#Inspiration#Motivation
Without a clear vision…
A few years ago, I was giving a talk in English at ENSEA. Many students were amazed…
This is my story.
At collège and lycée, I was very TOP in English and German. It was suggested to me that I should go into languages, but I had a specific vision: to have an international career. I was able to forge this vision from an early age, by talking to mentors.
At the end of my Masters at ESCA (INPHB), during our work placement at the University of Brighton, in England, I quickly realised that the British accent had nothing to do with what I had learnt up until then 😀
Back in Côte d’Ivoire, instead of starting work like my friends (because there were jobs waiting for us), I preferred to return to England to perfect “my English”. I spent over a year doing student and even voluntary work.
Some people said to me: “But why would you agree to work for free instead of earning money?
I chose to work as a volunteer at Oxfam for 2 reasons:
1- To help people in distress around the world.
2- To be in direct contact with the locals to practise the language, as my aim was to improve my English.
It was cold and windy, and sometimes I had to leave at 4am and not get home until 10pm, juggling different student jobs, internships and voluntary work while my friends who had stayed in the country told me how their salaries and positions were increasing every 6 months.
A mentor had told me when I was still a student that the Management Trainee (graduate) programmes were the best for a brilliant international career. From London, I applied and went through the recruitment agency. I took some tests, and then came the English test. I used British English, and the same night, the managing director of the recruitment agency offered me 2 companies. I chose Unilever straight away, because ever since high school, a mentor had told me that it was one of the best companies in the marketing field. I was accepted into the African young talent programme. I successfully completed the programme and was appointed Marketing Manager in South Africa, working in 19 African countries. After a few years, I was recruited by FrieslandCampina, where English also came in handy within the group. When it came to presenting our success stories to the CEO and the group’s management team, I was the one chosen, because in addition to my professional skills, I’m perfectly bilingual. Obviously this gave me enough visibility…
The English language has been an essential tool for me to progress, overcome obstacles and above all accelerate my career.
I have remained FOCUS…
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