It Was Sunny Afternoon on Sunday

Young-suk You

CPB0589 Fundamentals of Career Advancement

Prof. Constance H. Gemson

March 31, 2007

Interview Essay

It was sunny afternoon on Sunday. I called the person who I was going to interview to confirm the appointment and went to his office in Manhattan. The interviewee is my old customer. His name is Moon Yoon, the president of FFC Inc that deals with capital business. He is about mid 50’s. The reason that I chose this man for my interview essay he is the man whom I exactly want to be. I am pretty sure that he knows how money flows exactly. The main reason that I wanted to interview him is that he made his fortune by his own efforts.

While going to his office, I wondered whether he worked on Sunday. However, as I arrived at his office, I recognized why he came to his office on Sunday. Since his home is in upstate of New-York, he thought it would be difficult for me to come to his house. That was why he made the appointment to meet me at his office in Manhattan. I felt why this man became one of the successful Korean in New York. After having a cup of coffee that he served, I started interviewing.

He came illegally to New York to make money for about 25 years ago. He was 27 years old, exactly same as me. For the first time, he worked at grocery store. He said, “I think that I don’t have any good memories at that moment. I just worked over and over. Since I didn’t speak English, I could not dare to go out for having fun. While working at grocery store, I learned basis English and saved some money.” He thought that it was unfair that he worked harder than American, but earned even less money than American. He mentioned, “I thought only difference between the American and me was English. So, I was sure that if I could speak English, then I could earn more money.” That was the reason he decided to go to school to learn English.

He told me that it was really fun to go to school because the more he studied, the more he could speak English even though it was really hard to do both work and study. He stated, “I slept 2 or 3 hours in a day at that time. He made many foreign friends in school and dismissed the fear from English. He got the promotion to store manager and because he could speak English and he was diligent. Furthermore, he was promised by his boss to support him for taking Green Card. He said that speaking English showed him another world.

It had taken for about 3 years to get a Green Card. Over 3 years, he could not only save money but study English as much as speak fluently. “At that moment, I wanted to study finance, not English because money had been always my biggest interests.” So, he applied to NYU to learn finance as a major. I wondered how he could afford the tuition of NYU. He told me, “I wanted to study with best, thus I chose NYU. However, the tuition was the big matter for me. I couldn’t afford the money by myself. I didn’t have any choice, but to give up. At that moment, I have no idea how my boss heard that I was in difficulty about money, but he told me that he was really impressed by how I was doing and he wanted to support me.” With his boss’s support, he studied his interests, finance, and graduated with higher degree. He mentioned that he cried loudly at the graduation because his boss couldn’t come to the graduation. He died only 2 weeks before my graduation.

After graduation from NYU, he worked at the financial department of an advertisement for 3 years. While working that firm, he invested his salaries into the stock market. His hunches had been realized since then. He made much more money by the investment of stock than his salaries. He quitted his job and opened his own business that dealt with financial matters. Since then, he started gathering fortune.

After his life story, I wanted to ask to what kind of work he is doing. He replied that his business is based on loan, investment, and financial consultant. At the beginning, he focused on investment, but now mostly concentrated on loan and financial consultant. I asked if I want to be just like you, what I should do. He answered that I should read newspapers or magazines everyday to recognize what happens in business, do simulative investment by myself, and study hard.

It was really effective time to interview a real businessperson. He gave me motivation and aspiration to be businessman. After interviewing him, he became the model of my future, owning my own business dealing with financial matters. Finally, he added a word, “If you want something, go get it! Don’t give up!”

Now, I am ready to go.