In abroad, you can’t get anything if you don’t move on your own. Differences between internship abroad and domestic internship

I think that it becomes commonplace to have experience working before graduating university, and many people join internship among 1st and 2nd year of university. And the place of internships is spreading to abroad not only in domestic. Shinnosuke Yoshida, who I interviewed this time, joined an international cooperation club after entering university. He experienced internships both in Japan and in India as a result of the influences of his seniors taking a gap year to study abroad and work abroad. Currently, he works at a Japanese company running private tutor schools in Japan and foreign countries. What kind of experience Shinnosuke did during his internship in India? And what was the difference between an internship abroad and a domestic internship?

I have heard about an internship abroad and a domestic internship from three guys each. If you want to know others’ experience, find it from here.

Which is better, internship abroad or study abroad? Advantages and disadvantages talked by five experienced people

Took a gap year and joined an internship in India for a year

Tatsuo: Let’s start the interview. Shinnosuke, where did you do your internship?

Shinnnosuke: I did my internship in two organizations among a year. It was sales at a travel agency in India and fundraising to acquire donations of Japanese companies at NGO in India. I took a gap year in the 4th year of university and worked as an intern from February 2014 to February 2015. At the travel agency, my role was to get a contact with travel agencies in Japan and sell tour packages to get inbound tourists from Japan. More specifically, I called Japanese travel agencies and if they were interested I sent brochures of tour packages to them. In the internship of educational NGO, I asked Japanese companies to donate the NGO and I taught Japanese and played with children at an orphanage.

Why did you decide to do an internship in India?

While taking various activities at the university, I chose based on experience and my personality. When I was a first-year college student I went to England for a month to study short-term. However, I noticed that there was not much motivation to improve English skills there. I wondered what I was coming to do. I interacted with local people, but there was a shock that I could not feel the growth of English.

After that, at the end of the first year, I joined a study tour planned by the international cooperation club that I belonged to. Then I talked with people working at NGOs and I became to be interested in volunteering abroad. I have experienced internship in India for only one month during spring vacation before 3rd year. My senior at the university’s club invited me to do it because there was an opportunity of internship in India. The job at that time was a kindergarten teacher in a rural village, teaching the alphabet to children before going up to elementary school and teaching simple Japanese. I started my internship at a domestic NPO in the latter half of my 3rd year. The internship made me focus on growth. I learned how to set goals to become the figure that I want to be through work. I felt that I could grow quite through internship. Because I had a desire to go abroad for a long time and want to know the culture, I was worried about whether to study abroad or do internship, but when thinking about whether to be able to survive for one year with the aim of only learning language based on the past experience I felt it was difficult, and I thought I could set goals by myself in internship then I chose internship abroad.

Before long-term internship, you got your own criteria which one to choose by experiencing studying abroad and interns in the short term. When did you start to be interested in foreign countries?

At the time of the second grade of junior high school student, I did an activity collecting postage stamps and made donations for Thai rural areas. Approved for the activity, I got a right to participate in a project to exchange cultures between Japanese students and Thai students in Thai. So I stayed in a rural village in Thailand for a week and experienced Thai local cultures. In Thailand most things I saw were for the first time for me, children were slower in growth compared to Japanese, and I watched being begging on the street and I got a culture shock even I was a kid. Since then I felt that I wanted to involve in international cooperation and started activities after graduating high school. It was a coincidence that I participated in the program in Thai, but I believe it was good now.

Felt three lack of ability during the internship abroad

What goals did you set during the internship abroad?

I had two goals. The first goal was to improve my English ability to be passed as in the business scene not only in daily conversation. The another goal was to know how did foreign NGOs raise their fund by my internship experience of fundraising at Japanese NGO. Because of this experience, I thought to want to involve in fundraising at foreign NGOs.

What did you feel after the internship abroad?

In the internship at India NGO, I

In my internship at NGO in India, I got a gut but as a result, I couldn’t achieve the goal and I was keenly aware of the lack of power.

What kind of power were you lack?

There were three. The first one was the lack of English skills. The Indian NGO I did internship hired internship students from the US and the UK. For example, in the daily jobs, I work with foreign internship students so I needed to communicate with them. But I could not take a step to speak actively in English or meet them after work. I did not know how I should deal with foreigners and I think that experience was insufficient at that time.

The second one was that I couldn’t keep my motivation well. At the beginning of the internship, I did only chores. Sometimes I felt that I couldn’t grow with the work, such as database arrangement and
There was a time when I thought that I could not grow with such work, such as database arrangement and meeting minutes. I had high motivation for the first month but my motivation fell as I got used to it. When I consulted with Japanese, he told me that somebody had to do the works after all. Then I pull out of it.

The other one was simply the lack of suggestion or planning skills. When I went for a presentation to a Japanese company, the presentation became miserable without my knowing the basic business skills. I had a setback at the time. My bosses were professional of motivation management and coaching but they were not familiar with the business. Although I tried some way with the knowledge got by web surfing, I had never taught the art of sales. Therefore I think it would have been better to get to ask the sales department to teach the business basic skills. I couldn’t go beyond the barriers of departments. I got the opportunity so I got the full power but I did not know there the sales department was. I didn’t engage with many people on a daily basis, I didn’t get such information.

With the cultural difference, you couldn’t get anything if you didn’t move by yourself in abroad. What is the point if you give a score to your internship experience?

It is 60 points. In terms of 10 grades, there is a feeling that it is leaning towards a little good. But there are aspects that I regretted. Unlike studying abroad, I think in internship abroad there is more space you can decide by yourself. You can change a company you involve in if you feel bored and want to change. I had an internal consciousness that I could change the company anytime because it was an intern so it made me difficult to create my own clear goals. I depended on the environment.

It means that the internship between a gap year will be responsible for themselves. In such circumstances, did you got insights and learnings through the internship?

I think that my world has expanded. It was great that I connected with various nationality people and they were in a wide range of generations. I felt that I was blessed with people. For example, I met Japanese expats and heard the difficulties of working in India and I could hear their life story how they created their paths so far. It was a big thing for me. Afterwards, I was able to know the ambitions of the other internship students and received stimulation. I was driven by the feeling that I would work overseas as well.

In terms of work, there are some Indian people who are rough about mail and call so I had to work with the lack of communication in India. I realized the difficulty through my work. I asked expats how they manage Indian people and tried their methods, I think I could learn the minimum knowledge of working abroad.

Thoughts on education reaffirmed in the internship abroad

Did internship in India have any impact on subsequent job hunting activities?

Before going to the internship abroad, there was a keyword “education” inside of me. It was an educational NGO that supported me when I went to Thailand. I was told that education was important when I was a junior high school student through that activity. And as I was doing internship abroad, I was aware of the importance of education, so I got the axis that I wanted to absolutely engage in education. I also got a teacher license at my university.

After that, I experienced internship abroad and thought that I wanted to go to a company that I would engage overseas with overseas business. People from various countries gather together and go on a team with both public and private, and I am thrilled with various stimuli. I began to go abroad and want to make something with the people of various countries. Since how to work and ideas are different from country to country, I think I can create something new with them. I think that the fundamental of how to work is common, so it is very fun and attractive to think about brainstorming that kind of thing.

Do you have any advantage in your current job due to overseas internship experience?

Actually, there is almost nothing currently. However, I think that now is the time of preparatory training for working abroad and I am able to keep my motivation high. In the internship in India, I met people who seemed to think a great way of thinking and work. I am doing my best now because I want to work overseas like those I met in India, so my internship experience in India is good for me and my current job.

Also, although it is not work experience, I think I got some stories to tell the children a lot in my class. In social studies, there are topics of India and Asia. I met various countries people face-to-face and know what kind of people they are so I have a lot of things to teach children.

What is the point if you give a score to the internship experience in India with considering your current job in terms of self-investment?

It’s 90 points. There is no negative element as it is the time when what I want to do became clearer. I was able to confirm what I can do through my internship in India. It is kind a room where business can be done overseas in wide view, there are still many inconvenience and insufficient place in the world.

For example, there are no private tutor schools in emerging countries. There are many things that are common in Japan but not exist in emerging countries. I thought it was also interesting to export saturated ones in Japan and localize it. In that regard, I thought that I wanted to do education before I got an internship abroad, but I realized that I could consider that I could consider that education from various directions. I think that I strongly want to go abroad and want to touch the life of the land while doing it.

I see. You think that you don’t engage in education only in Japan, but also you adopt a perspective of abroad. I thought it was quite interesting. Finally please tell us about your future career plan!

Unless I can manage Japanese classrooms, I can not manage classrooms abroad, so now it is time to work hard. And I have a goal to work abroad in the future. Educational business is lagging behind globalization. Japanese education companies have not successfully advanced abroad, so I think that I want to do it well. I think that if it can be done especially in developing countries, it is interesting. It is difficult to provide education to the poor as a business, so first I have to put the target on the middle class and get enough money for the business, and finally be able to influence the poor as well I have an image that. I think that it would be better if I increase the number of people who can receive good education by engaging in the education of the middle class and increase the education of the country itself.

Summary

What did you feel about Shinnosuke’s internship experience in India? When I heard his story, I felt his attitude that he tried to do something he wanted to do without thinking too much. Why do not you think that everyone who wants to go abroad should take a step more and more for what you want to do like Shinnosuke.

Shinnosuke’s Self grading of the internship abroad

CONPATH introduces experiences of internship abroad and study abroad for those who want to experience long-term experience abroad while in college but who are wondering what is suitable for them.

If you would like to read other experiences, please click the link below.

Which is better, internship abroad or study abroad? Advantages and disadvantages talked by five experienced people