My Internship in Shanghai: First Step to Becoming an Expat tagged: , , , , , , , ,

My Internship in Shanghai: First Step to Becoming an Expat

Posted by Mike in Work

It was February of 2008 and I was finishing up my second, and last, year of MBA school. Things were going well – I had my full-time job offer locked up, I had a light load of classes, and I had too much free time on my hands due to a lightened workload. My mind got to thinking about what I was going to do during that Summer when it hit me – a post-MBA internship in Shanghai.

I always wanted to travel internationally, but I never had a reason to simply settle in a foreign land. However, doing an internship gave me that reason and simply made sense for multiple reasons. It gave me a reason to travel and explore. It would help my argument to work abroad in the future. It would allow me to figure out if I could survive in another country with a vastly different culture. Finally, it would give me an experience unlike one I could find domestically. I was sold, but I needed to find the right opportunity.

One Year Prior to My Internship in Shanghai

The year before, I was going through the normal MBA internship recruiting process. I was speaking to both domestic and international companies about Summer employment. While I ended up opting to go down the safe route of interning for a top domestic bank, my interviews in China intrigued me and remained in the back of my mind. The potential opportunities went as follows:

1) Chinese Internship Agency A: Shady and bad responsiveness. Wouldn’t give me references. Wouldn’t give me much information on specifics for companies and roles. I passed. I won’t even give them the credibility of a listing on my website for this headhunter.

2) Major American Shoe Company: Found through a classmate’s lead. I spoke to him and was highly interested in joining, however he was having trouble convincing his manager to accept a foreign intern. I didn’t have the time to wait for a decision.

3) AbroadChina Internship Service Provider: AbroadChina was able to promise me a marketing internship with either Kimberly Clark (Shanghai) or an expat-driven start-up company.Communication was solid and they were happy to pass on references from former students and teachers who had worked with them in the past.

While I ended up going the safe route by turning down this international experience, I had unknowingly just built the groundwork for my future move to China through these interviews. One year later, I contacted AbroadChina’s service team again and they helped me secure a marketing internship with Hitachi Consulting (Shanghai).

Pre-Internship Discussion: AbroadChina Review

Before going into the specifics of my internship in Shanghai, I want to stress how much simpler having a internship provider team made the internship process. Abroad China secured my multiple-entry working visa for me without issue. They connected me with companies and set up interviews for me. They held my hand by personally and quickly answering any questions I had. They were willing to find housing for me (although, I opted to find this myself). The Shanghai staff met me at the airport to drive me to my apartment and handed me a working phone, a map of China, a set of business cards, and a few more things. Finally, they set up networking sessions for all Summer interns to meet and discuss their internships. It was a solid and simple process – just what I had desired for my first time living abroad. If this sounds good to you, look at the end of the article for a discount to their services as well as a personal referral from me to help connect you with the right people. Do this before you even apply.

My Shanghai Internship Review

My working experience was unlike any other. I was the only westerner in the building. I worked directly for the CEO of Hitachi Consulting (Shanghai) as he worked to research market opportunities in Shanghai. His assistant, Amy, guided me when I needed help – from daily trips to lunch at the office cafeteria to helping me buy pillows to helping me with my Mandarin to introducing me to her friends. My work was predominantly market research but my learning went much further. I learned about how different (and, in some instances, not so different) the Chinese work life and culture is from the American work life and culture. I learned about what types of value a foreigner can offer a Chinese-based company (or Japanese company located in China, in the case of Hitachi). I learned about guanxi. I learned how to think about where my niche could be once I returned to Shanghai. Most importantly, I started to build my network.

Life outside of work, however, is where things became interesting. I took advantage of every free moment I had. I met up with classmates, other expats, my roommates, and locals. I was exposed to so many different personality types and got to experience parts of China as both an insider and outsider.  Whether it was going to fancy or local bars and clubs or haggling in local markets or wandering through any new street I could find – I attempted to do it all. While my experience was only 10 weeks, I felt as though I accomplished more doing that than a normal 1-year period of other parts of my life.

Travel was amazing, convenient, and inexpensive. I got to visit Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Bangkok either by myself or with others without any non-English speaking abilities. Getting lost and navigating through a foreign country is part of the fun of these experiences. I witnessed good, bad, shocking, awe-inspiring and more.

Living arrangements for my internship in Shanghai worked out perfectly. I lived in an apartment with two roommates – a Chinese girl and a French guy. Both became good friends and valuable resources as I became accustomed to Shanghai. I found the apartment through a posting placed by my Chinese roommate on SmartShanghai. She is still a friend of mine and is currently a real estate agent in Shanghai.

Once my 10 weeks had ended, I was not ready to leave. Unfortunately, I had to go back to relative normalcy in the United States. I joined corporate America and settled into a life that became too routine for my liking. Almost randomly though, I met my current girlfriend while we were both working in the United States. As fate would have it, she needed to return to China nearly one year after we started dating. Nearly one-and-a-half years after leaving Shanghai for the first time, I left corporate America behind and am back again…being re-born again in Shanghai.

Abroad China Discount

If you are considering an internship in China, I would highly recommend it. Read my post on finding an internship in China. If you are interested in using Abroad China like I did, the company has generously offered a $100 discount for my readers due to my friendship and prior experience with the company’s team. In order to get this discount, contact me at mike@movingtochinablog.com before you even apply and I will ensure this discount is passed on to you and your application goes in the hands of the right people. I can also give you advice if you need help through your internship search process.

Have other advice on getting an internship? Please leave a comment below.