<#292 Jump Into the World>
Take the Opportunity to Do an Overseas Internship
By Heo Si-joon, Tribune Reporter
An internship provides an important opportunity to work with professionals in an office or field. You can have an overseas work experience through the international internship program of the Office of International Affairs, CNU. Through this program, you can generally undergo in-service training at universities or language education centers in foreign countries. If you want to do an internship related to your major, several departments like banking or financial organs of embassies in foreign countries offer you an on-the-job training period. This program provides some financial support for your total expenses. In addition, you can obtain a maximum of 9 credits by completing this internship program. Applicants must pass two selection criteria: a document screening process and a foreign language interview. If you want the opportunity to work in a foreign country before graduation, try this program. If you would like more detailed information and to apply for this program, you can visit the website of the Office of International Affairs.
<Overseas Internship Experience>
Enjoying My Internship at The Washington Center
By Lee Yun-ji, Senior, Dept. of English Language & Literature
I spent last semester interning in Washington D.C. I regularly checked the website of the Office of International Affairs, CNU to apply for The Washington Center internship. The process of applying for it was a bit complicated. I had to submit about six pages of forms, two essays on the issues I care about, my resume, two recommendation letters and my G.P.A., etc. After I got accepted into The Washington Center (TWC), I got assigned to a program advisor from TWC. And my program advisor, Catheleen, sent my application to several potential internship organizations. Some of the supervisors reviewed my materials and selected me as a candidate. And then they called me to set up an interview. After the interview, some of them made me an offer. I chose Voice of America (VOA) as my internship organization. It was actually very stressful for me because the process --from applying for to finally getting the internship -- took a very long time. It took almost 3months. While I was studying for final exams, I had to prepare for this at the same time. But now, I feel it was very worthwhile because that experience led me to intern in DC.
There were 400 alumni from TWC. They all experienced the same process with me. Of them, 21 students, including myself, were Korean. Gahyung Moon and I were from CNU and the other students were all from universities in Seoul. I started my internship at the VOA on September 8th. The VOA is a big broadcasting agency. So all departments are very well organized, which was the reason I chose it. Since I had a lot of interest in Public Relations and Marketing, I got to intern in online development director’s office. The first thing I was in charge of was the VOA Facebook and the VOA Twitter projects. The goal of this project was to raise awareness about the VOA through online social networking tools. I presented the outline and strategy of the project. My supervisor told me it was really impressive. So, he asked me to give the presentation again for other department directors at a meeting. I felt very proud.
The VOA has diverse seminars including the one about American business culture and technical training. I went to many seminars offered by the VOA as well. I went to about 8 seminars. The most impressive one was a lecture about Islamic culture. Since the VOA has been broadcasting in 45 languages, they put much emphasis on learning cultures. I also did some daily work like researching and making statistics. There was a meeting every morning. Executive directors all attend to discuss important issues or headline news. But everyone working at the VOA can come to the conference and suggest ideas or comments. I went to the meeting every Friday with my supervisor. It was very interesting to see how an organization works in America. The atmosphere is very flexible and friendly. I really liked the office environment. Usually I worked 9 to 5 but work finished early on Monday because I had to go to the Washington Center and participated in some programs and classes the center offered. They give a lot of assignments to students. So it was not easy to make time to go explore the city. But I had a really great time there. It became the most important experience I have ever had in my life.
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