Afbeelding
“I love travelling and learning new languages and wanted to study something that would enable me to work in an international context with people from different cultures. And that's what I've found! I'm now in my final year of International Business and absolutely have had the opportunity to work with amazing companies, mostly in an international environment. And I met new people in each new module because classes get switched around and I got to go abroad during my exchange semester and for my internship.”
Freedom and trust
“I found my internship through my study coach who connected me to an employee at Yobbers (a former NHL Stenden student!). I'd taken Spanish as a second language and really wanted to find an internship in Spain. Thankfully, it worked out. I was based in Valencia and loved the team I was in, the tasks and the freedom of doing what I liked, but also the trust the company gave me to have as much input and own projects and responsibilities as I did. My main learning point was finding a balance between work, private life and enjoyment as I struggled a lot to find a balance between my work life and social life.”
An internship is really a chance to learn a lot about yourself and your abilities. I've learned what I enjoy doing and also what I dislike (for example, I don’t think I enjoy working in HR, even though I think I am very good at it). I also learned how businesses recruit and what to look out for in applying for new jobs, and that will no doubt prove very useful. It was an incredible environment to learn from and grow with. I was encouraged to really find my role within a growing business and to find projects and ideas of my own to execute them myself. I had the support of the entire team and really was able to add a lot of value to the business whilst I was “only” an intern there.”
Learning opportunity
“I think doing an internship is an incredible opportunity as you can experience a work environment but still have the freedom and flexibility to learn from it. It’s very important though to think carefully about the type of company you want to apply to. If you’re looking for an opportunity to grow with a lot of responsibility you should choose a young company, startup or scale-up as they give you flexibility, and responsibility and immense growth opportunities. Bigger businesses or corporations, on the other hand, often have set roles and are less flexible.”
“Now I'm in the final phase of my degree, I know I would love to work as a business or process consultant or in the international sales & purchasing sector. Both of these directions align with my strengths the most. I also loved that I found my strengths throughout this study by the reflection and personal development that is encouraged by the classes.”
To find out more about the programme, check out the International Business programme page or request the programme brochure. Or check out the different international opportunities NHL Stenden offers.