Personal Statement

Applied Program: Workforce Education and Development

It is never easy to decide what path one should take through life, but I have been fortunate enough to realize that my true calling is in the field of vocational training. It is through such training that I know I will be able to make the biggest impact on improving the lives of others as I strive to reach my fullest potential as both a professional and as a human being.

Proper training allows individuals to get off on the right foot, particularly in the cases of people who are entering into the work environment for the first time or for those that are in the process of changing their careers. With the correct type of training, people have the opportunity to enter into the job market with the skills that they need, with the ability to perform new functions as they are required, and the potential to be promoted to bigger and better positions as their careers progress. My professional goal is to become a training specialist so that I can provide such proper training for the people that need it the most. My aspiration is to become one of the best trainers in the business field in all of China. I believe that this position commands a certain air of respectability on the person who holds it while simultaneously allowing him or her to have a direct impact on the future of people in need. Currently, China lags far behind the rest of the world as far as training for people in the workforce is concerned. China is currently experiencing exponential growth in almost all sectors, and this rapid development has created an urgent need for thousands of well-qualified experts in the training field. My desire is to devote myself to my country as an expert in the area of vocational training.

After a very thorough search and comparison between schools, I have found that Penn State’s graduate school has the best academic environment and that your Workforce Education and Development Program suits my situation very well. My main research interests are in the fields of training and human resources, which I know are major areas of study in your WFED program. Your outstanding faculty, high-quality reputation and ambitious research schedule have all made a deep impression on me. To me, vocational training is such a spectacular and promising field that I have decided to deeply dedicate myself to learning as much as possible about it so that I may fully apply myself in this area. I know that this is where my future happiness lies and that training is where I will be able to find my life’s fulfillment.

Because my background has mainly been focused on training, I have done much reading about this field. I have gained a deeper understanding that training is a big business, and that both organizations and their employees have high expectations about what can be accomplished through training. Currently, a significant portion of most people’s lives is spent in educational and training programs, and trends in business suggest that there will be even greater demands for professional training in the future.

Training is my present occupation and area of future interest although it is not directly linked with my undergraduate major. I have found that my work has expanded my field of vision beyond my undergraduate education. My work has also strengthened my ability to communicate with others and helped me to develop a healthy self-confidence. My solid business experience has helped me to know how to prepare people for success while also cultivating my deep interest in training. What I am now lacking is systematic studies to add a theoretical guide to my practical experience that can lead me through my future career.

My work experience has been focused on the training field, whether the person being trained has been a clerk or a future job applicant. I have earned my bachelor’s degree, and my academic ability is very competitive with other students. My overall GPA ranked me in the top 5% among all students in my class, with a GPA of 3.70 for my last sixty credit units. Four years of undergraduate studies have equipped me with the basic research skills, and my outstanding performance in my studies has naturally placed me on the path to higher academic pursuits. I have found that I have a natural aptitude for training people. I also have the enthusiasm and the patience that is required for a training career. I am very good at making strangers feel comfortable in a new situation, which helps to create a congenial atmosphere.

In 1996, I was employed in the banking department of one of the major banks in China, CITIC Industrial Bank, where I was responsible for the banking business of foreign entities in China, such as foreign embassies, resident representative offices of international organizations and foreign commercial offices. In this position, I established good relationships with my clients and was awarded the designation of “advanced staff.” In 1998, as the supervisor of the business section, I was responsible for training new clerks to make them familiar with the banking business. I have trained more than 200 clerks from 86 different branches of our bank. In 1999, I became an assistant manager and was given the responsibility of a project with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as the primary assistant in charge. This position really kindled my interest in training, as I was responsible for training visa applicants to successfully prepare their application materials. In addition, due to my excellent communication and training skills, I was put in charge of training new staff with my intimate knowledge of the visa application process. In 2001, I compiled a 120-page book on how to handle these particular visa applications, which is used now as the training manual in our organization.

Upon completion of my studies, I will seek an additional training opportunity with a U.S. industrial firm for about one year to solidify my education training, after which time I will return to China to apply what I have learned from Penn State’s WFED program. I plan to foster vocational training in China, organize some academic forums, and invite some of the leading experts in the field to visit China and exchange ideas on how to improve training methods in my motherland. I believe that the true value of life is not in what you get but in what you give. My goal is to be a training specialist to help those people who need training to become more successful in their lives, and I will do my very best in your program to make sure that I am capable of reaching my goal.