In 1998, the year I graduated from high school, there were more than 100,000 students from the province taking the college entrance examination.

The department of English Language and Literature of Fudan University only recruited five students from our province.

But I had ample confidence in myself, because I worked really hard in high school and was the top student in my class.

Fighting against time

I currently work for Philips Electronic Components Shanghai Co Ltd as an administration assistant.

I think such an opportunity is open to everyone. The most important thing is to work hard, to have confidence in yourself, and never to give up.

Since students from other provinces and cities can’t stay in Shanghai if they can’t find jobs before May, I searched for job opportunities every day, sometimes into the deep of night.

Generally speaking, Shanghai is the safest city in China.

Even at midnight, a young woman can walk in the street alone, not worrying about being robbed or harassed. But in Guangzhou or Shenzhen, I dare not walk in the street alone at night.

Working for foreigners

In our company, we call managers from other countries and areas "expatriates". When they deal with business, they seldom consider personal relations, but only make a decision on the basis of corporate interest, very efficiently.

But some Chinese managers always take personal relations into consideration. That’s why they are not as efficient.

China’s open door policy is good. It introduced competition to our society.

Before the open door policy was implemented, our economy was plan-orientated and lacked creativity and competition.

Free market effect

Now, lots of foreign companies such as Philips, Siemens, Nokia, etc have entered the Chinese market. They take advantage of the favourable policy and the cheap labour in China.

This raises the competition, which forces Chinese companies to improve.

People had thought that the entrance of foreign companies would cause the bankruptcy of all our own companies.

In fact it’s not true. Profitable domestic companies survive and grow, while money-losing companies disappear in the competition.

But personally I also worry about whether reducing the tariffs on imported products will lead to the dumping of certain domestic products.

New choice

China-made products are not as competitive as some imported products, as far as quality and service are concerned. But for a long time they have had a foothold in the market simply because they are much cheaper.

But the new policy brings more convenience to my life. For example, in the past, when I wanted to buy a cellphone, I was most concerned with the price. Now, I pay more attention to the quality, function and whether it’s fashionable.

What do I plan in the future? My career plan depends on how much I learn from work and how much I achieve.

Now I just want to be a good admin assistant, learn how to manage time and how to solve problems.

I won’t stay in my current position for long, and hope to transfer to other departments in which I’m interested, such as public relations."