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Wei Jing
ENGW 3301
Date: 07/26/2014
Project 3: Career Narrative
I am a senior business student at the Northeastern University currently. I have been in the
United States for around three years. Since I came to the United States, I have always been asked
one question: why do you come to the United States to study business? I was born in a business
family. My father is a senior manager in a famous international business firm. My mother is an
accountant in an investment company. My family exerts a profound impact on my business
career. With my parents suggestion, I had been to the United States twice to visit some
universities and cities before I came to the Northeastern University. I realized I can get a high-
quality education after I took an impressive international business class at the Harvard
University. Also, I had been financial districts in Boston and New York. I believed I can have
more opportunities in the United States to work for a great business company. Therefore, I came
to the United States to study business.
I chose to study in the Northeastern University, because it can set up a good platform for
students to start their career. First, it is located in Boston which is an educational and financial
center in the East Coast. There are many famous universities in Boston, such as Northeastern
University, Boston University, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Also there are many famous companies in the Great Boston Area, such as Pricewaterhouse
Coopers, Goldman sachs, and John Hancock. Second, the most important reason is that the
Northeastern University has an internship program named Co-op program. It offers the
opportunities to students to take full-time job in 4 or 6 months around the world. Students can
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apply the jobs in their field of study or in the field which they are interested in. During the 4 or 6
months, students do not need to pay the tuition fee. Instead, they may have good salary during
the co-op period. And, the jobs are divided into three levels, entry, intermediate, and advanced.
Therefore, students can apply for the jobs in different level depending on their previous working
experience and academic experience. Co-op program is not only to offer students some jobs, but
also set up a good platform for students to start their career.
I have done two co-ops. I took my first co-op in an international business company named
Qingdao Spring Home Textile Company as a marketing assistant from January 2013 to July 2013
and took my second one in the Northeastern University Registrar Office as an office and
verification assistant from January 2014 to July 2014. Currently, I am still taking a part-time job
in the Northeastern University Registrar Office. And, I am going to take my third coop in 2015
spring semester.
In November 2012, I got a job interview from Qingdao Spring Home Textile Company. The
interviewer was Kevin who is a general manager in this company. First, he introduced the
companys background to me. The company was established in 2011, which exports textile
product, such as curtain, table cloth, table runner, and placemat, to the North America. There
were 8 employees in this company. The main clients are some importers and retailers, such as
Marimac Group, Canada Arlee Inc., Duck River Textile, and Kmart. And then, he asked me
some questions: Why I want to work for this company? What are my strengths and weaknesses?
What are my interests? I answered those questions very fluently and confidentially, because I
had practiced how to answer those questions before I attended this interview. Finally, I got the
job offer from Qingdao Spring Home Textile Company.
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As a marketing person, my majority task was to assist sales people to complete orders. When
a sales person got the purchase order from his client, he would explain this order to me. And
then, I would make a sales confirmation and sent the sales confirmation to Kevin. He would sign
the confirmation after he did the verification in order to make this order valid and official. Next,
I needed to send the signed sales confirmation back to this client to confirmation this order.
Meanwhile, I made a purchase order or multiple purchase orders depending on the clients
requirement and sent the purchase orders to suppliers and a factory. According to the purchase
orders, the suppliers would ship the semi-product or fabric to the factory in a reasonable and
limited period. After that, I would communicate the factory manager and production supervisor
to make sure the condition of the production. When the production was almost finished, I would
send the shipping samples to the client to confirm the quality of product. Right after I got the
permit from the client, I would contact the forwarder to book a shipment around the shipping
date, which said on the sales confirmation. The next step was to work with an accountant to
make some shipping documents, which were critical to get the tax return from the government.
Then, I would assist the manager to email those shipping documents, such as bill of lading,
packing list, customer statement (Form A), and invoice to customers.
According to my good performance, Kevin allowed me to attend 2013 Spring Canton
Fair. In my opinion, this was my biggest challenge and greatest contribution to Spring Home
Textile. The first challenge was to apply for a booth in Canton Fair. The booths were very hard
to get, because there were many exporters in China want to apply for the limited booths to
explore their markets. I filled out some application documents in detailed without any mistakes.
Also, I mentioned it is very important for Qingdao Spring Home Textile as a new company to get
an opportunity to exhibit product in Canton Fair. I submitted the application documents on the
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Canton Fairs website to apply for a booth. Fortunately, I got an email which said we got a booth
in Textile Area in the 2013 Spring Canton Fair. The second challenge was to prepare the
competitive and new product which was going to be exhibited in the Canton Fair. To select
product, I went to some factories and suppliers showrooms with Kevin. Additionally, because
our target markets were Canada and the United State, I assisted Kevin to design some new
artwork in American colors, such as burgundy, sage, charcoal, and silver. The last challenge was
to introduce the features, detailed information of each product to customers in the fair. I took 2
months to get familiar with each product in composition, color, dye, number of threads, and so
on. In the first day, I felt very nervous and afraid to talk to customers, but I was trying to talk as
much as I can to introduce the most competitive product to them. In the second day, I felt I
enjoyed talking to them and I could introduce the product fluently. According to the talking, I
could assume the customers interests and I would show them more pictures and color swatches
to satisfy their desires. Finally, we built new business relationships with more than 30
companies, including suppliers, forwarders, and customers especially from Canada and the
United States.
Even though I had a good performance in my first co-op, I made a very serious mistake.
As one of my responsibilities, I took charge of making the sales confirmations, invoices, packing
lists, and other forms. In one order, I did what I usually did to read the purchase order carefully.
This order included 1,000 sets of placemats in each color. We should package 4 pieces of
placemats in each set. I did each step correct as usual, except the invoice form which should be
submitted to Chinese Customs System to get the tax return from the government. The mistake I
made was to use the piece price, which should be the set price, in the invoice. Consequently, the
value of the placemats became a quarter of their real value, which means we could only get a
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quarter of the tax return. I felt very sorry about that mistake. Finally, the accountant added back
the rest value in another order, which corrected the financial statements and tax return.
After I finished my first co-op in China, I went back to school and looked for my second
co-op in the United States. I updated my resume and I realized I need to improve my English
ability. My coordinator, who is my co-op advisor, sent out my resume to several companies, and
then I got some interviews. Meanwhile, I got an interview opportunity from the Northeastern
University Registrar Office. In this interview, my interviewer asked me some common questions
what were similar with the questions in the interview with Qingdao Spring Home Textile
Company. I also shared my working experience on campus as a proctor. Comparing to the other
interviews, I felt very relax in this interview, because all of the five interviewers were the staff
member in my university. It was like talking to my academic advisor and my instructors.
Therefore, I showed them my personalities and confidence to them. Finally, I got this job offer
from university registrar office.
From January to July 2014, I worked at Northeastern University Registrar Office as an
office and verification assistant. I had many responsibilities: First, I needed to print out
transcripts which were applied in the previous day, and then I would send a notification email to
those students to let them know their transcripts were ready to be picked up. Second, I offered
both current and former students the enrollment verification to prove their academic background.
Usually students need this form to get student loan from some financial institutions. International
students need this form to renew their visa. Third, I needed to answer around 50 phone calls and
talk to 50 people face to face to help them figure out their issues. Those people could be students,
parents, students employers, loan companies, instructors, and governments. Their issues could
be in any aspects, such as transcripts, enrollment verification, tuition, courses adding and
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dropping, commencement, admission, and others. Sometime, I did get some questions I really
did not know the answers. If the person was on phone, I would transfer this person to another
administrative office which I thought could better assist him or her. If the person walked in here,
I would make a phone call to that office to get the answer for this person. Four, I need to put
some documents, submitted by students and staff members, into the right mailbox. Additionally,
I assisted the other full-time employees to file some documents and to do some projects.
I took my first co-op in a small Chinese company and took my second co-op in a large
American university. I want to compare and contrasts my co-ops experience in three aspects.
First, in a small company, I learned much more than what I can learn in a large company,
because there are not many employees in a small company. When my colleagues are busy, I can
learn more by helping them to do their projects. However, there are many employees in a large
company. Almost every directors have their own assistants to help them to finish the projects
when they are busy. Second, employees in a small company could have flexibility work time, but
employees have to work in a certain time in a large company, For example, in my first co-op, I
could leave from the workplace after 4 pm when I finished everything. In my second co-op, I had
to follow my shift from 8 am to 4 pm. I was not allowed to leave before 4 pm even I got nothing
to do. Third, the culture is different between a Chinese workplace and an American workplace.
In China, I have to show my respect to my colleagues who are in older generation like my
parents. I cannot show my disagreement with him in front of the other colleagues. If I want to tell
him my disagreement and suggestion, I have to talk to him individually to show my respect to
him. However, I can say no whenever I disagree with anyone in the United States.
After I finish the two co-ops, I gained many benefits from them to contribute to my future
career. After my graduation, I hope to work in an international business company in the United
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States for a few years in order to gain more experience. And then, I want to build up a family
international business company to export and to import goods between China and the North
America. To achieve this goal, I gained much working experience from the two co-ops. First, I
learned how to run an international business company from my first co-op. In my first co-op, I
assisted the sales people to finish the order production and contacted the forwarder to ship the
product to the clients. Also, I assisted the accountant to do some financial projects, like tax
return, financial reports, and financial statements. Second, I learned how to expand the market to
get more clients and suppliers. I prepared the competitive product for the Canton Fair and
communicated with the potential clients. I learned to assume customers desires by chatting and
answering their questions. For example, if a customer asks a question about price first, I would
assume this customer is a price sensitive person. And then I will recommend some product with
lower price to him. Also, I will tell him that I can reduce number of threads of the product a little
bit in order to lower the price. Meanwhile, I will keep the quality as the same. Third, I gained a
good customer services skill from my second co-op to satisfy my future clients. I talked to and
listened to at least fifty people per day to help them figure out their issues. I leaned to be patient
to listen to my customers, no matter how boring their issues are and no matter how long they are
going to talk to me. For example, an older lady has been to my office and tried to complain the
complex transcript application. She spent around 10 minutes to explain she is an old-fashion
person and she did not want to apply the transcript online. I was very patient to listen to her and
then I helped her to do the application online with her permission. Everyone has different desires
and personalities. I can utilize the customer services skill to satisfy my future clients. Lastly, I
enhanced my English ability in my second co-op, which will be useful to communicate with my
future clients.
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Besides the benefits to my future career, I improve myself by taking the two co-ops. First,
I became a time-sensitive person after my first co-op. When I took my first co-op, there were
many deadline and due time I needed to remember, such as the day when suppliers needed to
deliver the fabric to an factory, the time which I need to send shipment samples to my clients, the
time to book a shipment, and others. I stated to write a list in the morning to remind me what I
need to do today and what I have to do today. I also made some clock alarms to remind me it was
the time to do something and it should be the time to finish something. Second, I became a
careful and detailed person. I did a very serious mistake in my first co-op, because I messed up
the prices. After this experience, I forced myself to review every document at least three times to
make sure the information is correct. Third, I become a quick learner by taking my second co-op.
In my second co-op, I needed to answer many questions no matter if I knew the answers. I had
many lists on my table to remind me who I needed to talk with in order to get the correct
answers. To increase the efficiency of my work and be better to assist my customers, I tried my
better to remember the information on those lists. In the third week, I realized I could remember
all of the information on those lists.
In conclusion, I have got very useful working experience in the two co-ops. It is critical
to improve my personality and achieve my future career. However, I still need to get some
working experience in an international company in the United States. I plan to take another co-op
in an international company which imports product from China to the United States. I have
already known the business process to export the product from China, but I do not know how to
import the product to the United States. Therefore, I hope I can take my third co-op in an
importing company in the United States.