The 4-page letter and the U50 female accountant stayed up until 3 a.m. studying to build a channel to change careers
(Dan Tri) - Retiring from her accounting job after nearly 20 years, Ms. Pham Thi Duyen decided to become a marketing intern and learn to build channels by herself even though she is over 40 years old.
The turning point became the oldest trainee in the company
After more than 17 years of working as an accountant, Ms. Pham Thi Duyen, owner of the channel "U50 Intern", thought she would forever be attached to numbers, papers, and books.
However, due to the events of the Covid-19 pandemic, she was forced to leave her familiar job and enter a long period of struggling to find a new direction.
Over the years that followed, she tried a series of jobs but felt they were not suitable.
For some time, she stayed home to take care of her family, be a housewife, and learn new fields in the hope of starting over.
And then suddenly fate came more than a year ago, when she was trying to build a channel to share her son's English learning journey.
At that time, the woman over 40 years old gradually developed a curiosity about creating content on social networks.
"I started paying attention to building a channel, then went online to research. I happened to see information recruiting marketing interns, so I boldly signed up to try. At that time, I just thought that if I got accepted, I would have more knowledge about building a channel for my children in the future," Ms. Duyen said.
Therefore, even though the recruitment announcement was mainly aimed at young people, she still decided to give it a try.
After passing the first round, the company requires you to submit your CV (job application). However, looking back on nearly 20 years of working as an accountant, she doesn't know what to write to prove that she is suitable for a completely new job.
"Finally, I decided to write down my entire personal journey, telling why I wanted to pursue this job and send it as a sincere letter," she recalled.
The letter, about four A4 pages long, reached the recruitment committee. On the occasion of the April 30 holiday, while on the way back to her hometown, she received a phone call informing her that she had been accepted.
"I had to stop the car and ask again several times because I was afraid of hearing wrongly. At that time, I was so happy that I couldn't believe I was accepted," she said with a smile.
Overcome "technology blindness" to develop your own channel
The first day she entered the office, what worried Ms. Duyen the most was not the amount of work but the large age gap.
She is surrounded by young, energetic colleagues who are proficient in technology and familiar with content creation. Some people even happily shared that their mother is only one year older than her sister.
"At first I was very timid because I felt like I was lacking in everything, especially in technology. But everyone was very open-minded, so the pressure was somewhat relieved," she said.
The internship requires each person to build their own social media channel, record and post a video every day. For Duyen, this is a challenge she never thought of.
Seeing that her story was so special, it was her Gen Z colleagues who suggested and came up with the name for her channel. "People say it's very rare to be an intern at my age. If we use that story as the content, it will make a difference and make many people curious," Ms. Duyen confided.
Before that, she had never edited a video, nor did she know how to create a script or add effects. "In those days, choosing the right font and finding video effects was a problem. I just put the video together, recorded it and dubbed it, but I still found it very difficult to understand," she said.
While other colleagues are proficient and sometimes only need about 30 minutes to complete a video, Ms. Duyen has to struggle to learn how to use each tool, searching the internet to learn the terms circulating among young people.
The woman in her 40s researched hundreds of online videos to learn the formula to help the content trend. Therefore, sometimes it takes her all day to make a video.
In particular, behind her first posted videos were many times when she wanted to give up.
Every day having to think of ideas, shoot, edit and complete the video before the deadline puts her under constant pressure for a long time.
"There were many times when I wanted to give up. There was a time when the deadline came and I didn't have a video to submit, so I just cried. But then I thought this was a great opportunity to change myself, so I kept trying," she said.
Fortunately, what warmed the female intern's heart and motivated her was the enthusiasm of her young colleagues.
Seeing their sister having difficulties, her Gen Z colleagues did not show any signs of discomfort but patiently stood beside her, sometimes for up to 30 minutes, to show her every small operation, from how to take screenshots, use Word, post articles, make videos to how to find trends on social networks.
Thanks to the support of her colleagues and hours of self-study, Ms. Duyen gradually became familiar with basic tools and knew how to come up with ideas, film, and post content.
In the evening, after taking care of the family's meals, she turned on her phone, tried each video editing operation, and taught herself more about channel building.
There are days when she stays up until 3am just to self-study, complete a product or try a new way of doing things.
Her two children were initially surprised to see their mother holding her phone every night, diligently learning how to cut and assemble videos. But seeing her mother excitedly talk about her new job, her children and husband were all very happy and supportive.
"The children are the first audiences to comment on the videos I made myself," she said with a smile.
Twitter this channel to learn more
Recently, Ms. Duyen's short videos have received many compliments. Most people expressed admiration for her spirit of hard work and unafraid of efforts at the age of U50.
One of her videos sharing how to take a screenshot of a computer screen using keyboard shortcuts attracted a lot of attention. The idea came from her own experience when being guided.
"When I learned how to take a screenshot, I felt enlightened. I thought perhaps many people didn't know, so I recorded a video to share. Unexpectedly, many people commented that they have been using computers for decades and now know this trick," she shared.
After that, the channel gradually attracted many followers. That was also the time when the development direction for the channel became clearer.
Besides recording the life of a U50 intern, she regularly shares technology tips and office skills she has learned.
According to her, initially these videos were intended to help herself remember knowledge. Every time she is instructed on a new operation, she goes back so she can watch it later if she forgets to avoid having to ask again.
"Sometimes when students finish teaching, they forget a few days later, so they keep coming back. But when I posted it, I was surprised because many people watched it and also showed me better ways to do it. Thanks to that, I learned many more things," Ms. Duyen said.
Another joy of hers is being recognized by more people thanks to videos shared on social networks.
"I started to be recognized by more people, from my son's school, in the elevator to even when I returned home to attend the wedding. One time, my son's friend shouted: Ah, U50 intern! U50 intern!", Ms. Duyen said.
Ms. Duyen is dynamic, creative, open and willing to learn from young people (Photo: Hung Anh).
According to her, doing marketing helps her be much more dynamic and creative. Things that once seemed normal, now become ideas for daily videos.
"Sometimes when I'm eating, I hear a friend ask me how to cut meat, so I pick up my phone and record. That video later has hundreds of thousands of views. This environment makes me see ideas wherever I look," she said.
As someone who has experienced the fear of starting over, she understands that many people, even young people, are still hesitant.
"In the past, I was very shy, but when I started and looked back, I saw that everything was not as difficult as I thought and now I have become an official employee. The most important thing is to be determined and don't be afraid to learn, especially in the context of constantly developing technology," she shared.