¶ … high school years, I was encouraged by my father to take responsibility for my own tuition. Along with for-profit employment with several companies during this year, I also served my community by working as a volunteer since the age of thirteen. I did this because of the feeling I have that society tends to forget human compassion in the race for money and possessions. This is a trend that I find worrying, and I am attempting to in my own way make a difference both to this trend and to society. The difference I feel I have made does not extend only to the persons I have served through my volunteer work, however. I brought my business and accounting skills to the welfare organization with which I was affiliated in Taipei: the Creation Social Welfare Foundation.
My work at the Foundation entailed practical service as a caregiver to impoverished persons living in vegetative states. My duties included mainly assisting with hygiene and safety needs and other needs as they arose. My technological skills served the Foundation, as I was able to manage their database. My duties here included keeping up-to-date with digital and computer-related advances and integrating these in the technology used by the Foundation. Being involved in a welfare organization, I also had to make sure that these technologies were as cost-effective and useful to the company as possible.
It is in these duties as database manager that I noticed a short coming where I could be of help. The Foundation's financial records and minutes were far from accurate or comprehensive. I found this unacceptable, especially in an organization serving the community. Accurate and comprehensive data records are essential for the survival of any company. In a company serving the community this is especially important, since the termination of such a company would also mean the end of a crucial service to people who really need it. I therefore offered to take over the minutes for the Foundation. Being accepted in this role, I also began to oversee all the financial report writing activities of the organization. This helped me to pinpoint spending and resource accumulation trends. This enabled me to demonstrate to the members of the Foundation where expenses were excessive of the company resources. Together with input from the members, I used my technological skills to find ways of reducing expenses. This was done by means of several strategies, including finding more competitive vendors for necessary products and reducing the duplication of work. Furthermore I helped the Foundation save time and money, while accomplishing the same goals in terms of service to patients. The difference I made here was therefore the fact that I served the community as a caregiver to the best of my ability, as well as helping the company survive by reducing expenditures.
The resources of the Foundation are not bountiful, as it operates within an impoverished community. It is therefore very much dependent upon grants from charity organizations, which have to be applied very carefully in order to serve the community effectively. Accurate accounting practices are therefore an essential service to the Foundation as it integrates its resources with its service to the community. The difference that I made to the organization was therefore not only crucial, but probably instrumental in the survival of the company and therefore continued service to the community.
I also see my function here as one of empowerment. I empowered the members of the Foundation with the skills that I brought to their accounting and reporting practices. By serving the community, I empowered those with neither financial nor physical resources to live life with more dignity than would otherwise have been the case. I therefore combined my urge towards compassion with my technological and financial experience to achieve what I see as my most important accomplishment to date.
In the short-term...
Developing my skills in marketing such products will help me with my long-term goals to enter the investment community, where I aim to be an Assistant Portfolio Manager. Another short-term goal is to sit for my CFA exam in 2006. The first goal will then help me to make the contacts I need to succeed in the business world in order to attain my long-term aspirations. My position as Portfolio Manager will then be most useful at an international company, as I have a large amount of experience and knowledge in both the United States and Chinese society and financial practices. I believe that my former work experience will serve both me and my community if I can create for myself the opportunity to enter the most effective work environment.
As mentioned above, I am also very much concerned with community welfare, and especially helping persons who have been victimized either by their circumstances, by society, or by large institutions. My volunteer work at the Creation Social Welfare Foundation as well as my later service to the elderly through the Voluntary Home Services have provided me with a very balanced foundation in terms of my profession and community service. It provided me with an integrated approach to the community. I now possess both compassion and technical financial skills in order to be of real service to my community and my customers.
I therefore plan to use the skills developed at the Georgetown MBA program for service not only to my professional community, but to the community at large as well. The business I am affiliated with will then be developed to benefit the global economy, as well as assisting the exploited citizenry in many ways created by that same economy. My volunteer work has taught me not only compassion, but also a paradigm of integrated knowledge and the belief that it is possible to create a sound economy without exploiting the powerless and the poor. Exploitative practices have indeed been defended by many large businesses as "opportunities" created for workers who would otherwise have no source of income. It is my belief that such opportunities can be provided without the hardships that many offshore communities suffer. Being of Asian origin, I have first-hand experience, and a particular compassion for the victims of globalization and the resultant "prosperity" that comes with it. It is my intention to create as much wealth as possible, and to share this as fairly as possible with those whom I feel deserve it most.
These are admittedly high aspirations, but I believe that they are possible. All my experiences throughout high school, as well as the skills acquired through my work and my volunteer practices, have taught me that nothing is impossible. Through this attitude I believe I can be an asset to the Georgetown MBA program, as well as it being the perfect opportunity for me to develop my skills. I realize that my plans are ambitious, and I believe that the MBA program will help me to fulfill my ambitions to the highest degree. Through the program I will develop the significant skills in terms of technology, finance, and management in order to realize my goals.
During my study through the Georgetown MBA program, I will see the institution as a partner on my way to achieving my goals. When I do achieve these goals, I can then look back at my studies and see with satisfaction the significant contributions that the program has made to the improvement of the economy and the world through developing my skills to their highest level. Moreover, I see Georgetown as an important highlight in perfecting my skills and my compassion as tools towards becoming a global citizen.
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