The best way to get an internship!
Would you like to know the best way to get a good internship? Yeah me too but it is not that simple. Took me a few months of searching to get one. Well as I already said, I cannot tell you the best way to search for an internship but I can tell you how I did it and perhaps give you some helpful tips and perhaps some other students can comment some additional tips below….. In this first part I will give you some basic tips and one of my personal experiences during my search for an internship.

Before you apply
For a start I would say you should think of all the companies which catch your interest. So just think of all the cool brands or industries you like. You should also think of the type of jobs you are looking for, what you want do learn and in which country or region you want to do it. Big companies might sound good on your CV but the smaller ones could perhaps give you a better insight into the firm and make your tasks more important. Furthermore, I would say try to see this as a  real job instead of just a school assignment because you never know if they will be asking you to work for them after you finished your HES studies.

My first steps
Personally, my priorities was to find an Asian company so one of the first things I did was was making a list of interesting companies in Asia. I also started working on updating my  CV and Cover letter. This was more work than I expected, so get that stuff sorted out on time! When I finished my CV and basic set up for my Cover letter I thought it was pretty good. But after some time it turned out that it could be improved on quite a few points. So my advice is to ask as many people with some more experience for their opinion but still try to put your own style in it. (yeah I know I am not a professional in this area this was my first real CV, normally I get asked for jobs or create them myself hehe).

Mailing Mailing Mailing
Than it all started I was sending my CV and Cover letter to lots of companies but most of them are pretty fucked up and never replied to my emails. This brings me to my first advise, do not wait for a reply but just keep on sending your applications to more and more and more firms. The ones who are interested will most of the time reply within one or two days. Other than that, there are more ways to contact companies other than by email or online forms. For example, I couldn’t find the right email address for some companies and decided to sent them a letter by old fashion post. Here as well from all the 15 companies I mailed only one mailed back that they where impressed by my CV and would look for opportunities in their Hong Kong office. A month later they still did not find an opportunity… Yeah at some points finding an internship really SUCKS!

Good experience
I was already in Asia so after a while I thought instead of mailing them that I could visit their office tomorrow why not just visit them today. So I did I went to a marketing firm in Shanghai and explained that I was looking for an internship. At first the woman I talked to was saying they already had some interns from Singapore and there would probably not be enough work to hire another intern. However, we did a kind of interview and said she would directly discuss it with the other directors. She returned with the same news she had given me at the start and thanked me for coming. OK THAT SUCKS, but at least I got a direct and clear answer and they took me serious. Well, apparently she did like me because an hour later I received an email with contact info of three other Chinese marketing companies (not just the HR department but real people). I emailed them they all responded in a few hours which alone was awesome already! However, after a few emails it turned out they couldn’t hire me either. But again they did have a close look to my files so I would definitely recommend you just to go to the company of your interest and ask them for the job! Make sure you are prepared, proper clothing, knowledge about the company and have your CV and cover letter ready.

This was just the beginning of my experience and advice on finding an internship. Part 2 will follow. I finally got an internship so there is a happy ending to this story and the best is yet to come! So keep on checking out iStudyatHES.com

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Well you’re reading this so you wanna go global right? if not stop reading and check out other posts!

In case you are doing one of the international studies at HES amsterdam you have to go abroad. If you are a first year student this might seem to be a millennium away from now but before you know it you are on the other side of the planet.

Do you already know where you wanna go? Are you sure about that? You need to have a back up plan….. So why not check out the foreign exchange fair organized by the HvA? What to expect? First of all, you have to check out the exchange section of iStudyathes.com. Other thna that, check out the info mr Knigge from the HvA mailed us today:

Find information at the numerous stalls of the information fair where (non)profit organisations, traineeship organisations, cultural institutes and the Foreign Desks of the HvA will be represented. Go to sessions about studying and traineeship abroad or consult experts and students with experience in educational exchange programmes.

There will also be specialists present; experts on subjects like financing and scholarships, study planning, career advice, making a portfolio, etc.

Wednesdag 1 October 2008 from 12.00 until 16.00 hours.

Building ‘De Leeuwenburg’, Weesperzijde 190 (next to the Amstelstation).

You don’t have to register!

You better know where you are going before you spend half a year in some boring city away from all the excitement, knowledge or whatever you expect from your exchange or internship.

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