GROW FROM WITHIN | Journey to reach the peak of career with Duy Pham
The Grow from Within series features practical interviews about outstanding career development paths at Home Credit. It aims to inspire readers and share tips to help you advance quickly in your career.
In the first of the "Grow from Within" series, we will share you a story of Duy Pham about his 5-year journey to conquer the Head of Sales Planning & Analysis position at Home Credit Vietnam.
"The journey at Home with me is truly like a wonderful movie, with coincidences, drama, climaxes with many emotions." - Pham Bao Duy, Head of Sales Planning & Analysis.
START
❔ Which position did you start at Home Credit, and what brought you “Home”?
I knew about Home Credit through a close friend who was working there at the time, and coincidentally, the office was very close to my house and convenient for commuting. After receiving the job description for the Business Analysis position, which aligned well with my strengths and career direction, I decided to join Home Credit. In the early days at Home Credit, what impressed me the most was the Comfort – comfort in dress, comfort in communication, and comfort in working hours. The working environment at Home is very youthful, dynamic, and the openness in communication culture helped me a lot in integrating into the new work environment.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
❔ Can you share more about the challenges you faced while working at Home Credit?
As you might know, the economy faced many difficulties during the Covid period, and Home Credit was no exception. In April 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic complicated with continuous social distancing policies being implemented, Home was affected, having to withdraw all staff from the Thegioididong (MWG), leading to a continuous decline in sales. I was entrusted with solving the company’s problems during that period, which was the first major challenge I had to face at Home Credit.
About a year later, in 2021, I was promoted to a new position – Team Leader, with the condition of changing the salary and bonus policies for SAs and management levels according to Home Credit's new direction, focusing more on Digital Transformation and Multi-product Growth. With this challenge, I took a more proactive approach and focused on the big question, "How can we foresee the future and have a long-term vision with this plan?" Fortunately, my set of salary and bonus schemes and policies has proven effective and is still in use for today.
❔ So, what has been your greatest success while working at Home Credit?
In June and July of 2021, the pandemic was complicated, and it was the toughest period for the economy and workers. Most of the stores had to close due to social distancing policies, resulting in no points of sale, no sales, and our staffs couldn't make money for their lives. At this stage, your side coordinates with related parties to find a plan to balance the effective payment of salaries and bonuses during this period. At this time, digital transformation, analysis and business model improvement are more important than ever. I am very proud of my greatest success during that time because I helped the Sales Network team double cash sales.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
❔ What helped you overcome these difficulties and achieve such success?
"Passion is the most important" - I have a great passion for my work, constantly self-learning to enhance my professional knowledge and find solutions to improve work. The determination to follow my chosen path brought me many opportunities to interact and learn from those around me, from my managers and colleagues to salesteam in the market. I also feel very fortunate to have friends and colleagues at Home Credit who have always supported me throughout the journey. Additionally, listening to colleagues share their difficulties gave me additional perspectives to improve and propose solutions that not only addressed the company's issues but also best supported the team's development.
"Opportunity in challenge" - Although the challenges were difficult, they also provided enough opportunity and motivation for me to step out of my comfort zone. I had the chance to self-research and learn more, as well as the opportunity to interact with my managers, colleagues, and others in different departments, who shared their professional knowledge and experiences with me. At Home Credit, the leaders' offices are never closed. Be bold, meet, and dialogue, share your difficulties, and you will always receive good professional advice and direction for your issues.
INVESTING AND DEVELOPING IN THE WORKPLACE
❔ How should we invest in a work environment, according to you?
"Self-learning and always learning" – The first and most important thing is to self-learn and continuously improve your professional knowledge. If you do not have a solid knowledge base, it will be very difficult to embrace opportunities and professional insights from others.
Don’t forget to invest in building relationships – Always be proactive in building and expanding your professional relationships. At Home Credit, the working environment and open culture make it easy to communicate with everyone. Be proactive in networking with colleagues, people in other departments, and your managers to continually gain insights from diverse perspectives. This will provide you with enough data to evaluate, analyze, and solve your problems. The important thing is that leaders' offices are always open, so take the initiative to meet, discuss, and learn.
❔ What do you think about the free training programs Home provides to employees, like Business School, Udemy, etc.?
Home Credit’s training and talent development programs are excellent with the high-quality, with in-depth courses covering both knowledge and practical aspects. All are readily available, which brings back to the question, "How do you self-learn?"
Before joining Home Credit, I used to learn on Udemy to improve my knowledge and skills. When I joined Home, I was impressed that employees are sponsored with free Udemy accounts for learning. I encourage everyone to register and start using Udemy because the courses there will significantly enhance your professional skills.
Additionally, the regularly organized Business School at Home is also a place where you should invest time to participate. The instructors are managers with in-depth knowledge and practical work experience, which will surely help you a lot in your personal and career development journey.
SHARING AND SUPPORT
❔ In your current position, how do you support your subordinates, and what advice do you have for young people at the beginning of their career development?
I always aim to build the most solid knowledge foundation for my team through regular sharing sessions during work. Alongside this, I believe in them and I’m always willing to empower to the team, helping them to gain confidence in their abilities so that they can solve problems effectively and handle even more challenging tasks.
For advice to young people, I would summarize in three nouns: Attitude, Proactivity, and Learning Spirit.
- Attitude: Always stay steadfast with your goals and career direction.
- Proactivity: Be proactive in all tasks, proactive in building relationships and connections.
- Learning Spirit: Continuously learn every day to develop yourself. If you stop learning for a day, you are taking a step backward.
I hope that everyone will stay determined and committed on their career development journey, keep the passion burning within, and continually learn to soon achieve more milestones on their career path.
