Program Overview
The Fisher Global Internships Virtual program is an undergraduate global program through the Office of Global Business. It is the new way to go global, especially during COVID-19 where travel is restricted almost everywhere. The virtual, part-time internship was unpaid and offered in the Spring and Summer for approximately 11 weeks with a company tailored to the student’s interests. This being said, we were given the opportunity to choose which country we wanted to intern at and had help along the way to narrow down the industries and companies we desired. Once admitted into the program, we were required to take the half-semester class known as the Advanced Field Study: Doing Business Around the World to prepare us for the virtual global experience. It was a great way to prepare us students with internship best practices and resources, awareness of differences in cultures and business etiquette, and to be as successful in a virtual yet global environment. Not only was the class helpful but it was a great way to meet others who are in the same boat as you; wishing to travel but with these circumstances, are unable to. The program was a great opportunity to get professional experience, build communication and technology skills, and network internationally all while on a budget!
Pre-Internship Reflection
This virtual internship program was unfortunately the last opportunity for me to ‘go abroad’ for my International Business requirement before I graduated that I was certain would not get canceled. I first learned about this experience through one of the many Office of Global Business emails and decided to attend an info session in the Autumn of my junior year, and then applied for the Summer internship. I spoke with my parents about it due to the money since traveling was going to be no problem, and they thought it was a good idea to gain experience as well. The money was not much of a problem due to the Fisher Global Grant, however, it brought up concerns because I was also not getting paid by the company so I was truly paying for my internship; I tried staying optimistic and kept telling myself I was paying for the experience. I then decided to change the experience from the Summer to the Spring because of how flexible companies were said to be with students’ schedules and decided to do the internship alongside my schoolwork in the Spring before my senior year. I then had to use a platform called The Global Internship by We Find Group to schedule interviews with companies in the industry/sectors I desired, upload my contact information, resume, and personal statement. I had an interview with my coordinator who asked me which country I wanted to work in, what type of company I wanted to work for, big or small company, and all the other important questions! I definitely wanted something related to fashion and retail, no preference in the size of the company, and somewhere in London or Spain. It took my coordinator a while to get back to me with companies that needed an intern with fashion and marketing experience, and unfortunately, I had to accept an internship that revolved around customer service and data analytics. The company, Clever Ecommerce was based in Madrid, Spain, and it helped small businesses develop Google Ads campaigns. I had no clue what I was getting myself into since the company and my responsibilities didn’t match any of my interests nor preferences, but I tried not to think about the negatives as I was getting new experiences, a new perspective, and my International Business requirement out of the way.
During Internship Reflection
I was able to travel to Madrid, Spain in high school, so I tried my best to picture myself there while I was actually in my room in Columbus, remotely working. It was definitely not the experience people dream of when they think about working for a company in Spain, but the people I met through the countless Google Meet video calls made up for it. Everyone was so kind, helpful, and considerate and it truly made me less worrisome and more eager to learn what the company was all about. I was able to choose my hours to fit my school schedule which was very helpful and even when a school conflict came up, they knew that it was the bigger priority. My tasks and responsibilities were to respond to tickets from clients who had questions, comments, or any concerns with the company’s application and to respond to reviews for the app, and to assist anyone else on my team that needed assistance. The first few weeks, I met with each person on the customer service/account manager team, and there were about 10 of us, and they each told me a little about the company and what their tasks are every day. After all of the meetings, I was able to build a relationship with the only other American on the team, Emilia, and she was definitely the major reason why I enjoyed working there in the Spring. She was the closest to my age and just understood everything I was feeling because she remembered being in my footsteps and it meant a lot to hear it from her. As soon as I felt comfortable with asking her and my other colleagues questions about the platform they use for most of their customer service, the platform started malfunctioning, and we had to contact our clients/they had to contact us only through Gmail. So, I had to scratch everything I had learned for the first few weeks, and learn how to use the communal Gmail until they created the new platform. Using Gmail was not hard since I have been using it forever, but sharing the customer service account with other people tested my communication skills. Since there was a period we were all logged on at the same time, I had to make sure that no one was responding to the same email simultaneously, and all the labels were up to date for everyone. It was honestly a big mess for the few weeks we had to use Gmail, and because of the messiness, I had to track the messages clients were leaving and track the replies my colleagues and I were replying back to them. It was extremely time-consuming for Emilia and me, and after all the help and guidance from her, she decided to put in her two weeks notice right in the middle of my internship! I was so upset to hear her say it after all she has done for me during my internship, but I totally understood her decision. They quickly hired two others to replace Emilia, and I felt like they learned so much faster than I did. I couldn’t help but think that my extremely broken Spanish and the six-hour time difference were the reasons for not catching on so quickly, but they were still so helpful and understanding through it all. The time difference was such a big factor, especially when Daylight Savings happened in the middle of March! Spain’s Daylight Savings occurred two weeks after ours in America, and this messed up my schedule badly. This made our time difference five hours apart for two weeks and I had classes and/or meetings when I was supposed to be online for my internship, I was always on too early or too late and once I finally got used to it, it went back to six-hours. And then a couple of days later, I took a week-long trip to visit my family in Chicago for Easter, and that made it a seven-hour difference. It was definitely something I struggled with, and that was a major obstacle for me.
Post-Internship Reflection
I was extremely excited to be done with the internship during the week of finals, but also glad to have [virtually] met new people from an entirely different culture. I truly wish I was able to spend some time physically in the different cultures in Madrid, but it was fun to experience how our world is so tech-savvy where I can be in one country assisting a company in another. In my final meeting with my team, everyone was so kind and they all said if I were ever in Madrid, I had to visit them, and hopefully, that day will come! This internship definitely helped me build my communication and time management skills. I felt like I was writing in my planner 24/7 because of how I had to balance my school, internship, organizations, and time for myself every week in the Spring semester. I am very grateful that I was able to complete the semester to the best of my ability with everything going on, and I felt like if I could complete this Spring semester with all of that on my plate, then my senior year should be a piece of cake. This was the first internship of my college career and I couldn’t be happier to have gained the experience that I did which will set me up for my future opportunities. I definitely would recommend to anyone thinking about this virtual opportunity is to make sure the company you are interning for follows your interests and to keep in close contact with your coordinator/director. You are paying them and companies are not paying you, so make sure you are happy before anything else.
If you are planning to have a virtual internship in the future, I would advise that you have a working space that makes you feel most comfortable and engaged in your work. Your mindset can be influenced by your environment so make sure it’s clean, make sure you have water too stay hydrated, and keep your phone away because it can be distracting! I would also say that you can work from anywhere when you are virtual, so try to travel and change up your scenery, because working from your office or bedroom every day can get boring quickly. All of my classes were virtual in the spring too so I would travel with my roommates out of state and it would be so fun, but had to stay mindful I had responsibilities to tend to first. I would also say to try and get to know your coworkers as best as you can even though being virtual doesn’t promote better connections. Add them to your LinkedIn, figure out their other experiences, because you are doing something that will alter your future career decisions, and might as well add to your network with those who are altering some of your life decisions. The better connections you make with people, the easier it can be to contact them later in the future if you needed to. Don’t take the opportunity for granted!