Economic liberalization has resulted in a fast-growing banking industry involving international banks and financial institutions. This has led to a demand for high-quality local banking officers who have both professional working capability and excellent foreign language skills. Cao Thanh Hiếu was a top student at the Hanoi Foreign Trade University and has been working for the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation Bank for one year.
My name is Hiếu and I’m a banker for the Sumitomo Corporation, a Japanese corporate and investment bank. We are a wholesale bank. That means we don’t serve individuals, only corporations who are investing in construction or other projects in Vietnam. Some of the companies that we work with in Vietnam are Vietnam Electricity or Vinacorporation. Then there are some Japanese and Vietnamese companies that work together to invest in construction.
When I was a university student I never thought I would be working at a bank so I did not train for it. I graduated from the Foreign Trade University with a major in International Economy, and I had really hoped to then be able to study internationally for my major. My dream was to travel and teach, which I began right after graduation. But while I was traveling, an aunt of mine who works for Citibank called me and told me that she knew of a company, Simimobile, that was hiring. I sent them my resume and I was rejected, so she then told me to send my resume to my current employer, and they called me in for an interview.
At the time I had no skills related to banking but the interviewers were impressed by my major and told me they would give me a three-month internship which would give me the experience I needed. Now, after being there for a year I think I am very experienced but this job requires me to create and manage a lot of paper documents, and I’m not really interested in that. I don’t mind my boss and sometimes interacting with customers can be very interesting, but the Japanese way of organizing makes me confused. I think because of that I’ve forget my original dream.
I really want to find another job, one that’s closer to my dream but now I have a lot of good friends at my job and after university you need friends. Typically, at work there are many people working together at the office, but after work is over they might not be friends. At this job I have a lot of friends and we are very, very happy. At lunchtime we talk together and we play together, and after work we often go somewhere to eat and go shopping together. I really like them a lot and if I leave I would miss them a lot. Another thing is, my boss wants to promote me. I would still be working in banking operations but in a different position. At a bank there are three levels: banker, checker, and approval. So I would still be a banker but I would be moved from this job to another job. I’ve thought of leaving but this is a good job already, so I stay. My family likes my area of work because I can make about US$400 per month.
My normal work day is not very interesting because I work within a system. I take a number and input it into the system, then it’s sent to my boss so she can check to see if there are any mistakes. If there aren’t any mistakes, then she’ll make the official transaction. Actually we’re quite familiar with the process so we rarely make any mistakes. But sometimes I think when you make a mistake you will learn more. Sometimes in our office they implement a new system to replace the old system, which can cause problems. And from those problems you learn a lot, you learn why you are wrong, and how to avoid mistakes in the future.
Actually my day is quite boring because that is what you do again and again, five days a week, month in and month out, always the same job. Normally I open accounts and work as a teller and sometimes I do transfers. Our bank is not like Citibank with a queue of customers, we just serve corporations so we do not have to work a lot as a teller. We just have to do 10-12 transactions every day. We don’t have many people in the office at a time and if we do, they are Japanese and we know how to make them comfortable. When they come in, we just have to give them something like candy and greet them like Japanese people, bow and smile and it is ok. So we do need to know how to address some customers. Some customers like us so they bring presents for our kids.
Japanese people are very strict at everything. Japanese banks have a serious style. They are so serious in many things. They have to keep a lot of documents, I don’t know why. One person in our branch sent some document to the customer by mistake; she shared information about another customers to this customer. The boss had to go to each company to apologize because of that mistake. And because of it, all employees can no longer send information outside. In the office, only a few high-level employees are allowed to report outside. But they still have to get approval from the management. They are very strict about that. Sometimes our jobs are very specific, like my job as a teller. You pay out money. Each day you pay a lot of customers. Sometimes by mistake, you pay less or more than the actual amount. But the amount of money you forget to pay a customer might be quite low, for example 1000 VND (US$0.05), but even so my deputy manager has to call the customer to say we’re sorry.
We really take care of the customers. We work to maintain a loyal following so we are truthful about everything that happens with the customers’ money. Sometimes customers come to the bank and they forget to bring their identification or other documents. Those things are very important. If you came to a Vietnamese bank, they would reject you because they require these supporting documents, but in a Japanese company, customers are accepted. They trust the customer and the customer trusts the bank.
Everything is like a personal contract. For example, when you purchase goods from another country, you would need a contract. You need a product list and customs form. But sometimes the bank lets you forget all of those, just because they trust you. It seems very dangerous. But you have to realize that they’re trying to build a relationship. Japanese banks readily serve the Japanese customers and companies—the companies that work for Vietnam, and invest in foreign countries. They trust other Japanese customers, not Vietnamese customers. They show great favoritism for Japanese companies; for a Vietnamese company they will investigate more. And the funny thing is when I go to a German bank and talk with the employees they have similar ideas. The working culture is very similar.
The Japanese are very punctual. If I am just late one minute, the head of HR will send me an email. But I did not get punished. I don’t know what the punishment would be because no one is late at the office. We follow the rules. Every day we talk about rules and compliance. And when you first turn on your computer, you will see the first sentence is, “customers and compliance comes first”. But my branch is very lucky because my two bosses, managers, spent a long time working in the US branch so they are much kinder when employees make a mistake. I think they make it more personal taking everyone through the steps and take a lot of time to take everyone through the training.
There are some perks with this job. I was sent to a quality management training course in Singapore and Thailand, which I just returned from only a few days ago. The course was not very interesting as the teacher talked a lot and often forgot about the students. The interesting things were not what he said, but rather the chance to travel to another country, see a different culture, stay in a 4-star hotel, and make friends with a guy. It was really different than living in Hanoi. We have summer vacation at the end of the year. And next month, everyone in our organization will go to Đà Nẵng on a company vacation. I’m really excited and eager to go because I’ve never been to Đà Nẵng. They really make it their mission to keep the employees with the organization. Last month we had a bowling tournament. They made us into 10 different groups to compete with each other. It was actually only my second time bowling. And one of our CEOs dressed up like a Vietnamese girl in an áo dài. He made up his face beautifully and was wearing a blue wig. It was very interesting.
My job is just a stable way to make a living. I know some students want to apply to a bank because of the good money; I understand, but I always support those who want to follow their dreams. My co-worker told me he works for salary his only, he doesn’t care how he feels about the job. No one wants to work at a bank because they love banking, they work for the money and good conditions or because their families push them to work for banks. I’d really prefer a job that would let me be more creative.
My life changed a lot when I started working in the bank. My hometown is in a different province so I live with some of my relatives here, and when I was a student my relationship was very good. But now I have to work at my office from 7am until 7pm so I don’t have any time to do housework and or do anything. My relatives don’t like that and I don’t really like it either. Also when you’re a student you have time to do whatever you want. And now I must wear a uniform and cannot paint my nails any color. Your style becomes different, especially for a Japanese company. You can’t just wear a t-shirt and you can’t get up late. Sometimes, I get more tired, and on Saturday and Sunday I wake up and feel so happy that I don’t have to work. Some girls in my office say that we will be single forever, because we are always working. No time to stay with a boyfriend, and when we come home there is only time to cook and we don’t want to do anything else.
I always tell my friends to treasure the time when you are a student.
Contributors: Son Chau, Micaela Bacon, Lena Tran, Nguyễn Hương Lan Nguyễn Phương Vân
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