My Internship Voucher Experience
Hello everyone! I am Elisa Pöyry, a master’s student at Aalto University School of Business majoring in marketing. Last autumn, I completed an internship with the Aalto internship voucher, as an intern at the Embassy of Finland in Singapore. In this blog post, I will discuss my internship experience abroad, as well as introduce the practicalities of Aalto internship voucher of the School of Business.
What Is the Internship Voucher / Support?
Some internships in small and medium sized companies, non-profit and Finnish state organizations may require internship support from the university. Internship support is a monetary compensation paid by the university to the employer, and this support is distributed to School of Business students as so-called internship vouchers. Thus, the employer pays a salary normally for the duration of the internship and then invoices the internship support from the university. The internship voucher is like a promise of financial support and it is possible to start searching for internship placement when the voucher is received.
Internship Tasks and Responsibilities
During my internship at the Embassy of Finland in Singapore, I had the opportunity to do tasks with wide variety. My main responsibilities included event planning and organization, reporting, media monitoring, country image work as well as content creation to the social media channels of the Embassy. Additionally, I was participating in different internal and external meetings, as well as visits including a delegation visit from Finland. I was also in charge of marketing and partnership communication of our 3-day event in the beginning of December, as well as assisting in the organization of Finnish Independence Day reception.
The Main Learnings of My Internship
I was able to enhance several skills relevant in the business field, and also learn new things, during my three months in Singapore. Most of the tasks required great organization and project management skills, as well as attention to detail. For example, I planned and implemented a LinkedIn campaign, which was extremely valuable experience for me as a marketing student. Additionally, I learned to produce marketing materials including business cards and brochures according to the Embassy brand guidelines. I also further improved my tolerance for ambiguity and was able to quickly adapt to new situations in a fast-paced environment.
Overall, I am grateful for the opportunity to work at the Embassy of Finland in Singapore and to learn more about the diplomatic sector, as well as about the market environment in Singapore and Asia. I also got more experience on event organization and planning, project management, reporting and communication tasks including country image work and marketing campaigns. Additionally, I gained better understanding on the different aspects of international relations and foreign trade work at the Embassy, and could definitely see myself working with the mentioned topics also in the future.
Elisa Pöyry
MSc Student at Aalto University School of Business
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