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The chance to move to Vietnam for work was a ‘sliding doors’ moment
Raised in Sydney in an immigrant Vietnamese family, he was traveling through Vietnam with a friend when he received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I was working with (global consulting firm) PwC in Sydney. When I visited Vietnam, I ended up having a coffee with a managing partner from Deloitte Vietnam and I got a job offer. It all fell into place,” he recalls.
“My best friend and I were going to backpack around the UK and Europe. I had to say to him, ‘I think I’m going to stay in Vietnam and give it a shot.’ So our friendship suffered for a while!”
After 11 years in Vietnam, Paul has reached the peak of his profession, now as head of human resources for KPMG here. He is also responsible for the firm’s People, Performance and Culture division across the Asia-Pacific, covering 40,0000 employees and 12 countries.
As his career progressed, Paul took the chance to pursue a master’s program at RMIT. Learning about broader areas of business and management gave him the confidence and skills to have more value-added conversations with other leaders.
“Initially, I didn’t really anticipate the value the master’s degree would bring. For sure, it has allowed me to bring different things into my role,” says Paul.
“Previously, I was never really strong at budgeting and financial planning. So, for example, in the conversations that I had with the CFO, I had always come from a ‘people’ perspective. But, now, I’m able to bring a different voice to the table, offering a balanced view between business and people.”
Stories
05 Feb 2020 Author: RMIT Vietnam Postgraduate Programs
