Tram La Currently Working as Marketing Executive for Kraft Heinz

For Wittenborg graduate Tram La, who recently completed an MBM degree in Digital Marketing and Communication, moving to the Netherlands to pursue her programme was a way to get out of her comfort zone and invest in personal growth. “This was the first time that I travelled so far away without my parents; up to that point I had never travelled out of Asia, and my longest trip had been a two-hour flight to Thailand,” the Vietnamese student highlights.

While living in Vietnam, La obtained a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Business, and she had the opportunity to work as a marketing professional for large companies such as Kantar Millward Brown, LG and Pepsi.

However, she decided to broaden her horizons, update her knowledge and experience a new environment by joining a master’s programme abroad. After doing some research, La found information on Wittenborg and realised that the digital marketing courses offered by the school were really up-to-date. She applied for the programme and also for the Holland Scholarship, successfully being accepted for both.

“Digital marketing is a growing industry in Vietnam, so I thought that by studying in an advanced country like the Netherlands I could tap into that area, and fortunately Wittenborg offered a programme that matched my needs,” La says.

Having done her studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the graduate points out that Wittenborg adapted very well to that situation, using current technologies to initially conduct its programmes online, and then transitioning to a hybrid approach. Nevertheless, studying remotely was not without its challenges.

“The biggest challenge was group work, because when you study in an online environment it is really hard to stay in touch with a team member who is not engaged. Plus, working on shared online files is not the same thing as sitting at a desk and talking about your assignment with other people. So, the challenge was learning how to communicate online when people are not engaged, and to do that you need the support of the other teammates and of the lecturers.”

In addition to that, La stresses that the pandemic made it difficult for students to take part in practical activities such as visiting companies and analysing real-life case studies.

Internship at Wittenborg

While studying for her degree, La had the opportunity to work at Wittenborg as a Research Centre intern, also collaborating with the Education Department. In this position, she performed tasks such as conducting research and helping to organise events and was involved in various major initiatives coordinated by the school, such as the Erasmus+ Projects and the EuroCHRIE event. She considers this experience to have been very valuable and enriching.

“I was both a student and an employee at Wittenborg, so I had to balance between working and studying and a very funny thing is that my lecturers were now my colleagues. So, they often helped me with my studies, and when I had a problem with my thesis I would just go to my colleagues and ask them for advice. People were very welcoming and friendly, they treated me really well and they were like family to me.” 

New Challenges

In January 2023, La started working at Kraft Heinz as a project management intern, focusing on innovation. After the internship ended, in June, she was hired as a marketing executive by the same company. Currently, she is living in Apeldoorn and working remotely for Kraft Heinz’s international headquarters, which is based in the United Kingdom and serves 19 countries from Latin America, Asia and Europe.

The graduate stresses that her master’s programme helped her develop skills that are very important for her career. “The fact that I had to study in an online environment during the pandemic turned out to be a valuable experience because I am currently following a hybrid work routine, in which I only go to the office two days per week. So, the programme taught me how to communicate and work in an online setting, and this is also important because I collaborate all the time with people who are based in other countries,” La says.

She adds that her internship at Wittenborg also enabled her to build up competencies that she applies to her current job. “All of the project management skills I needed were already there for me, like organising projects, taking care of budgets and planning the agenda, for example. And I had also developed communication skills because I collaborated with two departments at Wittenborg, so I had to move between them all the time. It was a rewarding internship, and the people from the company were impressed with the skillset I already had when I joined them.”

Plans for the Future

Currently, La is using her orientation year visa (zoekjaar) to live and work in the Netherlands. She says that she would like to continue working in marketing, and that even if she ends up changing jobs in the future, the fact that she has worked for a company such as Kraft Heinz will definitely look good in her curriculum. “If I eventually leave the Netherlands, I am not planning to go back to Vietnam; I would rather move to another Asian country like Singapore, for example, and go on working as a marketing executive. So, this one-year visa is really like a ladder to the future.”

The graduate advises current students to be humble and make the most of the opportunities they get. “Back in Vietnam I was already an assistant brand manager, but when I came to the Netherlands, I had to be an intern again. So, be humble and take any chances that you can get because you don’t know the future, and perhaps the company will want to keep you. Many people are hoping for an immediate visa sponsorship or a high starting salary, but that’s difficult to get if you are an international student,” she concludes.

WUP 31/8/2023
by Ulisses Sawczuk
©WUAS Press