How to AIESEC Internship: The Steps and Procedures
March 06, 2017
I am a fourth year BS International Studies student in a small college in Davao City, Philippines and I got an internship in a company in Tokyo, Japan. How? The answer is AIESEC.
If you do not know what AIESEC is yet, AIESEC is an organization organized by young leaders for young leaders all around the world. It connects people from around the world and encourages the youth to positively impact the global society through volunteering, interning and other activities. AIESEC holds tons of activities and it has a lot of programs. The program I am currently in is the Global Internship Program.
How did I get an internship through AIESEC? Here are the steps!
1. THE PERSONALITY TEST
Everything started with a test. It was an essay type of test. The questions were mostly situational, asking you what you’ll do if “X” happens. Moreover, there were also questions that ask for your opinions and points of views on important matters like leadership, positively impacting the society, commitment and the like. I took the test and I passed.
2. THE INTERVIEW
After passing the test, I went through a one on one interview with an AIESEC member in my college.
3. THE OPPORTUNITIES PORTAL PROFILE
I passed the interview so I was given a go signal to create a profile in AIESEC’s opportunities portal. You need to upload your resume in your profile so make sure that you prepare a well-constructed resume beforehand.
4. THE OPPORTUNITIES
Now this is the most exciting part. After completing your profile, you can now look for opportunities and apply. In my case, I looked for opportunities in Japan with the duration of 6 – 9 weeks. You can filter your results based on your own country or length of internship preference. You can apply for as many internship opportunities as you can. I advise you to do that because just like what the famous line says, the more tickets, the more chances of winning! I applied for four opportunities - two teaching opportunities and two other non-teaching opportunities. In every opportunity that you will apply for, you have to state why you are the best candidate for the opportunity so you better come up with a good answer before applying. In my case, I only had one same answer for all the opportunities I applied for and I just copied and pasted it to every opportunity. When you’re done applying, you wait for AIESEC to contact you.
5. THE E-MAIL FROM AIESEC TOKYO
Twenty four (24) hours after I applied for the opportunities, I got an e-mail from one of the AIESECers of Tokyo University that handled one of the opportunities which I applied for saying that he needs to interview applicants soon, was I available for interview. I was elated so I immediately replied “YES”. It was a good opportunity but I was not really eyeing for it at the beginning. I applied for it because it looked good but I did not expect to get it. Anyway, the thing with AIESEC internships, I believe, is that you grab the first opportunity that shows signs of interest in you because that might be the only one. Whether or not the opportunity is your first choice, you grab it. You don’t wait and let others grab it from you. You grab the opportunity, put it away in your bag and lock it. You do not give it to others. This is not the time to be picky. If the opportunity is something out of your comfort zone, then better.
6. THE INTERVIEW NUMBER TWO (SKYPE)
So the day of the interview number two came. I was expecting a male student to interview me because that was what the e-mail implied. However, I was shocked when I picked up the Skype call because it was a middle aged woman on the screen. Apparently, she was the representative of the company I applied for. I WAS SHOCKED. I WAS NOT PREPARED TO BE INTERVIEWED BY THE COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE. Fortunately, she was VERY kind and she made it sure that I understand her Japanese. Oh, yes, the whole interview was in Japanese. Anyway, she asked me some basic personal questions, why I wanted to do the internship and many more personal questions. However, most of the time, it was she who was talking. She introduced me the company, what the company does the members of the company and the kind of job I was going to do if I was accepted. The interview did not feel like an interview at all but an orientation. I was so happy after the interview because I felt like she did not call me to interview me but to orient me about the internship.
7. THE ACCEPTANCE NOTE
The day after my Skype interview with the company representative, I received an e-mail stating that I got accepted. I was, again, shocked because everything was too fast. I expected for things to be slow but nothing was close to slow. Everything was just fast. I had to sign an acceptance note in the opportunities portal and they said that once I signed the acceptance note, there is no turning back. You can’t cancel after that.
8. THE PREPARATION OF DOCUMENTS
After being accepted, the preparation of the needed documents for the “Traineeship Visa” is next. The “Traineeship Visa” can only be issued once to a single person and it takes about three months to get it mainly because of the “Certificate of Eligibility” which is needed to get the visa. The following are the documents that I prepared and sent to Japan via airmail.
· Curriculum Vitae – the TN Manager has the copy of the format of the CV
· Copy of the passport data page – passport must be valid and has at least two blank pages left
· Photograph (4cm x 3cm) – must be clear enough with white background, taken within the last six months, head must not be covered
· Student Certificate – must state that you are a student of a certain university or college in your country before and after the internship. Must also state the expected date of graduation
· Other documents – In my case, I was asked to send the scanned copy of my latest and used Japan visa and arrival stamps in my passport
9. THE INTERNSHIP CONTENT
Before flying to Japan for the internship, your TN Manager as well as the other AIESECers will be conducting Skype meetings with you. In my case, I participated in countless Skype meetings for the AIESECers to create my internship content. The good thing about interning with AIESEC is that you get to build your own internship content based on what skill you’d like to develop. In my case, I want to develop (1) leadership skills, (2) presentation skills and (3) communication skills. So, the people from AIESEC Tokyo did their best to create an internship that would help me develop these skills. They even went an extra mile to help me with my poor Japanese skills because I need higher Japanese skills when I start my internship and they helped me build a concrete figure of the person I want to be in the future because truth be told, I’m not quite sure about what I want to do with my life.
10. REALIZATION
Once your internship content is built, visa processed and legal documents produced, you are ready to go.
I hope that you will get your dream internship through AIESEC in Japan or other parts of the globe. Do not be afraid to try interning because I am very sure that an internship opportunity will not only be a plus for future employment but a very good avenue to develop yourself and be of good use in the society. My internship was, I won’t dare use the word “hard”, and instead use the word “challenging”. It made me realize a lot of things about me, my goals and my future. It allowed me to discover so much about myself, like my weaknesses and strengths and a lot more. I do not regret participating in an AIESEC internship.
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