The Intern Files | Putting theory into practice

• By: Metta Hormen, BA Marketing at International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
• Internship experience: Offline internship at Suzhou MDCE
• Internship organiser: Self-organised

This summer I was a marketing intern at Suzhou MDCE, a Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) that helps Chinese medical technology and biotechnology companies design and conduct clinical trials overseas. I heard about the opportunity at an XJTLU Career Centre job fair. I worked for a total of 40 hours per week as it was a full-time 9-to-6 at the office (excluding lunch).

At MDCE Suzhou. I’m in the middle. Credit: Yuxuan Zhang

My tasks included producing marketing material for the company, mainly in the form of official WeChat articles, tweets and posters. Additionally, I was in charge of the video production for any offline marketing events we held. I was also directly involved in the planning and execution of networking events our company held and this often took place in bars and cafes with important clients and partners within the industry.

Me talking about the application process and why I wanted to intern at a Chinese company. Credit: Xiaoqiong (Helen) Li, XJTLU Global

When such a networking event was hosted, I handled a wide range of tasks; from the littlest or most insignificant tasks such as the physical labour of carrying necessary goods all the way to the important tasks of designing the posters, filming and documenting as well as publishing the article and video to our company’s social media platforms. Other important tasks I frequently did included conducting market research on our potential clients and competitors, organising the client relationship management database, researching other companies’ products and compiling contact information.

There was also an occasion when our company hosted a booth at a medical fair conference at Suzhou International Expo Center and on such an occasion, I helped introduce the company to potential clients and passersby as well as documenting and publishing articles for all the events that were held by the company during the expo (such as roundtable discussions, seminars and presentations). 

My personal recap of the expo

Difficult tasks inspire growth

The biggest challenge I would say was definitely the language barrier. Everything from the documents to the work systems and speaking environment were all in professional business Chinese. I remember a meeting wherein my supervisor took me to meet with the CEO to ask for his preferences for this networking event we were to host. The CEO spoke at a pace way too fast, above my listening comprehension skills. However, as the three months passed by, I can confidently say my listening skills skyrocketed since my first day, given that I was exposed to such a native-speaking environment 40 hours a week.

Another challenge would have to be learning the necessary skills needed to do my job. Thus, the first two weeks were the most challenging because I had to learn all the necessary skills and software from zero. But naturally, one gets better with practice and I was able to complete my tasks at a much faster and more efficient manner.

New-to-me work culture

The thing I found most surprising about the internship was definitely the work culture. I noticed that Chinese people have an inherently strong sense of commitment and dedication to their work. They’re very very focused on their work; it’s rare for them to get distracted (unlike us interns hahaha) and they seem to uphold high standards for their work and strive to reach those high standards.

On some days, I noticed that although it was already 6pm (time to clock out), my supervisor and other colleagues were still typing away on their laptops, wrapping up their work even though they will not be “officially” working overtime. This made me realise that they are willing to work a few extra minutes outside of their working times to ensure their work is well-wrapped for the day.

You would think that with such an intense attitude towards work, it would all just be “all work no play”. But in fact, the opposite is true. All the workers are friendly and caring for one another, especially during the office team bonding activities (which are held pretty often by the way) that help bring us closer together with that team spirit.

All the women in the office at a team bonding activity (women’s group photo)

Another pleasant surprise was how the Chinese employees often liked to have “下午茶” (translation: afternoon tea) and what is truly pleasant about this surprise is that our company treats all the employees to tea. And if you’re thinking of traditional warm Chinese herbal tea, then you are sorely mistaken. We got treated to modern bubble tea chains, ordering whatever drink we’d like and on some other occasions, the 下午茶 could be cakes or pastries. It was always a pleasant surprise every other week. Not to mention the constant free snacks and drinks available for all the employees at the office!

An example of the afternoon tea, 下午茶

Supervisor’s guidance

The best piece of advice I got from my supervisor was to always double check our work and take the initiative to take action (without being given explicit instructions) if the context or situation requires it. Lorenzo (Lorenzo Ceci, an exchange student at XJTLU) and I were her first interns who were international students, but as she could speak English, we would communicate in English if language barriers got in the way. Nonetheless I think our international backgrounds (me from Indonesia and Lorenzo from Italy) could help provide different insights, for instance how things are done in our countries like the laws and regulations. For example, for a project entering the Indonesian market, my supervisor would often consult with me about my knowledge of the Indonesian government, healthcare system, and people’s lifestyles.

A meeting at MDCE. Credit: Yuxuan Zhang

Three recommendations

The advice I would give to other international students planning to intern in China is definitely don’t go in blind, and when I say this I specifically mean three things.

The first is quite obvious, and that is your Chinese language proficiency. (I’m assuming the scenario of interning at a Chinese company where the majority of the working language is Chinese). You would need to have a decent level of speaking Chinese. It is okay even if your reading and writing skills are not up to par. Why? Because in practice, your fluency and confidence in speaking is what propels you to pass the interview.

Me listening to the seminar at the expo to publish articles

Second, building a good CV is by default a bare minimum requirement you should do to find internships anywhere, however, I learnt that having a high emotional intelligence is way more important than your experience or academics. The ability to read people, analyse the situation and context and be able to react correspondingly and quickly to such situations, finding answers when none is given to you, etc, is purely based on intuition and prior life and social experiences that accumulate your emotional intelligence.

Third, build your CV with an objective in mind. What I mean by that is accumulating experiences that could be your selling points when interviewed by companies. This could be a point that showcases a high-demand skill or an experience that showcases relations to your programme.

I think the most significant contribution this internship made to me was my personal and professional growth (this applies to academics and careers as well). In terms of personal growth, I believe this internship contributed to my character development and increased my emotional intelligence. In terms of professional growth, I learnt a lot of technical hands-on skills that I can apply in practice directly, outside the bounds of the classroom.

High stakes

It was truly an eye-opening experience to be able to apply something you’ve learnt in theory into practice and see that your actions actually produce a result in the company you work in.

Different from school projects and assignments, there are real-life consequences when you are in the working world; it is not a matter of passing or failing anymore but a matter of millions in money and invaluable client relationships.

Me talking about work experiences and what I accomplished. Credit: Xiaoqiong (Helen) Li, XJTLU Global

While this internship experience greatly humbled me as well, i.e., starting from zero like a blank canvas at the bottom of the corporate ladder, seeing my supervisor, experienced colleagues, and executive level workers and their dedication to important projects they’re working on, greatly motivated me to work harder (but also work smarter) to paving my own path.

Although I still do not have a concrete career plan, this internship experience gave me the confidence and skills to continue paving my path, wherever it may lead me.

Video I made about my internship experience