Internship Report
I. Purpose:
First, to deepen understanding of profession, to confirm career preferences.
There are many ways to understand the career industry, for example, read related articles, consult the industry, but the most direct way is personally do the job. In the process of doing, you can determine whether you like the job and your own ability to perform. If you are competent, to find a job after graduation, you can use it as the target job; on the contrary, you must find a new direction for the work.
Second, to prepare the transition from student to profession.
It is often said, the university is an ivory tower. Indeed, there are great differences between the schools and the workplace, learning and work, students and staff. In the role of the transformation process, peoples views, behavior, and psychological aspects have to make the appropriate adjustments.
Third, to enhance the competitive advantage when looking for work.
A company conducted a survey, "How to choose an employer graduates." Participating companies, including foreign, enterprises and private enterprises, the scale big and small. There is a topic so that they can choose the value, including schools, professional achievements, certificates, internship experience, social practice, accounts and so on. The results of different nature and size of the company have quite different focus, only one element is important for all companies, that is, job-related training and experience of candidates. So, if you have the relevant college internship experience in looking for work, there will be a great advantage.
II. Content:
During this month, with my father, I have got the chance to work as an intern in Tianjin Haiping Industry and Trade Company, which really excited me for a long time. The company is a start-up by my father’s friend, and it belongs to a micro-firm, so it only employed ten people or less.
After an brief self-introduction with the staff of the company, my internship started. It was my first time that I worked in a real company. I felt a little nervous because I had no idea of what kind of job I would take. As an English major student, I’m sure my knowledge of English is adequate for the job. And I have basic knowledge of foreign trade .So I think I just need to apply it into practice. During this time I worked as an assistant in the office, helped to deal with the language work, such as communicating with foreigners in English and translating the files between the companies. And I also did some daily and easy work because of my lack of work experience.
Then my first major task was handling phone lines, including incoming and outgoing phone calls in the front desk. Initially, I thought this task would be easy, after all it was just answering phone calls, but I quickly learned how much work had to be put into these phone calls. I realized that I had to better equip myself with the knowledge about the communication, be prepared for answering questionings, and memorize all the department extension as we were not allowed to reference any directory when transferring calls. Fortunately, after one week, I was able to grasp all the necessary requirements and I progressed a lot. In addition, during my first task as front desk personnel, I was exposed to other tasks, such as do some faxing and photocopying in company, preparing the material for the workmates, fetching newspaper or other documents for them. I had been doing that work almost a week. At the very beginning, I was so disappointed about what I was busy with. I was even so tired of them and gave it up. But when I saw the hard-working mates and some courage from my friends and leader, I moved on.
The following weeks, I switched gears and moved to the main office where I would spend the next two weeks in front of a computer, conducting research into different corporations in China that produce the similar products with our company. The process was not only time consuming, but complex and knotty as it involved a great amount of reading and recording. I managed to produce information, and communicate with customers and send e-mails. E-mail is the most common form of communication with customers. Therefore, we can use the knowledge about English correspondence for foreign trade we have learned in school. Many buyers or full-time purchasers simply judge your professionalism by your E-mail. Many customers also liked contacting with me on MSN or Skype, and they would ask for voice communication. At first I was nervous ,and I was always thinking about how to speak English in the right words and correct grammar. However, I found that they were not exactly strict to my English. As long as my oral English is enough to communicate and I know professional product knowledge, they can understand what I say. They are all outgoing but serious when talking about business.
Though hard and a little boring, I can be a part of the social society and enjoyed the pressure and competition from the outside world, quite different from the school yard. And also, many disadvantages and weakness have shocked me so much during the intern time. When I was blamed or criticized for my fault at first, I would try to argue with them and avoid my duty in the case. However, now, after such a long time training, I will be silent to accept what they teach me or scold me, and then self-question myself to make some changes. What I learned at school is so limited that I can hardly put into practice when faced with different complicated situations in society. So there is no doubt that I’ll read more and experience much to balance the book-knowledge and social life. And only in this way, can I be of importance to me, then to the country.
III. Gains:
Study for the sake of use. as a Chinese saying goes, I should say that there does exist a big gap between theories and practice. During this internship period, I have learned a lot of things that I cant get from our books:
First, it offers me an opportunity to get in touch with the things that I havent encountered before. Many products of our company are stranger to us. Furthermore, I have broadened my horizons.
Secondly, the internship rightly provides me with a good chance to train my ability of communication and improve the spirit of teamwork. There are about ten employees in all. I didnt get acquainted with any of the other four, but in the first week, we got familiar with each other and shared information with each other. Also, when I encounter a difficult case, Ill also turn to the senior members of this department for help and they are always ready to help. Harmonious interpersonal relationship, right? Yes,a good relationship with our colleagues is priceless treasure to us as well as a strong sense of teamwork.
Thirdly, English is just a tool for communication. Therefore, as an English major student, we cant be limited to the study of the language but involve ourselves with knowledge of other areas. In the first few days, I always felt frustrated because there were so many new terms that I couldnt digest thoroughly. Although I can do very well in English reading, there are much desired for me to understand the situations provided by customers. However, practice makes perfect. With almost one-month practice, I now manage to handle the cases well. Knowledge, like the sea, is boundless; only through hard study can one reach the destination. It is completely right.
IV. Problems and Solutions :
The first one is related with the foreign trade terms. Such as quotation, ordering, terms of payments, out-factory preparation and payment. They are the most complicated and difficult issues. Because my major is not business English, I did not know the jargon and the professional name of our products at the beginning. I would read some books about International Trade to learn them by myself. And sometimes, I would ask others to explain them for me. The best solutions will be taken down into my note book. I know it does need some time to experience in handling such cases.
The second, my working attitude is not good enough. At first, I did not realize the seriousness of working. But I tried to correct my thoughts and focused myself on my work. But the members there did offer great help and teach me a lot of things.
The third, being shy is always my weakness. In fact, when I am with my friend, I am talkative. But during my work there, at first, I get nervous with the strangers.
The last but not least, my oral English is not good enough and I must practice it again and again to improve it. When I was talking with the foreigners I found that sometimes it was very hard to understand what they are talking about, not because of sick listening comprehension, but their accents, which really bothered me a lot. What we learned in the class is Standard English, so it is easy for us to understand each other. There are some customers’ pronunciation I cannot understand. One time, a client called me on Skype, so I found that he spoke very fast and I just can catch "Hello!" Then I could not understand any word and I immediately told him I do not understand what he said, and then he typed while I speak. So Ill work hard to get a good command of oral English and listen to the pronunciation from different countries frequently. Thus Ill have a more fluent communication with my clients. Actually, Ive been taken action right away. I try my best to make friends and chat with them from different countries. Ill work even harder.