ESSAY CCIP

"preparation is all about time, commitment and it's consist of hard work sometimes lot of tears. Do Your Best and PRAY!!!!!"

Essay merupakan suatu elemen yang sangat penting dalam merebut beasiswa CCIP. Essay tidak bisa dikerjakan dengan sistem SKS (sistem kebut semalam). Menulis essay merupakan tantangan tersendiri bagi saya. Terlebih saya belum pernah menulis essay apalagi menulis essay untuk beasiswa. Menulis essay untuk beasiswa pastinya berbeda dengan menulis essay untuk keperluan yang lain. Selain itu harus dalam bahasa Inggris juga harus mampu meyakinkan panelists untuk mau memberikan Anda kesempatan untuk wawancara.

Dalam menulis essay, saya banyak Googling mengenai tips - tips menulis essay yang baik khususnya untuk essay beasiswa. Saya menemukan banyak blog - blog yang sangat membantu dalam penulisan essay beasiswa tersebut. Dalam penulisan essay CCIP ini, saya mencoba menghubungi grantees CCIP yang sudah sukses menaklukkan "keganasan" persaingan CCIP tersebut. Saya menghubungi Bang Ilham (grantee dari Pekanbaru, tahunnya saya lupa :-P), Bang Andreas (grantee dari Medan) dan yang paling keren Deasy Pasaribu (grantee dari Makassar). Terimakasih banyakkkkkk...... Kalau mau tau lebih banyak, silahkan hubungi mereka dan jangan sungkan untuk menanyakan hal yang belum kamu Anda tau atau masih abu - abu soal sesuatu mengenai CCIP. Mereka akan sangat bersedia membantu (dan saya juga loh :-) )

Essay CCIP sendiri terdiri dari 7 pertanyaan. Masing - masing harus Anda jawab dengan lugas, singkat (tidak bertele - tele) dan straight to the point. Mengapa hal ini penting? Karena, budaya Amerika sangat jauh berbeda dengan budaya Indonesia yang mana budaya kita sangat banyak hal - hal yang bersifat basa - basi. 

Dalam mengerjakan essay CCIP, diperlukan konsentrasi dan trials and errors yang sangat kadang - kadang melelahkan. Anda tidak dipaksa untuk menyelesaikannya dalam satu malam. Tapi konsistensi dan self determination yang sangat dibutuhkan. Anda harus sudah punya gambaran ketika Anda membaca pertanyaan maupun statement yang mereka minta. 

Perlu untuk diingat, bahwa budaya Amerika dengan budaya kita sangat berbeda dalam banyak hal. Tidak terkecuali dengan penulisan dan jawaban di essay. Budaya kita masih sering mengutamakan basa - basi sebelum mengutarakan point yang dimakasud. Jadi, jawab apa yang mereka tanya tanpa basa - basi, langsung to the point saja ya. Apa, mengapa, sebutkan dan jelaskan tentunya memiliki jawaban tersendiri. Jadi, pintar - pintarlah menganalisa pertanyaan dari essay tersebut. Dan pastikan jawaban tersebut merupakan jawaban yang jujur dan bisa dipertanggungjawabkan.

Dibawah ini merupakan jawaban essay saya yang mengantarkan saya meraih beasiswa tersebut. Tentunya jawaban - jawaban saya ini masih jauh dari sempurna, masih bisa dikembangkan dan dijabarkan. Saya sangat menghargai apabila Anda mempunyai jawaban dan kata - kata Anda sendiri dibanding copy paste. 

Essay #1:  Within your proposed field of study, what do you want to study?  Please describe in detail your specific areas of interest within your field of study. (Your response should be a minimum of two paragraphs.  Your response helps us to match your interests with college programs.)

       I decide to choose Management Business and Admistration. I have been involved in Management since I was in Senior High School. I love doing things related to administration and management field. My specific area of interest is CUSTOMER SERVICE. I always enjoyed meeting with people and i’d love to assist them. It is kind of awesome for me to meet many people who come from different background, culture and even personality. There will always something new we can learn from them. Beside that I love to make my professional networking grow by provide the best solution and the best manner that they deserve.  I do not see this as my job but as one of my passsion. I have been doing this since I was working in PHILIPS until now. Currently, I am working for a US-based company. My main responsibilities on this company are but not limited to: giving and provide them the best solution for their complaints, problems and everything they want to know about the company and it’s systems including benefits, rewards and bonuses.

      Customer Service is more like a challenge for me. Being smart, nice and friendly is not enough to be a great customer service. But it also requires me to become an emphatic person. When they told me their problem, I have to provide solution as a win – win solution. I can’t put myself on their side and put my employer policies aside but I have to show them the right feeling and make sure that I really know and I do feel what they feel but at the same time I don’t breaking the company’s rules. That’s the hardest part for me.

Essay #2: Please describe your related experience within this field of study.  How would this program of study build on your past education, training, and/or experience? If you are new to this field, why did you choose this field? (Your response should be a minimum of two paragraphs. Your response helps us to match your interests with college programs.)      My last two job were with Philips and 4Life Indonesia. When I was in Philips. I work as a Retail Store Promoter which was pretty much the same with Customer Service job. I talked with so many people, handling their complaints and also provide the best solution. I have big eagerness to learn about others background, culture, and point of view. I got so many advantages while I work, I could know many things that I’ve never knew before. It suddenly became one of my passions. And the adventure continue until now in 4Life, my recent employer. I have been working as company liaison between company to distributors/customers. Generally, my experiences in working as a Retail Store Promoter and a Distributor Support Representative have given me a strong willing to go even deeper on how to be a top notch talent on this field and I hope this program can be a bridge for me to become a more valuable person for my country especially for the community. I believe that I must persist in obtaining this scholarship and trying the best I can. I am pretty sure, I am not the only one that will get benefit from this program but the people, the customers who meet and talk to me also will get that benefit. Why? Because they just got a world class experience and service from me and I just helped someone to resolve their problems.       I graduated from AMIK MEDICOM (School Of Computer) majoring in Computer Informatics. Since I was in Senior High School I had been involved in activities that required me to meet and communicate with so many different people. I know my previous education background not a perfect match for my related experiences, because I was a student of computer studies not a public relation or customer service education background. That’s made me have a big curiosity on how to become a great customer service officer. I have a dream about career in customer service area. Customer service job is not only need skill but also need soft skill for example, how do I supposed to react when things was not going as I expected, how to control my emotion when some person lose their control in front of me. I would appreciate the opportunity to achieve it through the CCI program. Essay #3: Please describe your future professional and personal goals. How would the CCI Program help you to achieve these goals? (Your response should be a minimum of one paragraph. Your response helps us to match your goals with college programs.)         Participate in this program will help me to shape my future professional and personal goals. This program will definitely enhance my experience, expand and enlighten my horizon and also my mind. I will gain so much extraordinary things especially about culture, languages, and the values of different people through this program. I hope this program will become a stepping-stone for me to become a better and valuable individual for my country.      I am highly motivated to become a great Customer Service Officer because I have never experienced this field during my college years. I have a very limited educational knowledge about customer service and I hope CCI Program will help me to earn more knowledges and skills to achieve my goals. Participating in this program will also open so many opportunities to further my professional knowledge. I will become a global player in this field and hopefully will be a leader at least in my community. This is why I always believe this program is the program that I’ve been looking for. Besides, getting priceless experiences from the US through this program, will improve my English significantly. Live in a country where English as the main language will allow me to learn and practice it in my daily life. In other words, it will be one step closer to my professional goals to learn about Customer Service at once improve my English. Essay #4: Please describe a problem or challenging situation in your educational, professional, or personal life and describe how you resolved it and what you learned from this situation.     When I graduated from Senior High School in 2007, I had decided to continue my study at USU (State University of North Sumatera). Unfortunately, I did not pass the test. To fill my vacant time before apply again next year, I had decided to send CV to a company as an Office Boy. During that time, I spent my days as a worker and saved money for educational purpose. In 2008, when the SPMB (National Admission Test for State University) was opening, my parent said they worried if they could not pay my tuition fees and my daily needs because my other siblings also need financial support. I had some money in my account, but it was not that much. It would not be enough to pay my tuition fee and my daily needs. I was so confused at the time, didn’t know what to do. Then I called my parents and told them I will continue my study for a diploma degree in a private college. I chose private college because I would have time to work at night and study in the morning. Fortunately, my manager allowed me to work at night, as long as I wanted. I could pay my daily needs and pay my tuition fee. I had been paid my tuition fee monthly during my three years as a student. Luckily, my campus had installment program for student like me. It was so hard for me to manage my time. I could not even go to friend’s birthday parties, holiday trips and so on. I did not have much money left, when I got my salary, they seemed like just stopped by on my account. I had to manage it carefully and smartly. Tuition fee, daily needs and transportation cost were my biggest expenditures.        I did not make many friends while I was in campus but I did make so many friends at my workplace. I guess it was because I had no time to hang out with them after class, I got to home and then lunch and got to go to work. When I got a day off, I went back to my lodging house and slept. My parents so worried about me, they thought I would not make it. But, as the time goes by, they finally realized that I was not as weak as I may seems. I thought my young age was not cool because when my friends went to some nice places, went to the movies, I stayed in the workplace. When the others had nothing to worried about their life, their money and their monthly expenses but me, I had to think about it. Now I realize my old thought wasn’t true. All those life experiences were so awesome! Why? Because now I know how to manage my time, to manage my money and expenses, and how it feels when graduate with a degree from a college. And my campus have a special recognition for those students who have a job before graduate. I got an honor mention and a medallion together with other students. Not at all people can experience all these life lessons. Right after graduated from MEDICOM, PHILIPS Indonesia hired me and I signed a contract for two years. Unfortunately, there was no chance to be a permanent staff after the agreement expired. Recently, I’m helping my brothers to pay his daily needs and his tuition fee after I finished my sister’s, because she will graduate from a college this October. Essay #5: If you participate in this program, how do you think your contributions to your community will be different in five years? I believe that participate in this program will give me so many advantages and lot of priceless experiences. It is quite difficult for me to describe my life in five years, to be honest. But I have sketch in my mind, if I can pass this CCIP and complete all the program, I will implement the knowledge and share my experiences I have gained to my community, whether it’s in my workplace, my friends and with other people who may need it. I always love sharing, whether it is about knowledges or experiences. I know there will be always obstacles during this process but I can see if I selected on this CCI program, I will become a better leader or become a top player in my community especially in my country. Hopefully, through this program, I will become a better individual, useful and productive citizen for my country. Indonesia lack of local players that act and think globally. Hopefully, I will become a great addition to become a locomotor to help this nation to achieve its potentials. Essay #6: a.) What part of U.S. culture are you eager to experience? Why? b.) What would you like to share about your country and its culture with the people you meet who may have limited knowledge about it?       I’m eager to explore everything about U.S. The people, the cultures, foods and everything. U.S . have been well known as a superpower country and their amazing technologies, their advanced research and education methods are still the best. U.S. consist of people who come from different origin, culture, and religion and tradition. And I would love to explore and learn their tradition, custom and how the people respect to others rights, privacies and how they react to others who have different point of view. Also, I need to learn about the good values of American people like hard working ethic, responsibility and discipline about time. Then it is important for me to learn how Americans achieve their dreams. It is consists of hardworks, discipline and fighting spirit. It means that people are not give up easily to achieve their dreams eventhough they failed many times. I will know it right from the American if i selected in this program. I need this positive attitude in my self as a motor of developments and as a young generation for my country.    I would love to share about Indonesian dishes like “Naniura” and “Arsik”, traditional dance like Tor - Tor. Indonesia is still a way behind if we compare to other Asian countries. It is a fact because the visitors who come to Indonesia still less than visitor in Singapore and Malaysia. That’s why I need to represent my country loud and clear. Once, I arrive in the U.S. I will show them the beauty of Indonesia. I will show them through pictures, videos, musics and probably show them how to dance some Indonesian ethnic dance, how to cook Indonesian food and so on. To do this mission, I really need this CCI Program because without this privilege, seems impossible for me to represent my country to the people in the U.S. Essay #7: What do you think will be most difficult about being away from your home for a year and living in shared housing with diverse, multinational participants? What steps will you take to overcome these difficulties?     Being away from people that i love like my mother, father, siblings, friends and colleagues can be a big problem for me. I will definitely homesick, because this is U.S. not in the same country anymore. Thus, it can be so confusing for the first time because this whole new experiences. But nowadays, the technologies will make my beloved people in my life feel closer even we’re not. My family have Skype account, so we will use the application for video call and also Facebook to share the moments happened around each of us. Also, I will overcome my homesickness by participate in many useful activities, volunteer and making new friends in U.S. Making new friends easy for me. Besides, I can practice my English and I will gain more information from local people by making friendship.       Living in a shared housing with diverse, multinational participants will be another exciting story. I already pictured it in my mind that we will share and discuss anything, making a useful project and the most important part is build profesional and meaningful connection. We will learn how to respect others opinion, religion and culture. I am friendly enough at least according to people who know me. I am an easy going man and I really know when to talk, when to listen and when to ignore. Different isn’t always a problem. Just look at the rainbow, I call it beautiful because it’s different colors. I have been living in a boarding house in several locations which is a place for many people that come from different tribe and I have no problem with them. This is pretty much the same if I living with diverse and multinational participants. If i can succesfully adjust my self to this new environment, for sure I will be able to overcome my “first time comer” problem.

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