International Internship Experiences: London and Dublin
International studies and career development are two core pillars that define the Heavener School of Business experience. Through internships abroad, many of our undergraduate business students have impactful, unique and real-world experiences while developing their career and global acumen at the same time.
In fact, 121 Heavener School of Business students are doing just that as they complete internships abroad this summer. Of the 52 students in London, 35 in Dublin, 25 in Beijing, 6 in Madrid and 3 in Paris, we asked nine of them to reflect on how their month-long internships abroad have made an impact on their lives. Read more from three of them, Addison Burley, Hunter Williams and Ian Milaski, about their time in London and Dublin below.
Addison Burley – Hydrogen Group, London
My name is Addison Burley, and I am a rising junior majoring in general business on a Pre-Law track. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in business, particularly the community aspect of people working together for something they believe in. Since my freshman year I’ve wanted to study abroad, and with my major I welcomed the idea of being placed in any of the business fields.
I chose to study abroad in London and am currently completing my internship at Hydrogen Group, a global, market-leading, specialist recruitment group. As part of my six-week internship at Hydrogen Group, I’m working as a marketing intern, where I work closely with Senior Marketing Specialists to maintain the company’s reputation and global presence through continuous improvements in our communication and content strategy. I am responsible for the media content published on our social media; I also assist various groups within the organization with media content development.
Some of my ongoing projects are company updates, including posting blogs to our website, keeping our Glassdoor page active, or publishing articles to LinkedIn that will interest our followers. I also created a promotional video using PowerPoint for a new legal campaign to recruit lawyers in Dublin to fulfill the high demand for legal professionals in the area.
Over the course of my internship, I learned the best way to expand your horizons is to treat the ‘small’ tasks with the same fervor as you would the ‘big’ tasks. There are nine individuals on the marketing team, and as the intern I got the chance to collaborate with most of them during different (sometimes ‘small’) projects. It was during these projects that I learned the most. No matter how unsure of yourself may be, always take on new challenges. Learning firsthand is a great way to retain information, but not the perfect way. Take notes, write everything down, i.e., instructions, conversations, questions, ideas. Anything. You never know when you might need it.
My internship abroad has been one of the most formative experiences I have endured thus far in my life. I’ve been able to improve my soft skills, emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills and team dynamics during everyday tasks. The confidence in knowing I can adapt to a foreign environment allows me to believe that I can accomplish anything else if I put my mind to it.
“Growth and comfort do not coexist” – Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
Hello! My name is Hunter Williams, and I am a third-year marketing major at UF. I decided to study marketing because I enjoy the intersection of psychological thinking within marketing, as well as the impact a good marketer can have in influencing the strategic advancement and direction of their company.
As a marketing major, I decided to complete an internship abroad to gain a sense of understanding as to how the business culture in Ireland compares, or contrasts, to the business culture of the United States. I figured that if I was able to overcome the obstacle of being placed in a foreign business setting and thriving, then I would be able to gain the confidence to take on any difficult or unfamiliar task back in the U.S.
In my 10-week study abroad program, I was a marketing intern for the Griffith College Alumni Department in Dublin, Ireland. My primary role was to develop strategic ways to get alumni to join the College’s alumni database and social media accounts, as well as keeping alumni engaged through these accounts, creating digital media content, and formulating statistical data on platform members through research and using this data to indicate what markets the department should target.
My biggest takeaway is that I was able to bring to light many of my own strengths and weaknesses in an interpersonal aspect as well as in my role as a professional. I learned the importance of expanding perceptions of business globally and being able to think critically to come up with applicable solutions to the marketing objectives of the department. The many valuable workplace and life skills I learned through interning abroad are lessons that I will look back on and cherish for the rest of my life.
I am proud to say that in my time as an intern I was able to create a new system for rating member’s engagement in the alumni network as well as help facilitate an increase in over 100 users of the online platform and accounts.
Ian Milaski – Greene Solicitors, Dublin
My name is Ian Milaski, and I am an incoming junior at UF. I am double-majoring in business administration and economics, with a minor in real estate. I hope to become a lawyer in the future. I am majoring in economics because I believe it will help me gain the analytical, critical thinking and communication skills that I will need as a lawyer. I decided to study and work abroad in Dublin, Ireland this summer because I am fascinated by Irish culture, and through studying abroad, I was afforded the opportunity to learn and appreciate a culture much different from my own. I hope to apply this knowledge in the future when I become a lawyer.
In Dublin, I worked for about two months in a law firm called Greene Solicitors that specializes in Residential Conveyancing, drafting wills, employment law and family law. At the law firm, I was an office clerk and my responsibilities included answering telephone calls, preparing motion booklets for court, getting documents stamped at court, scheduling Title Documents and calling clients to get updates on the status of their affairs. I am most proud of the strong communication skills that I gained from interacting with Irish people over the phone.
Some key takeaways from my internship were a better understating of the Irish legal system, a greater appreciation of culture and a greater understating of where I see myself in my future. I realized from working and studying abroad in another country, if you truly immerse yourself in another culture, you ask a lot of questions, you learn to be observant, you go to cultural festivals and activities and, ultimately, you realize so much more about yourself. This was a very valuable lesson for me. My internship abroad complimented my education at the Heavener School of Business very well because it not only allowed me to learn how to be respectful in Irish culture, but also instilled confidence in me that I have the ability to navigate and be successful in a global marketplace.
We also asked Heavener School of Business students completing internships in Madrid and Beijing to reflect on their experiences. Read more from Jacob Hehn, Victoria Arguelles and Nikolas Nazario about their time in Madrid, and from Ana Rocha, Mark Edwards and Trey Fritz about their time in Beijing.
