Chapter 2: Evaluation
When applying for this first internship, I needed to consider the requirements from HAN and also have some standards for myself. For example, I would like to spend my first office job/ internship in an international company with a dynamic, diverse, and fast-paced working environment where I can work closely and equally with other colleagues to both make a small contribution to the success of the company and be mentored/ guided by passionate managers/ colleagues. Honestly, I got 3 offers which fit my expectations, but I opted for CCV in the end.
ABOUT CCV
In fact, CCV is itself a Dutch company but has an international environment with offices in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. I did some research about CCV on its website and LinkedIn and realised that almost all employees are flexible in using Dutch and English in Dutch offices, which gave me the impression of the way they communicate both internally and externally with Dutch and international customers. Furthermore, CCV is a financial service company, which is totally an industry/ field that I have never thought about. As a passionate and curious applicant with the desire to explore myself and the ‘world’ - my future career, I decided to give it a try at CCV. As I mentioned in my internship proposal form (IPF), after completing various projects from different international clients at HAN, I am willing to continuously take advantage of my knowledge obtained through them and see what improvement I can make within 6 months in a really new industry. It seems to be a challenging choice, but I am ready to conquer every obstacle! After almost 3 months at CCV, I never regret choosing this company. I have been surrounded by excellent English-speaking colleagues, joined the training to get to know more about the financial industry in general to satisfy my curiosity to explore new fields, and also equally developed and learnt a lot from my manager and other seniors, even interns who are willing to help me whenever I need.
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THE DEPARTMENT
Marketing and Communication department is the #bestteamever I got the opportunity to work with. Once again, I applied for the position as a Branding intern. That is the subject (Branding) I had lots of challenges to study at HAN. I assumed that this first internship should fit my capacity and I would choose what I feel. Among Digital marketing, Internal and External communication, Customer Relationship Management, to name but a few when searching for a Communication internship, I was attracted by the title Branding and its job description. After having the interview with my manager, I was inspired by her passion for brand and strategy. The way she gave me a sense of belonging to the team even though it was the first time we met also grabbed my interest in getting closer to the team. In addition, all questions related to Corporate Social Responsibility asked by my manager and her basic explanation piqued my enthusiasm to further explore the position. Within 3 months together, despite different backgrounds and levels, we all have the same values and goals as a Marcom team in general and Branding team in particular. We are willing to listen, discuss and give help if needed respectfully and equally. My manager especially accompanies me in every situation by being responsible for fulfilling my knowledge about CCV brand and responsibility, giving me the chance to collaborate in various projects with other members from 5 teams of Marcom and individual tasks, giving me detailed feedback and successfully helping me get closer to the Branding and CSR tasks. Being a part of the Marcom department, I have the chance to not only enhance my knowledge about my position but also be aware of the tasks from other teams with the introduction they provided at the beginning of my internship and our close communication.
THE SUPERVISION OF MY COMPANY COACH
There was one time a colleague from the Digital team asked me how Anna managed to successfully supervise me/ former interns despite the long distance from Netherlands to Switzerland. This is also the question I wondered when I had the interview with Anna and time gives me the answer. We have meetings to talk about the task, update the progress, training, and explain about both personal and mostly professional topics twice per week. Anna is always beside
texting me, jumping into the quick call just to make sure I understand all details and perform my best. Anna is really detail-oriented; therefore, all the tasks and feedback are fully understandable. Moreover, she also listens to my ideas and encourages me to ask when needed and enthusiastically supports me during this journey. No words can describe my appreciation, admiration and gratefulness to her!
THE INTERNSHIP TASK
These are the general task:
- Investigate and build a business case for an eco-label system of products.
- Coordinate and implement office guidelines (branding + interior design) across 10 locations in Europe.
- Build a monitoring and reporting system to track the company’s progress towards the UN's 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).
The complexity: As a Branding and CSR intern, these tasks are related. I would say the tasks are not really complicated like their description themselves. In fact, they are all about how to strengthen the CCV brand and improve as well as track the progress of sustainability in the company. My manager always gives me doable tasks to help me realise my strong and weak points. Sometimes, there are quite complex tasks for me to get out of my comfort zone and I can always ask her if I can not find a solution.
The autonomy: There are both individual and teamwork/ pairwork tasks. I enjoy doing both since my teammates/ coach and I always respect my way of performing. They give me constructive feedback to improve the quality and proficiency of my work. There are rooms for innovative ideas and suggestions when I work alone and in pairs; however, we always need to consider by ourselves and ask for help to choose the most suitable ideas.
The relevance of my tasks for the company: All the tasks I mentioned above/ below are relevant to the brand management, CSR and Sustainability improvement and Communication efficiency. As a financial service company with a large portfolio of payment terminals, CCV continuously makes efforts to raise brand awareness and be a responsible company in comparison with others in the same industry.
Whether I enjoyed working on the task or experienced stress: I never experienced any serious stress when performing my tasks. My company coach always asks if the amount/ complexity/ deadline of tasks is possible for me. I know what the priority is and follow the task flow every week. There are some harder days than others, but overall, I feel like I am learning and developing. All hardships are motivation that pushes my efforts and exploration, not the challenge that prevents me from going further.
THE INTERNSHIP TASK
In the following chapters, I will delve deeper into the different tasks I have fulfilled which are all contributed to the purposes of three mentioned tasks and also match with five competencies (performance areas).
Let's see how a day of mine at the office!