Tran Vy Tra, born in 2002, received a full-time job offer from Central Retail, a leading retail group from Thailand, starting January 2024, right after finishing her third year at university. To achieve this, the young Tay ethnic woman from the former Bac Kan province had to overcome self-doubt, learn to adapt, and steadily pursue her goals.

Tra was a math major at Bac Kan High School for the Gifted. In 2020, she scored 28.95 out of 30 in the D01 exam group (math, literature, English), becoming the national runner-up and the top entrant at Foreign Trade University (FTU). That same year, she was honored at the national ceremony recognizing outstanding ethnic minority students.

Since receiving that recognition, Tra has felt motivated to keep striving. However, when she first entered university and met confident city students with strong reasoning skills and advanced soft skills, Tra felt lost and sometimes discouraged.

After some time, she realized that instead of focusing on others’ stories, she should concentrate on her strengths and find a balance between studying and gaining real-world experience.

“At FTU, many students devote 100 percent of their time to academics and research to pursue a post-graduate research path. But I did not want to follow that direction,” Tra said.

Early on, she envisioned herself working for multinational corporations, so she continuously built practical experience and soft skills.

From her first year, she joined the university’s International Business Club. There, she took on multiple roles, from member of the academic department to department head and eventually club president, leading a team of about 60 members.

Instead of rushing to take part-time jobs in her first year, Tra believed such jobs were often repetitive with limited growth opportunities. She dedicated her time to club activities, organizing competitions and real projects, through which she learned decision-making, group management, leadership, and responsibility.

She treasures those experiences and believes many of the skills gained during that period became the foundation for her confidence in later career opportunities.

In her third year, Tra applied for an internship at a French corporation, working in material input management for the production line. During this internship, she learned that adaptability and collaboration were key to achieving strong work performance.

Learning to trust her own path

At the end of her third year, Tra decided to apply for the Management Trainee Program at Central Retail. The program targets candidates with under three years of experience and aims to turn young talent into future leaders of the corporation.

Along with about 2,000 other applicants, Tra had to pass five rounds, from résumé screening and online assessments to in-person interviews and real business case presentations. She found the final round the most challenging, as candidates had to present a solution to an operational problem before senior executives.

“At that time, I had just finished my third year but had already completed the academic program and had a solid foundation. I just tried my best and did not expect to be selected because the competition was fierce,” Tra said. Unexpectedly, she became one of the eight successful candidates.

After being accepted, she entered a two-year rotation program across four departments, spending six months in each role to develop business thinking, leadership capability, and innovation.

She also had the opportunity to work for six months at Central Group Thailand. There, she was assigned to develop marketing strategies for a customer segment. Despite intense pressure, she was thrilled when many of her proposals were highly rated and even implemented.

“This experience made me more confident in my abilities. During the six months in Thailand, I also shifted my mindset in how I work,” Tra said.

She believes that when hiring young people, corporations do not expect extensive experience. What they value most is the candidate’s thinking and approach to work.

Currently, Tra manages two central warehouses in the food retail division in Vietnam and is nearing completion of the two-year trainee program by the end of December.

Looking back, Tra says the most important things she gained were not titles or international opportunities but confidence in herself. From a provincial young woman once pressured by outstanding peers around her, she gradually realized everyone has their own path.

“Success does not mean following others or achieving what they achieve. Focusing on your own journey and doing your best will lead you to your desired destination,” Tra said.

Thuy Nga