I was born and grew up at a time when the Vietnamese people were at the crossroad of advancing

forwards with “doimoi” policies or lagging behind with xenophobic thoughts. As the Soviet Block
collapsed and the cold war thawed, my father - a war veteran - told me “My son, the Russian
dominance is over. It is high time for you to learn English.” Encouraged by my dad, I cycled nearly
20 km from my commune to Hanoi every week to learn English with a burning aspiration to escape
from the vicious cycle of chronic poverty and ignorance pervasive in a war-ravaged country.

The year 1997 marked a turning point in my life. I was admitted to Hanoi National University -
College of Foreign Languages. Here I majored in English and hoped for so much from a university
education. However, to my disappointment, my teachers offered me bookish knowledge from
textbooks designed in the 1970s. I was shocked on my very first day in the English class. The
teacher played a dilapidated cassette and the students listened passively, without comprehension.
From then on, I decided to learn in my own way. I listened to VOA and read the Times and the
Economist whereas rather than following strictly what my teachers preached. At that time, I hoped
one day to become a teacher and be in a position to change the prevailing teaching methods in
creative ways. In my mind, an old saying rang true “where there is a will, there is a way”.

In 2002, my dream of becoming a university teacher came true when the Dean of American and
Anglo Language and Culture Faculty where I had studied offered me a post in the translating and
interpreting division. At the start of my teaching career, I faced many challenges both in terms of
academic knowledge and the established education system that was strongly resistant to new ideas.
As a victim of conventional, old-fashioned and rigid methodologies, I did not want to see my
students undergo the same experience. I wanted them to unlock their creativity through self-study
under the guidance of their teachers. In all academic exchange seminars, I boldly stated that
teachers nowadays should offer the “how” rather than the “what” to students and that students, be
they academically strong or weak, should be stimulated to explore the world of knowledge. I
proposed to the Dean that English training should not be confined to a passively artificial linguistic
setting but opened to an authentic linguistic environment. I pioneered this by bringing my students
to international conferences to which I was invited as a simultaneous interpreter. Though I was
criticized for my unusual teaching methods, I stayed the course and in fact, my proposal effected a
real shift in students’ attitudes towards English not just a means of communication but also as a
door to a world of knowledge. Apart from teaching and doing researches, I also participated in youth
union activities and soon I was elected to be the president of youth union of my faculty. In this
position, I influenced my students by appealing to them in extracurricular events. Every semester, I
organized English speaking contests which captured the enthusiastic interest of students
everywhere. I also mobilized students to join me in carrying out volunteering trips to mountainous
areas to help the disadvantaged and ethnic minorities. In retrospect, I realize that these activities
have also had an impact on the development of my own character and that my interest in helping
others was born of these experiences.

However, my personal ambition outweighed my dedication to this very challenging but, in a sense,
tranquil career path. I took a bold decision to change. After considering a number of options, I
decided on the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, a decision that has opened a new
chapter in my occupational life.

In early 2004, after being placed first out of over 100 candidates, I was hired by the Ministry of Labor,
Invalids and Social Affairs to a position in the International Cooperation Department. With a strong
and burning will fueled with an inherent curiosity for knowledge, I was able to adapt quickly to my
new working milieu. I am in charge of handling relations with the United States of America, the
International Labor Organization (ILO), World Trade Organization (WTO), Asian Development Bank
(ADB) and World Bank (WB) and have been exposed to numerous issues that I had only read about
as a lecturer back at university. They include human rights, human trafficking, industrial relations,
industrial action (strikes and lock-outs), international labor legislation, social security and people
with disabilities. In fact, I feel that my daily work affords me a unique opportunity to follow, and
contribute to key developments in my country. For example, my growing familiarity with industrial
relations in Viet Nam has enabled me to contribute to the work of an internal task force on strikes at
which I was able to suggest that strikes could never be solved if the Government intervened too
much; and that collective bargaining at enterprise level was key to settling strikes.

Currently I am also involved in aspects of Vietnam’s negotiations with WTO members on terms and
conditions for accession and have contributed to the preparation of in-depth briefings for the
negotiating delegations and to answering questions from Working Party members on Mode 4
(Movement of Natural Person in GATS). I was also the only officer in the Ministry selected by the
WTO Secretariat to attend in a training course on negotiating skills held in Thailand in January 2005.

In view of my growing familiarity with the labor field, I have been assigned to participate in three
important projects: Social Insurance Legislation Development funded by World Bank as an assistant
to the law drafting team; Industrial Relations funded by the US Department of Labor and executed in
cooperation with the ILO as member of the national steering committee; and Employment for People
with Disabilities also funded by the US Department of Labor as a member of the National
Coordinating Council on People with Disabilities (NCCD). By involving in these projects, I have had a
chance to contribute to the work of my Ministry in a very practical way. For example, I have
proposed to the drafting team on social insurance law that the retirement age should not be raised
abruptly from 55 for women and 60 for men to 60 and 65; and that a gradual increase in the
retirement age should be appropriate for Vietnam like in many other countries which experienced
the same stage of development. I have also advised leaders of my Ministry on the establishment of
an Advisory Council on Employment for People with Disabilities. All my proposals have been
appreciated and I feel that my active involvement in these projects has greatly expanded my
knowledge of the labor field.

As a special interpreter for Her Excellency the Minister of Labor, I have traveled to many parts of the
world and have been able to acquire a wider understanding of labor and social issues as they affect
other countries. In May 2005, in Mongolia, I had the honor to speak on behalf of Vietnam on forced
labor issues at ILO Asia Pacific Conference entitled “A Global Alliance on Eliminating Forced Labor”.
These opportunities to learn about other labor and employment systems have been a decisive factor
in my decision to seek further education to strengthen my knowledge of this field..

On the advice of my supervisor, – a former Fulbright scholar – I have also begun to expand my
knowledge base and analytical capacity through research and further study. I was happy to join with
him in writing a research paper on Movement of Natural Persons In which I suggested that the
movement of natural persons occurs in the service market rather than in labor markets. I am also a
member of the Taskforce which is researching Forced or Compulsory labor in Vietnam – a
comparative analysis of Vietnamese Legislation and ILO Conventions. In late 2005, I was admitted to
the Law School of Hanoi and I feel that this academic legal environment has helped me capture a
panorama of the Vietnamese legal system and realize a big gap in legislative capacity of Vietnamese
law makers.

My professional achievements over the past four years have enabled me to be appreciated among
my leaders and colleagues. In particular, I have been recognized by my Ministry as a man of
considerable potential and ability who is training himself to become a future leader. However, I still
feel that I could do more towards acquiring the skills and knowledge that would permit me to
contribute more effectively to the work of my Ministry and the development of my country and
believe that a Masters Degree in Public Policy at a university in the U.S would help me achieve this
ambition. I do hope to be offered a chance to realize my prospective career.