For all Management, Communication & IT Bachelor students, the curriculum in the 6th semester provides for a mandatory professional internship of 12 weeks. This can be completed either at a national or international company at home or abroad. Our MCiT Bachelor student Elena Wehinger decided to do her internship far away. In this interview, she tells us about her exciting time at BEAUFICIAL in South Korea.
My path to my internship
Since I wanted to go abroad during Covid, I contacted an internship agency that specializes in Asian countries. After a short interview with the agency and letting them know which country I wanted to go to, I had more interviews with companies. I finally decided on BEAUFICAL because their company motto and ideas appealed to me the most.
The company
Working for BEAUFICAL was an incredibly great experience. I had numerous opportunities to get involved creatively and to try out many things. The team I worked with embraced me and integrated me right away, which in turn helped to turn down my nervousness. Something I took away from BEAUFICAL's CEO, Grace Okafor: "If you do something you're passionate about, you can overcome any hurdle, even if it makes the setbacks hurt more."
My responsibilities
I first worked with Beaufical's social media team and later managed the social media channels for their own brand, DR. GIO. I had a lot of fun contributing my creativity to the social media part. That wasn't my only duty though. As one of three interns from Europe, I also had the chance to contribute my ideas at the strategy meetings for the market entry in Europe.
My free time activities
I would love to write about all the incredible things I did, but that would be an endless list, since you have so many options for free time activities in Seoul. Every week there was something special planned and every trip was a highlight for me. This might also be because of the incredibly great people I met, with whom I still maintain a close friendship. If I had to pick a highlight - when I walked through Gyeongbokung Palace with my friends in a traditional Korean garb, called a Hanbok.
My biggest challenge
Honestly, I didn't have any challenge that stood out for me. Of course, not everything went perfectly well all the time. When I had a challenge, I was usually able to solve it with help or through time. What I personally find important when traveling farther away: Be open to this new culture, inform yourself well in advance and also try to learn the language.
My professional internship in 3 words
incredible, adventurous, in need of repetition
