[International Programs] A Glimpse of the Real World: Internship Sharing Experience
/by: Justine Jude Pura
September 27, 2018 – Business concepts or theories in human resource management will be useless if not put into practice. The application of these ideas will help the students appreciate more of what they have learned, and further, explore what things could be done with the knowledge they already have. Students could make this possible by immersing themselves into the “real world” or corporate environment, through the so-called internship.
The Internship Sharing Experience event was made possible by the GHRM MBA/IBMBA Office, with the help of the International Program Student Association. The event’s objective is to give a brighter light to the students of GHRM MBA and IBMBA students on what to expect in doing an internship. The participants of the event are fortunate enough to hear four stories of incredible internship experiences. The event was started by a brief speech of Dr. Wee-Kheng Tan, Deputy Director for Center for International Affairs, who introduced a platform called GIFT (Global Internship Facilitation of Taiwan); which primarily connects the students with global businesses while they are in Taiwan. Dr. Tan emphasized that the platform has over 430 corporate partners in 45 countries.
The first student to present was GHRM MBA student, Ms. Ariel Wang, who took a dual-degree program at the Nottingham Trent in the UK. She had her consultancy project at Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.P.A., an IT service management company based in Brescia, Italy. She had worked with people from different cultures. At the end of her talk, she inspired the participants of the event to make a 10-year career plan. For some, it may be bizzare, but for her, she found it very helpful in fulfilling her dreams. After Ariel's story, it was followed by GHRM MBA student Mr. Chris Ternosky’s. He is working as an intern in San Education Academy (SEA), an online education platform based in Taipei. Here, he shared his experiences in solving challenging issues such as hiring employees from various cultural backgrounds and countries, which he had never done before. Chris also stated appropriate and inappropriate habits of interviewees during the hiring process and mentioning helpful tips, which can be used by those who aspire to apply in different companies.
The last students who have generously shared their experiences are IBMBA students, Mr. Johnny Chen and Mr. Justin Tang, whose internships are both in the technology industry. Johnny had his internship at Didichuxing, a popular ride-sharing service using mobile phone, which is based in China. He mentioned interesting practices of the company such as having meetings in an open-space roof deck, which helps them ‘unleash’ creativity. He also mentioned that the company had a slide inside the office to help employees solve problems. On the other hand, Justin, who is also the President of the student association, shared his experience in Pumpkin Studio. It is a company known for developing Virtual Reality games. He said that even if he works as an intern, he has handled project management tasks, which for some company, is a task of a high-level employee. He mentioned proudly that the studio’se been working with different big names in the tech industry.
In summary, an internship is a great way to gain hands-on, professional expertise which will be valuable for their career paths. Thanks to this event, students are now more enlightened on what to do and expect before, during, and after their internships.
