced staff, EduShine always carefully evaluates the profile of customers including their financial situation, academic level, etc in order to offer a suitable study path. Here are some basic information about EduShine: - Business name: EduShine Vietnam Education Company Limited - Business type: Company Limited - Tax code: 0109185486 - Head office: 4th Floor, Building N03-04, 59 Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi - Legal representative: Nguyen Dinh Khanh - Telephone number: 0977390280 - Email address: info@edushine.vn - Website: edushine.vn Image 1.1 Logo of the company 1.1.2 Mission and vision Vision EduShine is hoping to become a leading company in supporting study abroad with a cross-sectional process, from providing information, career orientation, study planning to building a network of international students, job connections and integration support In the long-term, EduShine wishes to develop its own training system with an extensive network of connections to create high-quality labor forces for society and promote the integration of Vietnam into the world. Mission EduShine is a consulting company whose trust, prestige and enthusiasm are the factors put into the first place The company helps Vietnamese parents and students to approach the most correct and necessary information, in order to gain better knowledge about the professions, labor market and training model of foreign countries Simultaneously, EduShine is striving to develop different skills for students, helping them choose suitable majors and school, not only in accordance with their own abilities, conditions, but also in line with the common development trend of society From the beginning of the establishment, the Founder was operating the company with the motto “Create the future” based on three criteria: responsibility, prestige and dedication. EduShine engages to bring world-class learning opportunities to thousands of students, so as to put the first brick on their career path and success By following professional education overseas, students easily visualize their future, shape themselves to be the person they prefer to be and reach a further and bigger goal of becoming a global citizen 1.1.3 Business service The core service of EduShine is to consult for those wishing to study abroad The company is focusing on the main markets: UK, Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore, Netherlands EduShine has performed processing procedures quickly and efficiently for customer’s study abroad journey, the company is also in charge of supporting completing required documents such as financial proof, translation, notarization, applying directly to schools, etc Moreover, EduShine is delighted to introduce scholarships to customers as the company has had close cooperation with more than 500 prestigious high schools, colleges, universities and educational institutions in many countries, including many leading prestigious universities in the world At the same time, EduShine also has a good relationship as well as receives support from embassies and consulates of many countries to assist students more conveniently in applying for a student visa Apart from that, EduShine is confident to be the first agency in Vietnam thriving to build a network with a purpose of creating a community where international students could connect with each other and share their experiences and give useful advice for those in need. The company's business activities are always associated with the goal of spreading its reputation and entering new markets, EduShine wants to expand bigger collaborators in available markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands Build a training and quality control system, aiming for a synchronous model in the following period would be a target in the long-term Inside the business, EduShine constantly improves the quality of staff, especially the team of young, enthusiastic and potential consultants Additionally, EduShine centers on creating a professional working environment where employees can bring out their full capacity 1.1.4 Organizational structure Diagram 1.1: Organizational Structure of EduShine Diagram 1.2: Organizational Structure of Haiphong Branch Function of Departments: - CEO - Founder:: He is in charge of setting long-term and short-term goals for the company, as well as monitoring the implementation of significant company activities and making important decisions and policies - General Manager: General Manager is in charge of overseeing and managing all the departments in the company to ensure that they are operating in line with the 1.1.5 Business performance Criteria 2020 2021 % Increase (+) (VND) (VND) Decrease (-) Total revenue 560,412,360 954,782,104 70.37% Total cost 610,459,367 725,129,305 18.78% Profit before tax -50,047,007 229,652,799 558.87% Profit after tax -55,051,708 206,687,799 475.44% Table 1.1: Business results of EduShine from 2020 to 2021 Criteria 2021 2022 % Increase (+) (VND) (VND) Decrease (-) Total revenue 954,782,104 1,626,659,329 70.37% Total cost 725,129,305 800,126,487 10.34% Profit before tax 229,652,799 826,532,842 259.91% Profit after tax 206,687,799 661,226,274 219.92% Table 1.2: Business results of EduShine from 2021 to 2022 Chart 1.1 Business Results of EduShine Chart 1.2 Business Results of IAM from 2020 to 2021 Company from 2021 to 2022 In 2020, EduShine’s revenue reached VND 560 million, the company can make any profit, even worse, it lost VND 50 million as the result of prolonged Covid-19 pandemic Fortunately, business performance has shown positive signs as the epidemic was partially controlled and the economy gradually recovered EduShine hit nearly VND billion in 2021, an increase of seventy percent compared to last year Until 2022, when it comes to the post-pandemic period, the whole country has been toward stabilization and growth, then the company had changed their strategy and orientation development to be in line with “new normal” situation EduShine had a significant performance when earning about VND 1.6 billion, with an increase of profit after tax at 219 percent year-to-year. 1.2 About the department I worked as an intern in the Sales Department lead by Miss Hoang Dieu Thuy as Manager Officer and its Head of Department in which the department consists of a total of four employees Each employee in the department will be assigned for a major market that the company targets such as America, Canada, UK, Australia, and most importantly, to ensure each salesperson can have thorough understanding of the market so that they can deliver correct and adequate information to customers. The main responsibility of the sales department is preparing sales plans The sales department identifies sales goals and objectives and develops a sales plan to help them be met Goals typically include things like meeting sales quotas and volumes Besides, the sales team is in charge of sourcing and identifying early stage leads Sourcing entails conducting online research on various sites, attending industry events or conferences, or asking current clients or colleagues for referrals When the department identifies leads, it moves them through the sales process by contacting them via cold calling, emails, or other means in order to qualify them for sales outreach Furthermore, the sales team is also in full control of developing and maintaining customer relationships They resolve their complaints, document complex issues, and forward them to the appropriate authorities for resolution They also renew existing customers' subscriptions They seek out additional sales opportunities and make a case to customers for continued patronage and increased business profitability Upsell and cross-sell sales opportunities, as well as referrals, result from strong customer relationships For almost four weeks in the Sales Department, I felt lucky and honored to work in a professional environment full of expertises in the area I have to mention Miss Thuy firstly, she possesses experience in the field for over five years It was her who directly instructed me for my very first days starting the job She impressed me by her kindness, enthusiasm, humor and the thing that left the deepest impression on is her professional attitude towards the job as well as her knowledge in multiple fields I learned a lot of good things after working with her About other colleagues in the sales department, they are supportive and open-minded to help me go through anything I questioned about With a pleasurable experience, I believe that the Sales Department of EduShine is a good place for those who desire to learn, develop and dedicate. 10 CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE 2.1 Tasks assigned In the first week as a practical trainee, I was assigned to self-search information about study abroad, including the economy, culture, society, weather of targeted markets, universities and its dominant major, requirements for applying in each level of education, process of study abroad journey These tasks served for my job later as a consultant At the same time, I was honored to attend several seminars hosted by other reputed agencies where they shared useful knowledge about the industry and ways to easily approach potential customers In some conferences, I also had opportunities to communicate with representatives from foreign universities presenting their programs which enhanced my English communication skills. Then, I was in charge of developing groups for the company on Facebook My daily job was to keep track of the number of members in the group I had to post writings related to scholarships, common occupations for Vietnamese students when deciding to chase, trending professions in the upcoming time, experience for living in foreign countries The purpose of the above tasks helps increase interaction in the group I also took responsibility for seeding tasks in other groups to promote the brand's image Besides, I wrote some articles uploaded on the website of the company to maximize SEO to customers After every week, I made a report to my supervisors - Mrs Thuy about how efficient all the tasks I have done Then, she would evaluate not only my performance at work, but also my attitude outside the work, my weakness and my strengths all week long Thanks to two-way effective exchanges between me and my higher-ups, I figured out what I needed to adjust my downsides, and what I needed to improve in order to achieve outcomes in the next week In the later part of my internship at the Sales Department, I performanced pre-sale activities in the company My task description basically is to find new customers, diagnose their fundamental information like desires, demands and conditions, and then make an assessment whether they were prospective customers Technically, I 11 accomplished the task by marketing tools such as Facebook’s group, website, fanpage of the company, and the former relationship with existing customers After browsing all the necessary data from the customer, I analyzed them logistically, then consulted them on a route (major, universities or college, bachelor degree or diploma would be the best for them) that might be most suitable for their background In practice, after a long-time hard-working, I finally brought in my own customer to the company It’s obvious I could apply the knowledge the trainer had taught me before into a realistic case Specifically, my task at that time was to assist the customer's orientation career to give her a clear vision about what she’s going to take in the future I instructed her how to apply for a university and visa Fortunately, the job seemed to be successful as my customer was accepted into the university she was always determined for and conveniently approved for a visa to Canada As a consultant of EduShine, I was over the moon to complete the contract between an agent and a customer, contributing to the extensive development of the company, and also as a company with the customer from the start of the process, I was extremely happy to see the customer eventually reaching her dream of studying abroad. From the beginning to the end of my internship, I was accountable for various tasks, some involved to major, some were not in my expectation I was supposed to when I applied for the job However, with an attitude of eagerness to learn and complete a comprehensive set of capabilities, I was willing to undertake all the assigned tasks and endeavor optimistic results. 2.2 Difficulties and experiences acquired 2.2.1 The difficulties As an undergraduate just beginning to enter the labor market, I encountered many difficulties during my internship Generally, the difficulties arose earlier at work, but at a later part of my internship, I had tried to find solutions to tackle those challenges Firstly, the biggest obstacle happened in the training time I had to memorize a large amount of knowledge in a short time I knew that it’s a preparation for me prior to 12 getting acquainted with the job as a consultant Sometimes, the complicated procedures of studying abroad stress me out, and it’s hard to remember each step, details of each one and terminologies related to immigration process and finance when making international transactions I learned a valuable lesson when I presented wrong information to a customer, but luckily, my supervisors found out my mistake so as not to have any serious consequences. Secondly, I had trouble finding customers It is a fact that there are many fraudulent companies in this field, which is eroding customer’s trust Customers become more cautious and demanding because they have to pay a lot of money to send their children to foreign schools Therefore, to win customer’s trust is quite challenging In addition, consulting agents have been mushrooming in the recent year, fierce competition is inevitable. Asking questions is another problem for me My instructor was really busy with her own job, thereby she sometimes forgot to check assigned tasks, even my existence in the very first days of my internship When I saw her handling a ton of work, I felt hesitant in interrupting her Another reason that I found difficult to ask questions is the fear of being judged The work environment is excessively grave and professional so if I gave lots of questions, I assumed that I would be a dumb in the eyes of other colleagues As a result, I was struggling to finish my task on my own However, I realized those thoughts were just psychological obstacles I had to overcome to gain higher productivity I also felt it was difficult to adapt to corporate culture I know it takes time to understand the office culture Because every organizational culture varies from office to office Some have a rigid structure while others are flexible During my first week off socializing struggles, trying to observe organizational behavor is a challenge My solution is to be sociable to other people in the company, try to start some small talk before working hours, and regularly participate in office’s gathering after work. 13 The last difficulty is losing work - life balance As a practical trainee, I was expected to work according to the office hours from half past eight in the morning to six o’clock in the afternoon School life is totally different from work life, and I have no choice, but to adapt to a new lifestyle On top of that, under pressure from KPIs and great work intensity, I find it hard to balance life and work 2.2.2 The experiences I have accumulated various experiences and wider new knowledge through activities and tasks assigned to me I would like to mention my experience with courses that I have taken in TMU It is the internship I could apply theory in practice Due to the scope of a report, I would like to present only a few examples below America and the UK are the main market the host company aims to Having finished the subjects of British Culture and American Culture, it is easier for me to research about the market, explore its culture, its life, education system, hence, I got more confident when consulting about these two markets Moreover, I found no difficulties when creating any email to coworkers, supervisors, or partners Such results happened from equipping myself with knowledge related to Business Correspondence Course in the university It is firmly said that the theory supported me to successfully end up the internship process. My fields of work required me to be involved with representatives from foreign universities, colleges, and institutes of education That means I can improve my communication skills, other basic skills used in communicating like listening skill, speaking skill as well as reflective ability It is the fact that those representatives are not native speakers, they originally came from countries such as Singapore, Bangladesh, South Africa or Korea, thereby, I got familiar with different accents of people speaking English around the world As English is a global language, it is a tool to communicate internationally with foreign neighbors Furthermore, I am getting confident in understanding various English dialect, working cultures in different countries I believe these experiences will help me in the near future 14 As I mentioned above, I had to write articles to post on the company’s website Materials serving for this task I collected from different sources and all they were in English to ensure exact and updated information Therefore, my reading and writing skills have improved during my internship, not only that, my vocabulary has also broadened My ability to search, select and filter information has also increased remarkably as well. One of the skills gained that is beyond my expectation after the internship is the experience involving marketing Marketing is definitely not my major, I don’t have much knowledge about this field, but working at EduShine, I was taught some basic marketing techniques like seeding activity, SEO, advertisement tools, and techniques to approach customer fasttest and quickest Those experiences gave me a whole new industry knowledge, and opened up a new path for my career. Out of academic knowledge, I learned many other skills that I believe I will not only be able to use at work but also in my daily life Firstly, my persuading skills have improved significantly when working in the Sales Department as a trainee consultant I had to directly chat to customers, persuading them to buy our service and consequently convincing skills were improved significantly Secondly, time management is one of the most valuable skills I possessed in the internship process When entering the working environment at an earlier time, I had to many things at once, so I often run out of time and have no time to other things Then I learned how to allocate time for each task, prioritize important and imperative tasks first, so that the work is completed on time and good results are achieved Maintaining a professional working attitude is also a thing I have absorbed through the period acquainting with practical situations Be professional, be serious, and be responsible for what I have done Generally speaking, the experiences collected from the internship period enriched my knowledge, strengthened my skills and expanded my perception. CHAPTER 3: THE REALITY OF ENGLISH USAGE AT ORGANIZATION 15 3.1 The english usage in practice According to my observations, EduShine has a high demand for using English It is the Administrative Department whose usage frequency climbed to the top of the company As I mentioned in part 1.1.4 Organizational structure about the function of each department, administrative department’s tasks related to handling documents required for study abroad process As far as my search goes, everyone in this department all have English certificates like IELTS, TOEIC with a high score, and they graduated with a bachelor degree in English language An administrative employee is incharge of translating documents from Vietnamese into English, he also had to contact directly to foreign embassies in Vietnam to help customers fulfill compulsory procedures to acquire a visa and acceptance for entry in other countries It is obvious that they had to use English frequently, and day to day to complete their job I can say that administrative employees are proficient in English as those documents they have to translate are exclusive ones that require high accuracy, even absolute correctness Their capability to speak english, communicate is quite impressive to me I found that they regularly had conversations with foreigners with no struggles or hesitation They have conducted interview mocks to help customers practice answering questions, and I see that their pronunciation is pretty good so far. Moreover, the sales department and marketing department also use English regularly at work Sales staff use english to communicate with university representatives from overseas and marketing members seek material for sharing posts on fanpage, website and the materials are mostly in english Therefore, I assumed the employees in these two departments are at pre-intermediate level of English, reading comprehension is adequate as they usually need the support of translation software. After the internship period, I noticed that English is used often for work at many departments Although each department requires employees with different levels of English, each employee has equipped themselves with basic literacy in English. 16