Kelly Kim from South Korea, a Finance student at Griffith University and 2013 International Student Ambassador for Brisbane talks to The PIE about her current internship with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and how she feels Brisbane is helping enrich her future.
The PIE: Why did you decide to become an International Student Ambassador for Brisbane?
KK: I always wanted to be famous businesswoman and when I checked the Study Brisbane website in 2012 there were a lot of media releases about Brisbane’s international students and it was a really amazing opportunity for me. So I just applied online and was lucky because they offered me an interview and I got the role.
The ambassadors are always high achievers, but they are always helpful to others, with study advice and helping each other out
The PIE: What were your responsibilities as an ambassador?
KK: The ambassador scheme is mainly promotional for Brisbane. We are volunteers all from different countries, different universities, on different programmes. I am like the voice for South Korea representing Brisbane so anything people back home in South Korea want to know they can connect with me usually on social media like Twitter and Facebook. We have lots of different events and media things to go to, sometimes we shoot films for Study Brisbane, but it’s mainly about being a connection for the city with our home countries.
The PIE: What’s the best thing about being an ambassador?
KK: The people. It’s really hard to make good friends. In high school it’s easier because you see everybody every day, but when you study abroad it’s a bit more difficult. Now I feel like I made another family here, and everybody is from different backgrounds and culture. The ambassadors are always high achievers, but they are always helpful to others, with study advice and helping each other out. Also we really share our cultures. I want to be a businesswoman in the future and just think if I had a meeting with an Indian businessman I could make him feel comfortable by knowing about his culture, and make him comfortable at the business table and negotiating stage. That’s why knowing other cultures is really important and knowing other people and having those connections.
Also I actually met one of the managers from the Lord Mayor’s administration office for the International Relations and Multicultural Affairs unit at the ambassador appointment ceremony. He offered me an internship at his office because Brisbane City Council is doing a lot of business with South Korea, so they wanted to have an intern that could speak Korean and has Korean cultural understanding.
The PIE: Tell me more about your internship with the Lord Mayor.
Knowing other cultures is really important and knowing other people and having those connections
KK: So I work in the International Relations and Multicultural Affairs unit at Brisbane City Hall. At the moment I’m in charge of the Lord Mayor’s 2014 welcome ceremony and just helping out with different projects. The Lord Mayor prepares a lot of multicultural business dinners for example, because he encourages people to have connections.
Even though they’re not paying me it’s an investment for my future, and it’s amazing for my CV! Also, I knew throughout this internship that I would learn about connections and what it is Brisbane City Council is trying to do. Brisbane also encourages the younger generation to have good connections because it’s preparing them for work. They help a lot of youth organisations, because they think young people are really important for the future of the city. So yeah my internship might be really good, because I’m in charge of some young professional projects. It’s also a really international team; in my team we have Indian, Taiwanese, Chinese, Pilipino, two Australians, and another Korean.
The PIE: Why did you decide to study in Brisbane?
KK: I have cousins in the USA, UK and one in Canada, and nobody had studied in Australia, which is a good thing. Every time we have a family dinner I can talk about my experience in Australia and I’m not compared with the others, it’s my own experience. And actually I hadn’t heard of Brisbane before, only Sydney and Melbourne. But I also knew that Sydney and Melbourne have a lot of students from South Korea. For me it was important that I would learn something I couldn’t in Korea, and I didn’t want to be all the time with Korean students.
For me it was important that I would learn something I couldn’t in Korea, and I didn’t want to be all the time with Korean students
The PIE: When you first moved to Brisbane what was the most difficult thing to adjust to?
KK: English was really hard. It was difficult to learn the different grammar and writing structures that I had to use for my course so I studied English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for 10 weeks at Embassy, my teacher was lovely! In South Korea we start learning English from 10 years old but it’s not really helpful because our teachers are Korean so they are not native speakers. We are really strong in reading and grammar structures, but it’s hard to practice speaking.
The PIE: What is the best thing about living in Brisbane?
KK: I love the lifestyle, the weather and the workplace. A lot of South Korea follows a hierarchy process in the workplace, but I could achieve more here, it’s a much flatter way than many Asian countries, so that takes away the stress. And also they’re really good at encouraging people. I also have another job, I’m working at a restaurant on the South Bank. I usually work about 18 hours a week. Australian wages are really good. They pay me quite highly per hour and three days a week is great!
Brisbane has taught me that it’s important to keep your cultural background so you can bring something different to a business
The PIE: What do you want to do in the future?
KK: I come from a business family, all of my family are running their own businesses, but I want to work for a really good company like Samsung or Hyundai, or maybe an Australian company. At Griffith they also help me to find a good internship once I graduate, I already have one offer of internship from Deloitte. I graduate in July but actually I want to go back to Korea for one year to get in touch with Korean culture again, because I feel I have lost the connection. Brisbane has taught me that it’s important to keep your cultural background so you can bring something different to a business. In the long term I’d love to live in Australia and find a job, there are so many opportunities for international students here.
