By Zui (Jessica) Han 

May 1, 2022

In the context of the globalized economy, most large companies fall in the category of multination companies (MNC) (Barak,2021). Students who want to enhance their employability and maintain a completive advantage needs to understand the importance of diversity and how diversity could bring innovation.

Diversity improves innovation. Innovation is the main profit-driver in modern society. The relationship between Diversity and innovation is positive and statistically significant. This innovation is not limited to a single level of Diversity. Diverse workforces perform better financially, win top talent, improve customer orientation, and make better decisions. In addition, a more diverse workforce brings intellectual abilities to an organization.

This article is going to provide an insight on how local students can enhance their employability and enrich their personal strategy through my personal experience. 

My experience

For this semester, my team made an international consulting case on Future Pipe Industries, a manufacturer in Dubai, faced the challenge of maintaining their competitive advantage and sustaining global growth by deciding the most effective market strategy to expand their global presence into South America/Latin America market. 

I had some prior experience with international business. However, I was not familiar with the Pipe Manufacturing industries. Learning about the pipe industry made me realized that how much profit this industry could make. My involvement in this project is to conduct ground research on different acquisition opportunities since I had some research-intensive internships before. I also came up with the action plan for Future Pipe Industries. I learned even more about data collection and am excited with my new abilities and to be able to share this knowledge in the future. 

From this project, I realized that sometimes I need to finish my tasks in my division and look at the corporations from a broader perspective. I need to understand the corporation’s business core, strategy, and goals to better bring value to the company. I think that international business would be a path I would embark on based on my personal experience. My experience in this course and project has left me with an open mind and hunger to learn more. 

My next full-time job is marketing-related as well. My responsibilities are to develop the Chinese international Student Market. My competitive advantage is that I am a marketing student who is familiar with Chinese students. I also have good communication skills and work well with the team. While most job applicants compete with their job experience or GPAs, I am able to offer Nobee my connections with the international student community. My cultural competence, gained through years of studying abroad in different countries, gives me a unique advantage that makes the competition irrelevant—my unique background of being Chinese American and various study abroad experiences.

Takeaways from my personal experience 

1. Defining – Conducting a Self-assessment to find out what is your personality

Self-assessment is a necessary process for one’s growth. Different Personalities make us who we are. Knowing your own personality characteristics will help you better understand your actions, goals, and relationship with others. Moreover, it would help you understand better of how to work with people who are different from you. You would know what your value is, your core competences, and your own vision/mission. I provided a chart with a list of personality tests that I think it’s helpful for you to define who you are (exhibit 1). 

Exhibit 1: Helpful resources on personality test 

2. Analyzing – Understanding Culture differences in relation to individual differences

We have to understand the differences between “cultures” seem bigger than the actual differences between the individuals in these same cultures. Through analyze my own personality, I realized that I am a very relationship-based person. My nationality and culture caused this outcome. China is my nationality. This culture prefers high context communication, where communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and layered. 

The result explains why sometimes I am indirect in my verbal and written expressions. One thing that is worth mentioning is that my result often outlies from what is generally from China. I do not have a strong sense of hierarchy; I feel like everyone is equal in a team. Even though I am very gentle when I give negative feedbacks, my result lies right in the middle of egalitarian and hierarchical, consensual, and top-down. Our experiences shaped who we are and our personalities.

I do realize that my personality frequently changes in different environments. I am more introverted in the English climate because I lack confidence while speaking my second language. I am more of an extroverted person while communicating with my peers and friends because I am more confident with them. 

3. Formulating – Setting up your goals and write your own personal development plan

I immigrated to the United States with my family when I was 15. Self-identity is always a concern. Where do I belong? How do I choose a professional path using my strength and avoiding my weaknesses? Which country would allow me to achieve better professional success? What am I capable of?  I crave for answers to these questions. By conducting a personal strategy plan and personal development plan, I had a clearer thought of who am I and who I want to be in the future. 

4. Implementing – Utilize every resource to enrich your global experience

Universities and Colleges nowadays provide great opportunities to enrich student’s global experiences. Additional to the co-op program, in the past three years, I have completed three different study abroad programs through Northeastern. My experience with traveling globally helped me get the position at TJX. One is at the University of Oxford, UK. I did my second study abroad at Lorenzo De’ Medici School in Florence, Italy. I completed my third study abroad program at Monash University, Australia. Through all of my study abroad experiences, I have learned to value traveling and exploring to gain a deeper understanding of the world’s different cultures. Having so many immigrant and travel experiences, I was exposed to diverse cultures early on. First-hand global experiences provide such powerful learning that lasts. It can give me an opportunity to face different intellectual traditions and to see the world from different perspectives. Hopefully, I can acquire valuable life skills and the ability to interact and communicate across differences.

About the Author 

Zui Han is a recent graduate of Northeastern University, where she is majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. During her time at the university, she studied aboard in Italy, UK, and Australia. She is currently employed as a marketing professional at a local company in Boston.

Zui Han’s LinkedIn Profile