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Supervisor’s Remark

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ABSTRACT

There are thousands of graduates from hundreds of universities and colleges every
year. Therefore, the amount of students who are ready to apply for a job is so much.
The raised question is how we can compete with others for a good job in this severe
life. Besides the professional knowledge from books and lectures, students should
have practical skills and get more experience from real life. Hence, the internship is
a wonderful pattern for us students to get chance from life and to train ourselves.
With a short internship period, students are able to:

• Apply the knowledge obtained from school to specific cases at the company.

• Get experience and new knowledge through practical assignments.

• Self-train and practice the working style and communication manner in a

professional and real working environment.

• Get perfect for our skills, knowledge gained from school.

From the first days I studied at HoaSen University, I have been looking forward to
the first internship period. I have studied theories so much, and the internship is a
chance for me to practice them. Actually, the working environment is not as easy as
I think. I have faced many difficulties at StudyLink International Co. Ltd. for the
first time I was a trainee there. However, that is also my luck; I have learnt much
from what I have experienced at the company. Especially, StudyLink is a wonderful
place for me to train my communication skill, time management skill, etc.

In conclusion, through this internship, I have achieved a lot that helps me to well
equip for my future career.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The internship has gone by fast, but I have achieved much. I have worked in a
professional environment, with friendly colleagues, and excellent leaders.

I would like to express my most sincere and deepest gratitude to:

StudyLink International Co. Ltd. – the company has given me a chance to work in
such a professional environment and train myself.

Ms. Nguyen Hong Ha – Managing Director – who accepted me to be a company’s

trainee and taught me many useful things.

Ms. Le Thi Hong Trang – Finance and Human Resources Manager – my supervisor
who gave me a chance to work at a wonderful position and always supported me
with new things.

Ms. Dong Thuy Cam – Finance and Human Resources Officer – my supervisor who
directly instructed me during the internship and gave me valuable experience to be
worked with.

All staff who have supported me to complete my tasks and taught me with team-
working.

Particularly, I would like to give my warmest thanks to Mr. Huynh who has
instructed me during the internship; and to HoaSen Universtity’s professors who
have taught me solid knowledge and useful skills so that I can apply to my
internship.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Supervisor’s Remark ................................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................ iv
I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1
II. ORGANIZATION ............................................................................................2
1. Company Profile ............................................................................................2
2. Introduction ...................................................................................................3
3. Knowledge And Experience In Referring Students ......................................4
4. Organization Structure ...................................................................................5
III. ASSIGNMENTS...............................................................................................6
1. Call center handling .......................................................................................7
2. Customers welcoming ...................................................................................9
3. Suppliers dealing ...........................................................................................9
4. Documents translating .................................................................................10
5. Recruitment supporting ...............................................................................10
6. Office skills using ........................................................................................10
IV. EVALUATION...............................................................................................11
V. RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................12
VI. CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................13

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................v

APPENDIX .................................................................................................................v

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I. INTRODUCTION

I have worked at StudyLink for eight weeks and this was a wonderful time period
for me. The internship is long enough for me to recognize differences between
theories I have learnt and practical assignments at the company, and how to apply
these theories.

At the company, I was positioned at the Front Office Management, working as a

receptionist. I would support the receptionist with handling phone calls and
welcoming guests.

This report describes all of tasks I have done during my internship. It is a record of
my achievements – what I got as well as recognitions about difficulties and
problems.

Through the internship, I completed the common purposes that HoaSen University
set up. I have used my knowledge of language in communicating; and I have also
applied office skills to deal with the company’s equipment. The company is a
service one that demanded all the staffs cooperate together. The environment
trained me for teamwork. Besides, I have experienced and trained impersonal skills
that will able to give me a chance to find the right way to my future career.

However, I have had some difficulties that I could not improve. This is the first time
I worked in such a professional environment, so I was not flexible enough in some
specific situations. In addition, my face expression was quite stern that should be
improved for the position of a receptionist.

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II. ORGANIZATION

1. Company Profile

Company Name: StudyLink International Co Ltd

Registration No: 410202 6499 at Department of Planning & Investment, Ho Chi

Minh City

Head Office: 219 bis Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam

Telephone: +84 8 3925 6731/ 3925 6732

Fax: +84 8 925 6732

Representative Office Tran Dai Nghia Gifted School

20 Ly Tu Trong St, District 1

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Telephone: +84 8 66731810

Representative Office: 74 Pasteur St, Da Nang, Vietnam

Telephone: +84 5113 825704

Fax: +84 5113 653859

Melbourne Office: Suite 18,7-9 Leeds St, Footscray VIC 3011, Australia

Telephone: (61 3) 9687 5358

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Fax: (61 3) 82560136

Director: Ms Nguyen Hong Ha

Email: ha.nguyen@studylink.org

Important Note: All correspondence and student applications are handled by

Ho Chi Minh City Office only.

2. Introduction

StudyLink International is a proprietary operating in Ho Chi Minh City, specializing

in international education consultancy and education project management.
Partnering with a fast growing number of top local high schools and language
centers in Ho Chi Minh City, StudyLink opts to service good academic students
whose families are serious about furthering education in US, Canada, UK,
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Swissland.

StudyLink International maintains its network of associated student services

representatives in Los Angeles, Texas, Montreal, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
Perth, Brisbane, Auckland and Singapore, who assist students with arrival
orientation and ongoing welfare support.

In addition to the Study Abroad business, the company offers Training Solutions to
corporate and public clients who require international standard training programs to
upgrade their soft and hard skills for working and studying.

Courses currently run by StudyLink include: Health Safety and Environment

(HSE), Project and Process Mapping, Stock Market Analysis and Investment,

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Problem Solving and Leadership, Presentation Skills, Customer Services, English

for Specific Purposes….

3. Knowledge And Experience In Referring Students

The Chairperson and Director of the company is an Australian alumnus who is an

expert in international education recruitment since 1997. She held important
positions with large recruitment companies and has built the promotion and sales
session of those companies to very successful and well-known operations. Her track
record encompasses Student Manager, Bourne Griffiths (1997-1998); Student
Recruitment and Promotion Manager, IDP Education Australia (1998-2001);
Deputy Director, Business Development, Australian Education International - the
government education export agency of Australia (2001-2003); and Director, ETSC
Education (Vietnam USA Society English Training Service Center) (2003-2005).
She is currently the Chairwoman of the Vietnamese Graduates from Australia Club
– Ho Chi Minh Chapter, the largest English speaking alumni club in Vietnam.

The Manager - Student Services, is a Russian alumnus who had 6 years’ experience
in service sector and 5 years’ experience in international education consultancy. She
has been involved in senior executive positions in large recruitment organizations
including IDP Education Australia (1998-2002), ILA Vietnam (2002-2003) and
ETSC Education (2003-2005). She has won the honorary Australian Education
Specialist Award for the best Australian Education Counselor in 2004, the only
prize awarded to Australian education consultants by Australian Education
International in the South of Vietnam.

(The complete profile is supported by the Marketing Department.)

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4. Organization

Structure

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III. ASSIGNMENTS

I was positioned in the Finance and HR Management of StudyLink International

Company Limited. I have played in role as a Receptionist.

My tasks:

Call center handling Receiving and making phone calls, noting down customers’
information.

Customers welcoming Welcoming customers, asking for information, giving

assistance.

Suppliers dealing Dealing with suppliers for service.

Documents Translating Translating some documents relating to abroad study.

Recruitment supporting Supporting HR Department to test applicants, arrange the

interview’s time.

Office skills using Typing documents

Using the fax machine

Using the scan machine

Using the photocopy machine

Using the printer

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1. Call center handling

This is the main assignment I was in charge of at the first time I began my
internship.

Call center plays a significant role at StudyLink. Because of the characteristics of a

consultancy company, besides consulting directly at the company, StudyLink’s
counselors usually give advices through phone calls.

Customers of the company come from everywhere around Vietnam, not solely in
Ho Chi Minh City. Customers in the city come to the company and have a direct
talk with the counselors. However, a lot of customers live in faraway provinces and
cities such as Da Nang, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Tra Vinh, Binh Phuoc,
Vung Tau, Ha Noi, etc. Therefore, they usually call to the office and demand to talk
with their counselors or C.O (case officers).

The company’s call center has fifteen extensions. A receptionist has to remember
these extensions and the counselors’ name to quickly support the customers.

Call center is also used to connect to the company’s suppliers.

Playing the role as a receptionist, my main tasks are receiving and making phone
calls. I listen to the customers’ demands and answer their questions if I can, or I will
transfer to the right counselors and C.O. Sometimes the people in demand are
unavailable; I need to ask for information, what the customers need, how important
the cases are. Then, I note down and send to the right people who may work with
the cases or give a memo to the responsible counselors.

Besides receiving phone calls, I make some dialing as well. My daily task is making
a phone to ask for foreign currency exchange rate. Sometimes I dial to our suppliers
and call for computer maintenance center.

Difficulties/ Problems:

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• Missing information. Some first days I was in charge of this position, I

was not used to the way of receiving a call and asking for information from
customers. I was lack of some important questions and directly transfer the
call to the counselors.

• A lot of extensions. Our company has totally fifteen extensions that was so
much for me to remember. I was supposed to remember all of the
counselors’ and C.Os’ names through their extensions within several hours
of the first day. I had made a lot of mistakes in transferring the calls, and I
dealt with the call center slowly.

• Strict customers. Some customers insisted to get the phone number of our
Director while I had no right to give.

• Calls coming at the same time. I handled three phones of Front Desk.
Whenever our company had seminars, I would receive and save the
attendants’ information. At that time, all of other phones rang while I was
keeping one. I found it so difficult to answer phone calls with my both hands.

Achievements:

• Communication skill through phone calls. I learnt how to change my tone

to please the customers and make them comfortable. If other companies
called to introduce their products, I would politely refuse and told them send
all the information via email.

• Time management skill. I was asked to take all of the calls perfectly, so I
should quickly get the customers’ demands and complete the call to take
another.

• Abroad study knowledge. Through questions of the customers, I partly

knew about some cases of studying abroad and about tasks of our staff.

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2. Customers welcoming

Customers living in the city usually come to our company to get direct advices from
counselors. My task is welcoming and asking for information from customers. Then
I send their cases right people.

Difficulties/ Problems:

• Many customers coming at the same time. Our company is attracted by a

lot of customers which sometimes causes me problems. While I was
instructing some customers to our counselors, others came to the door.

Achievements:

• Communication skill. I welcome guests every day that gave me a chance

to improve my communication skill. I knew how to smile to the customers
and how to make them comfortable.

• Problems management. Some customers were angry because some

problems happened with their cases or they could not call their counselors. I
would gently explain and promise to work out with their cases.

3. Suppliers dealing

On behalf of my supervisor, I called for stationery supplier, ordered some kind of

stationery.

In this relation, my company is a customer. Therefore, I know what customers want

and how to meet the customers’ needs. Through this task, I understand how to
satisfy our customers and how to deal with unforeseen situation, avoid our
customers’ anger.

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4. Documents translating

The company cooperates with many of schools, colleges and university from the
UK, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, etc. Before sending
student’s profile to these institutes, we translate all the documents into English
language.

Sometimes I helped the C.Os to translate several pages of document such as

transcript, study plan, etc. This task is suitable to my major and helps to improve
my translation skill.

5. Recruitment supporting

Our company is lack of officer and we are recruiting.

I got the general recruitment information from HR Department and post them on
some forum and recruitment websites.

There are many applicants sending their CV to the company to be interview. I

would let them take a translation test and sent the result to our HR manager and
Director to consider. After that, I would set the time for applicants to be directly
interviewed with our Director.

6. Office skills using

I usually supported the staff with photocopying, scanning, printing or faxing

documents. I did not know how to use them at the first time, and I asked for
instruction. The more I use them, the quicker I am. Besides, I also typed the
customers’ information after the seminars. I have learnt this skill at university, so I
deal with this without problems.

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IV. EVALUATION

Through the internship, I could evaluate myself as below.

Strengths:

• Being able to adapt with new environment rapidly.

• Being sociable with every colleague.

• Willing to support the staff.

• Having good communication skill

• Being active, enthusiastic, having a sense of responsibility.

Weaknesses:

• Not flexible enough in some specific situations.

• My face expression is quite stern.

• Lack of professional knowledge.

The company environment:

• Professional working environment

• Friendly and responsible staff

• Active and effective Board of Director

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V. RECOMMENDATION

A lot of students do not know what they will do at the internship company. I
suggest that before sending students to the company, students should be trained for
some information and skills that are necessary.

The date that is arranged for students to come back and give reflection is at official
time. That maybe causes problem for students because they have to get absence
permission from the company.

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VI. CONCLUSION

An eight-week internship is not a long period. However, it is really a useful time

for me to practice myself and learn new things. The working environment is not
as simple as what I imagine, which caused me worried at the first time. Then,
the more I worked at the company, the more I found interested in it.

Working in a professional environment and with friendly, knowledgeable

colleagues, I was supported much so that I could improve my team-working
manner, communication skill, negotiation skill and time management.
Especially, being trained at the company, I sometimes had chances to use my
English when welcoming representatives from foreign schools.

After the internship, I find out that I love this environment and I may get a job in
this area. To get this target, I am going to return HoaSen University and get
more knowledge, preparing for my future job.

I would like to give many thanks again to HoaSen University and StudyLink
International that have given me a chance to train myself and orient me to my
future profession.

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REFERENCES

www.studylink.org

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APPENDIX

Following are some pictures of StudyLink International and the staff.

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