Hi everyone! did my internship at a company that originated in the Netherlands! Which is called MatchWornShirt where they sell shirts worn by players during the football match most of the time. Shirts are sold through the auction to raise funds for charity or foundations.
Across six months of my internship, I wrote down my thoughts in a diary format throughout three phases:
My first month of internship:
It’s been a month since I started my internship. My first internship, and first professional career which brings me thousands of new knowledge and experiences along with excitement.
I am currently doing an internship at MatchWornShirt Internship is part of the programme, but it was also a chance for me to experience professional life in a foreign country which made me feel more excited before starting an internship. It was of course uneasy to find the position and took a lot of time; however, I now feel proud that I made it here.
In the company, my primary role is to do social media marketing for the Korean market. I manage all Korean content and translations of all texts provided to our Korean customers. As a beginner marketer, I am supervised by a manager and colleagues with some space of freedom to grow creativity.
After three-month of internship:
With all exploration and market research, I am now granted more responsibilities and tasks. Even though it is clearly my duty, I feel much appreciated by colleagues who ask me to do tasks for them. They never order me or command me where I feel the respective atmosphere of the company.
The general environment in the office is very free and respectful. Everyone, regardless of their position, is willing to listen to my opinion, and it does not scare me to talk with the founders of the companies, which is an uncommon work environment in Korea.
At first, I was worried about everything, especially since I was not familiar with football and professional career life. I also felt pressure to give a good impression as the first Korean employee in the company; however, it all did not matter. People in the company are ready to accept any cultural differences, and they understand whenever I make any mistakes.
The company allows me to learn and grow from my mistakes which gives me more courage to share my opinions or try out new methods under less stress.
Last month of my internship:
First, I felt like six months of internship would be an extensive period. It was in fact, a long period, but I was able to create a solid foundation for my professional career.
From six months, I truly can feel my growth. Not only professionally, but I could also feel the growth as a person. Through mistakes and achievements, I felt the responsibility and power as an expert on one field that no one else in the company knew, which was the Korean market.
Sometimes, I had to speak up my voice to protect my idea, but sometimes I had to accept the advice and suggestions from my colleagues or my managers most of the time.
Also, I was offered to extend my internship, which made me feel proud of myself and feel the results of my efforts with my skin.