Getting a Rejection does not Mean Giving up – What have VinUniversity Students Learned from their Vinpearl Internship?

During the 5-in-5 internship at Vinpearl, Dang Thu Thao and Nguyen Trong Hiep, two Business Administration students from VinUniversity, had their own expectations for the experience. But what about the reality? Let’s take a look at Thu Thao and Trong Hieu’s internship story through the sharing below!

“As we started the internship, I was expecting to present such a top-notch solution that we would get hired instantly. But reality is not always rose-tinted. At the end of the internship, each group would have to present to Vinpearl’s leaders about lessons learned at Vinpearl, identify existing business problems and recommend practical solutions for Vinpearl. The closer we got to the deadline, the more nervous we became. We found ourselves finishing the slides 7 hours prior to the presentation, with little time left for rehearsal.

Here was the twist: we did not get to present at all. I remember Ms. Ta Phuong, Assistant to VinPearl’s CEO and our judges, stopping us as we were about to begin and requesting to see all of our slides. Next thing I knew, she skimmed and scanned every single slide from each team and told us to redo it all. Her voice is still echoing in my head: “You are here to become future managers, so we expect the best from you. Don’t present just for the sake of presenting.”

Our team used the next few meetings trying to pinpoint a structural void that we could fill with our limited freshman knowledge. One word kept popping up: Marketing! As someone who devoted my entire high school years to writing content, copywriting, I felt guilty for not going with the Marketing department in the first place. We finally managed to come up with several main problems to help resolve, including brand communication consistency, the fanpage’s content relevance as well as the need for a Marketing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Our ideas were unexpectedly well-received by the judges. It was the best feeling to be praised for our work.

Thank you VinUniversity and VinPearl for giving us this amazing opportunity; VinPearl Resorts for welcoming and guiding us from day one; my team for their hard work and determination; other teams for contributing to the success of this internship program; and myself for not giving up.” Thu Thao shared about her unforgettable internship at Vinpearl.

Also participating in the internship program at Vinpearl, Nguyen Trong Hiep, a VinUniversity student from the College of Business and Management, also shared about the dedicated support and guidance from Vinpearl’s leaders: “As busy as they were, the heads of departments, and even executives, were more than willing to address our concerns and answer our questions. Participants were also allowed to attend internal meetings and were given small tasks to complete. That is not to say our mentors by any means shied away from giving us constructive feedback—they made clear their expectations and critically reviewed our works whenever they were not up to standards. In the end, though, it is such honest feedback that offers us valuable insights into our work, as well as for our own reflection on personal and professional growth.”

Read more about Thao’s story and other students experience at VinUni via here.

As part of the Student Industry Engagement Program at VinUniversity’s College of Business and Management, the 5-in-5 Internship Program allows students to spend every Friday (a no school day) in 5 consecutive weeks working as interns in companies of their registered choice  to understand these organization’s operating models. The key difference of the 5-in-5 Internship is the opportunity for students to experience working in multiple fields before deciding their final workplace for the more intensive Summer Internship.

In addition to Vietnam’s largest tourism – resort – entertainment service brand – Vinpearl, VinUniversity students are also exploring and challenging themselves at leading firms in the hospitality industry such as Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts; in the telecom industry at businesses such as Viettel Digital Services, FPT Telecom; and in the financial industry at companies such as Ernst & Young, Woori Bank, etc.