This is it. I’ve finally finished up and returned back to Australia and had some time to reflect and come to ultimate clarity of my experience. My internship with Plan International Indonesia did not come with a specific project or task that I was to complete within the month I spent with them, but more of a fundamental learning experience of partaking in a new work place, within an international context. I struggled in a number of ways, work ethic being one of them previously mentioned in my last blog. Another challenge was being a critical thinker and thinking reflectively upon my own work ethic and finally finding value in my position within an organisation. Having had time to sit and reflect upon these experiences has drawn some light and being able to write it all down brings ultimate clarity to what I have learned from this experience, despite the challenge of not having an actual project to see the end of.
I find that I am able to critically reflect on my own actions when I do encounter a general problem with a profound solution, however with this experience, I have found myself considering if I am thinking correctly about how to improve myself. I know that I can professionally expand when my authority or peers reflect with me but I need to learn to prompt myself independently and improve that initiative. Critically thinking, however, I have realised this skill of reflection is not just about how I can improve myself but how I can help my workplace improve as well. After all, McCormick’s (1993) short article considers that an internship is designed to challenge the student, just as much as the employer and the business need to be challenged by the student undertaking the internship.
Both McCormick’s (1993) short article and Gardner’s (2008) article consider the fact that employee’s are quite taken with job applications and resumes that hold international internship experiences with employee’s most commonly stating that the qualities they find in such students are “resourceful in accomplishing assignments”, “ability to work independently, “allocating time effectively” and “gaining new knowledge from experiences” (Gardner et al, 2008), all of which I believe I have done throughout this month.
In comparison to Australia and the internships I have conducted here, I find that I may be challenged differently whilst completing set tasks to a certain standard with a deadline. However, I am finding here that my main challenge is using my initiative to actively find tasks and provide feedback as my education and previous experiences are vastly different to those here and I can offer an outsiders perspective. This is where I need to find value in my position. Yes, I am an intern and I am here to learn. Colloquially put, I’m the bottom of the food chain. But my host organisation is also eager to learn from me. Transparency is what feeds a growing and changing organisation.
This whole experience has challenged me in a way that I did not expect to be challenged. It has ultimately recreated my entire perspective on cultural similarities and differences and it has truly shaken the knowledge I thought I had of Asian values in a development context. How truly fortunate I am to have had this experience and to be pushed outside of my comfort zone when I thought my comfort zone was almost impenetrable.
Bibliography:
McCormick, D 1993, “Critical thinking, experiential learning and internships”, Sage Social Science Collections, Vol. 17, No. 2, Pp. 260-262
Gardner, P, Gross, L, Steglitz, I 2008, “Unpacking your study abroad experience: Critical reflection for workplace competencies”, Collegiate Employment Research Institute, Vol. 1, No. 1, Pp. 1-11
Alexandra Hall 