The Intern Files | Working together across continents

• By: Jargalant Martin Lozada Revilla, BA China Studies at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 
• Internship experience: Online internship at Johnson Electric Motion Technology in Changzhou  
• Internship organiser: XJTLU’s International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) – 2024 Summer Online In-Company Consulting Projects 

Jargalant Martin Lozada Revilla

My very first day: Friday 12 July 

Orientation 

I had the pleasure of working with Dr Ryan Wu and my esteemed colleagues on market research for Johnson Electric, an automotive and industrial component manufacturing multinational with a production facility in Changzhou. I worked on market research for the global electric automotive industry. As Dr Wu explained, this was an opportunity for us as students to use our skills and learn more about how the automotive industry operates. From that orientation session I knew this would become a rewarding experience. Guidance from Dr Wu and the mentors was helpful, but this project was a monumental challenge for us as students; we needed to create a whole system of planning all by ourselves.  

Right after the meeting was done, my team and I were reading and excited to work; already planning our tasks for the next week. We understood the challenge ahead and were ready to tackle it.  

Week 1: 15-19 July:  

Preliminary Report 

This week started off well, as we already made plans the previous Friday to get ahead on this Monday morning. I was the only member in a different time zone as it was a remote project, getting up way before the crack of dawn in Italy while my colleagues had already started their day in China was its own challenge. However, I was already excited work; this didn’t faze me.  

Our kickoff meeting detailed how we were going to show our understanding to each other. We thought it was best to make sure everyone was on the same page before we present something to our supervisor. So, we made plans to write a preliminary report as well as a mini presentation to show our progress for that week.  

It was difficult at first to communicate our ideas, but we quickly turned it around and everyone was committed to sharing their ideas. As in my previous experience working as an intern, it’s always difficult trying to take charge of a meeting. People expect you to say something, or your colleagues are afraid of saying the wrong thing. I always try to foster an environment where everyone’s thoughts are heard.  

By Friday we had completed our task and exceeded our supervisor’s expectations. They were happy with the result but didn’t need a presentation from us. We learned to be more efficient with our time from then on. 

 Week 2: 22-26 July 

Secondary Report 

By the second week’s kickoff meeting everyone had adjusted to their roles. We all understood the task and we didn’t need so much face time to start our week. We became efficient quite fast.  

I also noticed that more of my colleagues were eager to share their ideas. I thought that was important and beneficial for everyone; we all learned to play to our strengths and learn from new skills.  

In our project, most of our time is allocated to doing research, refining and compiling our data and analysis into words came second; but what was most crucial was being able to make all of this presentable. This was our strength as students – we came from vastly different programmes, with little overlap to the automotive industry, but as XJTLU students, we were equipped with the skills to write effectively communicative written reports.  

This second week our supervisor was again happy with our result, but the real test would come the following week; he announced we finally get to do a presentation in addition to a final report.  

Week 3: 29 July – 4 August  

Presentation Week 

This was the most challenging week of the internship, but we were ready. We knew how to handle being under pressure for a deadline well and we knew how to work with each other. This part of the internship was just putting words to keyboard, a lot of typing and refining; to make sure we could communicate everything we had learned to Dr Wu in the best way possible.  

My colleagues did exceptionally well in their respective parts of the presentation and reports. On the day of the final meeting, we were met with great reception not only from Dr Wu but also our mentors at XJTLU.  

It felt great to receive praise from the people we worked for, but it felt even better to congratulate each other in the team on how hard we worked. It was a wonderful feeling to complete a project with people you got along with so well as colleagues.  

I knew I would want to do this all over again.  

Jargalant Martin Lozada Revilla (centre) at an XJTLU Consulting Society meeting

Thoughts 

My experience as an intern has continued to foster my aspiration to pursue a career in consultancy. This retrospection brings to attention how beneficial my experience working with Johnson Electric has been. This was not a mere box to check on a resume; it was a truly important learning moment in my life journey. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to refine old and discover new skills as a student by Dr Ryan Wu of Johnson Electric, Dr Yingchan Luo and Dr Linjia Zhang at IBSS, as well as my esteemed colleagues whom I had the pleasure of working with on this valuable project.  

I want to take this opportunity to offer more students at XJTLU the same opportunity I was given as a summer in-company consultant – a chance to discover their passion for a career in consultancy. Ruo-Hsin Liang, a fellow colleague on a project I took during summer 2022, has worked with me to start XJTLU’s first Consulting Society. We are beginning recruitment for new members in the fall, looking for students from all walks of life. Striving for diversity, we aim to provide students from across all programmes opportunities to apply the knowledge they learned in their modules to work on projects like we have done during our summer experiences as well as train students who are interested in pursuing a career in consultancy. If any students would like to get in touch, please contact us through the Consulting Society email: xjtluconsulting@outlook.com. This will be a truly exciting experience to discover your strengths as a student, and hopefully one day as a real consultant.