Riding the Wind and Waves in Workplace

On April 7, a 2021 hotel and tourism field special internship double-election theme lecture entitled "What can we get from the internship" was held in classroom A1121 in College. The speaker Wang Yudan, an excellent alumnus of the 2006 Tourism Management undergraduate, is the Human Resources Director of Hilton Chengdu.

With the infectious language and dynamic style, Wang Yudan shared the hotel work experience and sorting out the understanding of hotel internships for the college students, winning applause from the students of the Hospitality Department, Tourism Department and Foreign Language Department at the lecture site. The speech hit directly the pain points of the college students entering the workplace, attracting the students to nod their heads in recognition.

This is Wang Yudan, who graduated from the Tourism Management major of Gingko College, and has been deeply involving in the Hotel Industry for 11 years. Now, with the realized dream and the encouragement to the younger students, she returned to her alma mater and deliver the workplace spirit of "live and learn" to the younger students.

The workplace is not afraid of "returning to zero"

More possibilities for the guard changing 

After graduating from Gingko, Wang Yudan entered the Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel, where she grew from an intern to a hotel lobby supervisor. From then on, she was working for the Howard Johnson Resort Zhuhai Lingding, Crowne Plaza Chengdu High-tech Hotel, and Hilton Chengdu. After entering the Chengdu Hilton Hotel in 2015, Wang Yudan stepped from a learning and development manager to a human resources manager, finally to a human resources director. When it comes to career paths, Wang Yudan doesn't feel hard. "For so many years, from the internship to the experience of rotating various positions to familiarity, this has deepened my understanding of various types of work; as long as I achieve the ceiling of the position, I will choose to return to zero, start over, change to other positions, and to discover the unlimited potential in the workplace ." Wang Yudan talked eloquently, "There are many people who are better than you in the workplace, so you should learn when you grow old."

Speaking of the summary of 11-year workplace experience, she threw out an English word “ASK”. “A” stands for “Attitude”, that is, life is a mirror, and when you face it with a positive attitude at work, you can gain more than pay; “S” stands for “Skill”, that is, only with excellent skills can you get a place in the fierce competition in the industry; “K” stands for “Knowledge”, that is only by continuously acquiring knowledge in the workplace can we enrich our lives and lay the foundation for future development.

Stepping into the industry with the professional knowledge

Using the industry experience to increase knowledge

There is a close connection between the Hospitality Industry and the Tourism Industry, which is Wang Yudan always emphasized in her sharing. In order to help Gingko students better understand the value of internships, Wang Yudan generously shared her experience in the hotel work and corrected the prejudice of the students against internships. Relying on her experience in the workplace, Wang Yudan vividly summarized the internship period as "Pain and happiness", and "pain" is reflected in "feet pain", "body pain" and "wallet pain". Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Because of her thoughtful etiquette and warm smile, Wang Yudan has a more thorough understanding of doing things well and perfection when she realizes that the internship is not easy.

For more than ten years, from a young girl who just came out of society to being a mother now, from a newcomer in the workplace to today's capable women, Wang Yudan's career path has been increasingly steady. Looking back on the four years in Gingko, Wang Yudan was full of emotion. She mentioned that acquiring professional knowledge in university is like building a house and laying a foundation. Only with the guidance of teachers, diligent study, and a solid professional knowledge system can the foundation be solidified, and the house will be better and firm.

Studying hard is the beginning of a virtuous cycle. Only with professional skills and knowledge can help interns enter the workplace steadily, and understanding each position through workplace internships, re-recognizing their own abilities can accurately establish the direction of development. Wang Yudan mentioned in the sharing that no one can do it overnight, and her own internship starts from basic-level positions such as cleaning the toilet and changing sheets. However, as long as you have a long-term vision and a dream, the hard work of the internship will be worth the value.

Wang Yudan's vitality and enthusiasm infect the colleagues and Gingko people. For another class of Hotel and Tourism students who graduated from Gingko, Wang Yudan sent her blessings: "I wish the students who graduated from Gingko will have a bright future, and bring the 'Gingko· Standard' to the industry for a Better Tomorrow!"

From a Gingko Graduate to an Entrepreneur

In Gingko College, we learn not only knowledge, but also various abilities and experiences. My alma mater, I will never forget what you have left me with.

—Gao Fei, a Tourism Management Graduate from the class of 2009 Tourism Management Department 

Studying in Gingko College of Hospitality Management 

Devoting enthusiasm to tourism management major 

Energetic Gao Fei always has an endless supply of energy. Starting from the major of tourism management, Gao Fei has begun travelling since his sophomore year. He has backpacked to more than a dozen cities alone to broaden his horizon and knowledge, while thinking about the prospects of his major in future development. While studying in Gingko College, he did not want to let go of any outdoor time. Playing basketball with his classmates after study has become a necessary leisure activity for Gao Fei. The Gingko basketball court has become one of the most unforgettable parts of his memory.

Not wasting the college life, and not indulged in the online game world, as a tourism management major, Gao Fei recently mentioned the impact of his major, full of emotion. “The time in Gingko went so fast, and I’m glad I had a clear goal in college. Because of my love for travel, I applied for tourism management major, which requires not only students’ professional abilities, but also their interpersonal and communication skills.” Gao Fei said that his clear goals, firm direction, down-to-earth walking and good interpersonal skills have created conditions for effective communication in work and life and laid a solid foundation for a better life and the development of a career. Gao Fei also offers his advice to the students in the Department of Tourism Management: “Seize your time in college. Make more friends. Read more books. Play more ball games and do more sports. Stay up less and play fewer online games. Let yourself shine!"

Turning his passion for his major into motivation for his future career, Gao Fei successfully entered the tourism industry after graduation and started his career struggle.

Stepping into Career

Paving the road to his ideal with his major

In 2012, he entered the tourism industry to do outbound sales; in 2014, he was promoted to Sales Manager; in 2016, he independently created the special line brand “Gingko Holiday”; in 2018, he independently chartered flights and operated two airplanes of Chengdu—Da Nang and Hefei—Da Nang; in the same year, he founded Vietnam Domestic Tour Operator Company; in 2020, he founded Guizhou Zaojiu Travel Agency Co., Ltd. Gao Fei’s entrepreneurial journey continues.

With the solid professional foundation laid during his college years in Gingko College, coupled with the advanced experience in the market which is absorbed in the industry, Gao Fei polishes his life with a serious attitude. When asked about the knowledge, skills and experience required for a job in the tourism industry, Gao Fei summed up his development process with a concise answer, “Lead a life with a serious attitude.” Every road is not in vain, and a moment of it is worthy. This has been Gao Fei’s life creed since he stepped into Gingko College.

The road of starting a business is hard and happy. The workplace always attaches importance to results. When working hard in the enterprise, Gao Fei pays twice as much effort as others and gains twice as much effect. After starting a business, although life and work are inseparable, the spur of the ideal makes Gao Fei brave enough to move forward. When it comes to entrepreneurship, Gao Fei laments that one should find the team first and then find the resources; and when the goals of the core team tend to be the same, the enterprise can go further.  

From “a Gingko graduate” to “a worker” and then to “an entrepreneur”, Gao Fei is improving himself steadily step by step. In the interview, he expressed his gratitude. As a Gingko alumnus, the school motto of “Cultivating Service Awareness, Learning by Practicing” has always been kept in his mind. At present, he also wants to repay the cultivation of Gingko College and promote more labor employment through entrepreneurship. Gao Fei said that study in Gingko helps him gain not only book knowledge, but also the comprehensive quality and industry experience. Gao Fei wishes the college will get better and better, and wishes the students of the Department of Tourism Management to be able to look up at the stars with their feet on the ground.

An exclusive interview with the outstanding alumna Liu Jiayu: Nothing is impossible to a willing heart

As an outstanding alumna, Liu Jiayu was invited back to her alma mater to deliver a speech at the college’s Welcome Party for the Freshmen of 2020. From a shy freshman entering college to working abroad and travelling around the world after graduation; from being an exchange student in a five-star hotel in Thailand to working in the Burj Al Arab in Dubai…Liu Jiayu’s diverse social work experience makes the students on campus admire.

The outstanding alumna Liu Jiayu, a hotel management major admitted in 2010. 

Currently a distinguished flight attendant lecturer of China Future Air 

Q1：During the four years on campus, what is your most unforgettable experience of growing up?

In my junior year, the college allowed me to be an intern as an exchange student in a five-star hotel in Thailand. This experience made me deeply feel the precious quality of “sincerity”. I got the offer with my broken English and sincere smile. With my immature work experience and diligent working attitude, I have gained the care of my colleagues and praise from the guests.

Q2：What has been your biggest change in Gingko College? What are the reasons for the change?

I become confident. At the beginning of my freshman year, I actively participated in various activities and associations of the college. I joined the dance team and the cheerleading team and participated in many performances. I changed from a shy girl to a person daring to show myself. 

When I joined the club, I served as the monitor and the assistant in the training room, which quickly helped me exercise my organizing and coordinating ability, and also made me more and more careful. This initially developed the rigorous style that a professional in the hotel industry should possess. I have assisted in the reception of many leaders, which helped me overcome my shyness. At the same time, I would choose to participate in some competitions that I think can exercise myself, such as Hotel Service Skills Competition, Tour Guide Talent Competition and Miss Tourism International. My confidence is getting stronger and stronger time and time again. 

Here, I really appreciate that Gingko College has provided me with so many opportunities, which polish my competence and help me mature.

Q3：You mentioned that you participated in a lot of competitions for training abilities in college. How did you clarify your development direction when you were in college?

To be honest, when I entered college, I was also very confused and did not have a clear direction for development. But I knew that I couldn’t waste my time in college, play computer games and sleep in the dormitory. Therefore, my classmates said that I was very capable of struggling, and I have never skipped professional courses, and have got the necessary certificates as soon as possible. I was involved in nearly all the club activities and various skill competitions. I was also busy doing part-time jobs in the service industry on weekends and during the summer and winter vacations. Without being noticed, my professional skills and soft skills have been increasingly improved. Finally, I found my ideal job with the help of the employment platform provided by the college. Although I have left my alma mater after graduation, the motto of “Cultivating Service Awareness, Learning by Practicing” has always been inscribed in my mind.

Q4：I’ve heard that you often come back to visit your alma mater. Can you feel the changes of Gingko College every time you come back?

After graduation, the teachers are very concerned about my work and life overseas. At that time, I was fledgeling, having little work experience and didn’t know much about things. Thanks to the online assistance of the teachers, I got out of the confusion and depression again and again, and kept moving forward. After graduation, it was my first time to visit my alma mater recently because of the welcome party for the freshmen. In ten years, great changes have been made. The empty lawn has been turned into a playground, and a coffee training room has been built. The abilities and talents of the students on campus are better than those of ours, and Ginkgo College has developed better.

Q5:Looking back now, what do you miss most about Gingko College?

I miss most about the hotel training room at Gingko College. Because this is where I put the most effort and gain the most. I can’t remember how many times I have introduced the place, taken leaders to visit the place, taken younger students to practice training in the place, had practical training classes and organized activities here. This place is the signboard of my alma mater, and also my honor.

Q6:You were invited to return to your alma mater at the welcome party for the freshmen and to make a speech as an outstanding alumna. How did you feel while receiving this invitation?

I felt quite nervous and worried, because Ginkgo College has cultivated many outstanding alumni, and I had been thinking about what I could share with the younger students. At the welcome party for the freshmen, I shared my personal work experience with everyone and received warm applause from the younger students. I was very happy that the students could get insights and inspiration from my experience. At the party, I also communicated with Ginkgo leaders and other outstanding alumni and felt that I benefited a lot.

Q7:To chase dreams or to compromise with reality has always been a dilemma for college students when they graduate. You also have the pursuit of dreams, what do you think?

In my opinion, dream and reality are not contradictory. Dreams walk with one’s heart; reality walks with one’s feet. A determined heart with action will lead to success.

Take me as an example. I have been dreaming of becoming a flight attendant on a plane flying in the blue sky. If I have an interview for a flight attendant in China, I may be rejected in the first interview because that’s not my major and my appearance is not outstanding enough. But I don’t want to give up. When I realize that foreign airlines attach more importance to service awareness, I know my previous hotel work experience can be an advantage. Foreign airlines are also less strict about personal appearance because employees come from all over the world and it is difficult to measure beauty with one standard. However, foreign airlines attach great importance to English proficiency, so I practised my spoken English and studied aviation English, and I approached my dream through my efforts bit by bit. I would like to share a sentence I have seen before: “There is no poetry or distant field which one can’t reach in his life. There is only confusion and hesitation which holds one back.” Therefore, first, hold the correct attitude that dreams are not fantasies, and then analyze your own strengths and weaknesses based on your dreams, so as to make implementable plans and work hard to make your dreams come true. In this way, dreams and reality will not conflict.

Q8:You have a lot of international work experience, of which many students are envious. People usually are afraid of working overseas because they are worried about their poor English, or they are not brave enough. Do you have any experience with overcoming these difficulties to share with us?

First of all, I want to help younger students to build up self-confidence. It is a common problem among contemporary students that they are afraid to speak out for fear of their poor English. But when you are living and working overseas (except for studying abroad or doing academic researches), language is only a tool for communication, as long as you can make others understand what you want to express. When I worked in the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, I met many Chinese bosses who talked business with foreign clients. They could only speak a few words in English, but they were able to do business with clients through voice translation software, a few English words used occasionally and body language without any difficulty. 

No matter how poor you think your English is, I think our contemporary college students are bound to do better than those who have never been exposed to systematic foreign language learning. So build up your self-confidence, and dare to speak and express.

Second, learn to respect to be appreciated. Respect the cultural customs of other countries, do not break taboos, do not freely make religious remarks. Respect every opportunity for an interview. Prepare for it, and put in the effort to do so. I remember when I participated in the interview for the internship in Thailand in my junior year, I was faced with the problem of typical “mute English”. But I took a serious attitude to learn about the cultural customs of Thailand, carefully recite my English self-introduction, and prepare for the questions often asked in interviews, which I recited and practised in front of the mirror every day after asking the teacher to help with revision. During the interview, although I could not understand the interviewer’s English very well, I tried my best to grasp the keywords, answered the questions carefully. I said sorry if I could not express myself properly, and I kept smiling. Finally, I succeeded in getting the offer. The interviewer said to me that they know my English was not very good, but they believed that I would work harder, and what they valued is my sincerity.

So you should cherish every opportunity for an interview, and prepare for it carefully. The interviewer surely will see your efforts. Finally, you don’t have to think that working overseas is out of your reach. To put it simply, working overseas is just to change an environment to work and live. Besides, the overseas internship units that cooperate with the college are all big groups and enterprises with a reputation in the industry, with strict management, unified standards, perfect systems, which are open and transparent. As long as we work hard, we will learn and achieve a lot. In daily life, there are many overseas Chinese, who will be very warm-hearted to help each other if there is a problem.

Q9:How to plan your college life? How to set a clear direction in life?

I want to share two sentences with younger students. 

First, “Every little thing you have worked for will make a difference someday.”

You must learn professional knowledge well and participate in more activities and social practices held by the college because opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. For example, every turning point in my career was not in my plan at the beginning, but it was an opportunity given to me because my job was recognized by others. As a result, the knowledge and abilities that you accumulate bit by bit will be appreciated by your talent-spotter one day in the future.

Second, “Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.”

This sentence accompanied me to grow up. When I wanted to be a flight attendant in a foreign airline, almost everyone thought it was a daydream. However, please don’t care about what others think, and don’t be afraid of failure. You may fail if you try, but you are bound to fail if you never try. But that doesn’t mean everything will be available at your fingertips when you just think about it. You must make enough efforts to gain what you deserve. 

  “The Most Beautiful Female College Student in Sichuan” of 2019

Gao Jing, female, Han nationality, born in February 1998, is a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from Liangshan, Sichuan Province. She was an undergraduate student in the Department of Tourism Management of Gingko College of Hospitality Management, who was admitted in 2017.

She acted heroically and helped Gao Jian Police Station of Xichang Municipal Public Security Bureau to block the illegal personnel who tried to escape. In December 2017, she declared the project “Publicity and Education of Civilized Tourism in Tourist Clusters—Taking Chengdu as an Example”, which was successfully selected into the Ten Thousand Tourism Talents Program of National Tourism Administration, and was included in the first batch of Outstanding Achievement Collection of Ten Thousand Tourism Talents Program and published. In July 2018, she founded the project of “A Community Platform for Life Network in the Countryside”, and won the first prize of the provincial competition as well as the first prize of the national competition in the 8th National College Student E-commerce “Innovation, Originality and Entrepreneurship” Challenge.