Almost three months into my job and I must say it has been a whirlwind of emotions and feelings. In such a short time, I’ve experienced so much from my students, my colleagues and everyone around me.

My job as a Program Coordinator has 1 important mission: To engage students and to build their confidence in speaking English. This can be done through several means: workshops to build new skills (i.e. teaching new words through pumpkin carving, baking, cooking, postcard writing), discussion on different topics (i.e. travel, holidays and traditions), support in tutorials and their assignments, as well as informal chatting (i.e. through card and board games).

I’m working at a local college in Hong Kong called the Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) which has a total of 9 campuses across the country. I work at IVE Kwai Chung which focuses mainly on two streams: Business and Applied Science. It is the smallest campus among all the other IVEs with only about 1000 students and consists of students with low confidence and an introverted personality. As part of my job, I need to reach out to them and to surpass the threshold from stranger to a friend.

Getting my foot off the ground has not been exactly easy and I’ve learned so much in the process. This is what constitutes success at work:

1. A Positive Environment: The first two months I had a partner who was pessimistic, and was unmotivated in the job. It was clear that she did not wanted to be there, and to have to work with someone with a lack of enthusiasm and motivation was very difficult. I’m glad that this was realized early enough and that she had decided the next best step for her was to quit. I thought it was for the better, and indeed it was. My new partner is a lot more friendlier, creative and excited to work with the students. I feel a lot more happier at work, and the outcome has been well received. A positive work environment is vital in enjoying your work.
2. Redefining Success: My office is situated on the fourth floor of my school and the attendance of workshops is voluntary, so the enrolment for activities is often quite low. Even though I was meeting and becoming friends with students, the enrolment numbers were not rising and I felt it was taken a toll on me. I was upset. Then, I came to the realization that relationships take time to build, and even though they were not coming to the activities, my presence is being acknowledged and any success is still success. It may take more time and effort, but if enrolment is not coming in, then my focus will be doing outreach and speaking to students outside of my office. It’s the quality, not the quantity.
3. Understanding my Target Market: My target market are young adults, who are starting a new exciting pat of their life: reaching and beginning of their 20s. They have a lot of pressure to perform in HK’s society, have a lot of projects and work in school, and are generally shy, introverted and many have not travelled much in their lives. Even though I’m that odd Chinese girl on campus who’s super outgoing and says “Hi” and smile all the time, I want to show them I want to collide my world with theirs. I want to bring forth my experiences and knowledge to them and show them that I am not any different than who they are. I always ask them to share a part of their world with me, to contrast differences, to share language knowledge, and to show them that I want to be part of their world.

Slowly, but surely, I am building relationships with my students and I can see my impact.

Even though the general population in my school is quiet, they don’t know how to reject me when I am approaching them and invite myself to sit down. This makes things a little easier, and I am pushing them out of their comfort zone.

Everyday, there’s a different story about someone whom I met, an interesting conversation I had, or something I’m really proud of. The impact in my work is important to me and to see my accomplishments is satisfying.

Everyone has a story.

This is mine.