First Vietnamese teenager works for one of the world’s leading banks

In Switzerland, after finishing 9^th grade, based o­n their marks, students will have the right to choose a job for both working and studying. Those wanting to go into journalism would be brought to an extremely modern newspaper office. If you wish to be a chocolate baker, chocolate cake shops will be ready to welcome you. Even if you desire to work for the United Nations, the organisation will open its door to you. Khanh Nhi was very fond of working for the bank, so she bravely applied for o­ne of the world’s most well-known banks-the Union Bank for Switzerland (Zurich branch).

It was very difficult to land a job there by strict recruitment criteria. A number of applicants were rejected and had to choose other jobs. Surprisingly, Nhi passed the interview with her confidence and basic financial knowledge as well as her language skills (she speaks four languages fluently, including German, Italian, English and Vietnamese).

Challenges as high as Mount Everest 

Khanh Nhi is assigned to work in many positions, such as receiving guests, answering telephones, working as a secretary to the director and doing currency exchange. She will become familiar with all facets of the bank’s operations.

She recalls how it is sometimes necessary for her to take the initiative and deal with problems that arise unexpectedly. For example, o­ne day two old people wanted to withdraw their salary, but the money had not been deposited in their accounts and the duty staff for the issue was absent. The little girl quickly phoned their insurance company, CHF9,000 was transferred to their account in o­nly 5 minutes without any trouble.

The biggest challenge for Nhi is to answer telephones. The Swiss Bank uses various languages, so she must be able to talk to any customer who contacts the general director. And she must be very precise in each language. In the field of finance, any mistake can cause disaster.

Experience teaches her wisdom

After a short period of probation, Nhi will start working for the UBS as an official staff. Currently, she comes to the bank two days a week. Experience teaches her wisdom. She studies the professional working style and financial responsibility-something no school can teach a student. In her position she also receives CHF600 every month and a yearly rail pass.

Working for the UBS, Nhi has been trained to spend money reasonably. After getting her pay, she must submit to the bank a monthly report o­n her spending money. Thanks to her good management skills, Nhi has been able to put some money aside for later use.

Most importantly, Nhi is the first Vietnamese teenager to work for the UBS, the safest bank in terms of its security system in the world. Her biggest dream is to advance her career in Vietnam when the bank opens a branch in the homeland./.