Resilience and raincoats: my exchange in Denmark

Learn more about exchange opportunities at our Business School Undergraduate Global Exchange Webinar at 11am on Tuesday 8th June, 2021. Register via Zoom.

Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts student Iris Chen shares her insights into the challenges and highlights of exchange at the University of Copenhagen.

Last year I was fortunate enough to study abroad at the University of Copenhagen as well as spend some time travelling around Europe. I am studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts majoring in Finance, Accounting and Political Economy, however through my spare electives I was able to enjoy subjects outside of my majors such as philosophy and Danish culture during my semester there. 

Challenges and Highlights

The challenges and highlights of exchange definitely come hand in hand. The challenge of being away from friends and family gave me the opportunity to make new life-long friends from all over the world, while the uncertainty of a new environment offered the most amazing experiences and memories.

If I am perfectly honest however, my greatest battles were often fought against the weather. The preferred mode of transport in Copenhagen is the bicycle, and while I had braced myself for the cold when I left Sydney, I did not expect to cycle through hail storms. Nor did I expect to be shivering through an 8am lecture after cycling through an unexpected downpour in pitch black (the sun rises at about 8.30am in winter) and in 5 degrees Celsius.

Feeling constantly damp and a little sorry for myself, I asked my Danish friends how they coped with this on a daily basis as I never heard them complaining. They agreed it wasn’t pleasant but they all seemed to just accept it as part of their lives, noting that it wasn’t too bad or that it could be worse. While not exactly comforting, I quickly learned to always bring a raincoat and to just embrace the cold and wet, even surprising myself one day when I actually felt exhilarated from cycling in the rain. 

Career Opportunities

• Learn to form relationships and find common ground with people who may have completely different experiences and cultural backgrounds 

• Gain a broader perspective of the world and global issues

• Develop a strong sense of independence, resilience and often creativity when dealing with unfamiliar or unexpected situations when travelling

• Become more open and flexible from adjusting to a new environment

If you have ever come across anyone that has just returned from exchange, you’ll notice that they all have one thing in common – they can’t stop talking about it. You’ll get to have experiences that you will keep with you throughout your life and I promise you won’t regret it! 

Written by Iris Chen (Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts)

Learn more about exchange opportunities at our Business School Undergraduate Global Exchange Webinar at 11am on Tuesday 8th June, 2021. Register via Zoom.

How my exchange experience challenged and changed me

Learn more about exchange opportunities at our Business School Undergraduate Global Exchange Webinar at 11am on Tuesday 8th June, 2021. Register via Zoom.

Bachelor of Commerce student Martin Ang shares his insights into the challenges of exchange at Singapore Management University.

The opportunity of exchange is a chance to truly challenge yourself: another country with people you've never met and studying at a university that you've only read up on through Wikipedia. It is nerve-racking and exciting at the same time, but by the end of it, a truly rewarding experience.

My exchange experience was at Singapore Management University, which was located at Singapore's city centre. Food is plentiful, with hawker centres cooking up tasty home-cooked style street food, and there's always a bubble tea shop around the corner to quench your thirst. The country is full of attractions, ranging from the concrete jungle of Orchard Road, to the gorgeous Gardens by the Bay, and the Singapore Night Festival can give you a glimpse of why it's termed the city of lights.

The studying was quite full on. I was doing five subjects at the time. Classes were small, capped at about 35 students, in rooms not too much bigger than the tutorial rooms at the University of Sydney. It was different, and almost felt like I was back in high school. Professors would ask students questions on a routine basis and would remember names of students. Assignments were heavily focused on group tasks and presentations. Because of this you were meeting and discussing with a bunch of different people from around the world, understanding where they were from and how they also found themselves in Singapore. It was easy to get lost in conversation.

Getting accustomed to the study culture was a bit of a challenge, but a worthwhile one. Local students study hard and marks are scaled, making it competitive. So don't be surprised if at the end of a presentation, you see arms raised with students waiting to poke holes in the presentation you cooked up the night before.

The main thing that exchange gave me was a newfound confidence in myself: the knowledge that I could venture out in the world by myself without the familiarity of friends or family. I think this is the main takeaway from exchange. It may not revolutionise your career but it will change you as a person.

To students thinking of going on exchange, I say stay safe and embrace the experience - you won't regret it.

Written by Martin Ang (Bachelor of Commerce)

Learn more about exchange opportunities at our Business School Undergraduate Global Exchange Webinar at 11am on Tuesday 8th June, 2021. Register via Zoom.

Why leadership prevails over your WAM

The moment you sit in your first graduation job interview, your potential employer isn’t looking at your WAM or your academic achievements. They’re looking for an entrepreneurial character to help grow their business. That’s why when you see them clicking their pens or not writing anything down, it’s a cue to move on. Tell them explicitly what makes you different.

How?

Leadership. It is the most employable skill, as leadership experiences can’t be solely studied.

So what exactly is WAM?

WAM:
Weighted Average Mark; a non-experience based numerical assessment of work ethic assigned to all enrolled students.

To an employer, it can tell them how much of a high-achiever you may be. They wouldn’t know if you’ve crammed content the night before. Or how many all nighters you’ve pulled thus far. Let’s be frank: it’s just a number. Like ATAR. It does not encompass you as a character.

So why leadership?

Communication
First impressions count. It gets your foot in the door.  How one presents themself as self-aware through communication differentiates them from the rest of the graduate employment market. They’re looking for people who will make the best fit for their workplace. Someone who can communicate their ideas clearly and confidently.

Initiative
Unless you’re superhuman, you’re probably not going to start off your first graduate job as the perfect worker. Your employer knows that. That’s why initiative is desirable. They will be asking themselves, “Is this candidate willing to challenge themself and learn new things?” When people see you with initiative, they see you as someone who can take charge and be dependable. Only through a self-development mindset can you experience true professional growth. After all, experience cannot be studied.

Teamwork
Regardless of the field, teamwork is the definitive quality of a desirable employee. It doesn’t matter how good you are on paper. Selflessness is good teamwork. A realisation of collective aspirations beyond one’s self and working to common ends is what employers can’t do without. Think of it as nailing the theoretical components. Only achieving on a theoretical level is not as pleasing as an individual with practical experience.

Networking
Harnessing opportunities to ascertain your future pathway remains in and out of the connections you foster and maintain. Building bridges with not only professionals, but also students from diverse backgrounds and experiences canvasses a network for future collaboration and impact. Glue yourself to a suite of possibilities with extensive networks. It’ll land you jobs deemed to be out of reach.

AIESEC: Your Gateway to Leadership
AIESEC is the largest student run organisation in the world, facilitating students with volunteering and internship exchanges in over 125 partnered countries since 1948.

From Kofi Annan (Former Secretary General of the UN) to Neil Janin (Global Director, McKinsey and Co.), participants of the Global Leader program have paved new pathways for communities, businesses and lives around the world.

AIESEC spearheads its members into an immersive environment with developmental space to enhance practical skills in areas such as business development, marketing, finance and human resources. 

So why leadership over WAM?
Employers don’t reduce the company's future to a number. They will find value in your capacity to impact as an innovative leader.

Be prepared the next time you head in for an interview. Loosen your grip on the inky CV. An interviewer seeks experience prepared by the opportunities you seize here and now. All the doors close itself eventually. Initiate the start to your future, work with potentially prominent figures of the world and expand your network.

Good luck.

Solenna Fu
Current student at the University of Sydney and Public Relations Officer, AIESEC Sydney

The Top Five Benefits of International Internships

Choosing to intern globally is a big decision to make. It’s not only a choice to commit yourself to a new professional atmosphere, but to change entirely your daily habits of food, culture and social life for a time.  It’s like going hiking in high altitudes – your body needs time to acclimatize and it may be difficult initially, but you are no doubt going to emerge a better hiker when you’re finished.

The rewards of training in new environments are plentiful, but what are the top five rewards of global internships?

It grows the initiative muscle
Initiative is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger and more efficient it becomes. It’s a big step to jump on a plane and voluntarily shift your time zone, let alone commit to an internship in a new and exotic land. When interning overseas, you no longer have your deeply knit friends or family watching over your shoulder. You are in charge of yourself and all things get done only if you proactively choose to do them.

Living in a new culture
The great thing about travelling overseas is how much it allows us to learn about the world beyond the society we happened to be born into. In an even more profound way, international work experience is a chance to not only learn about a foreign culture, but to live in the heart of it. Have you ever thought about who you would be if the dice roll of nature had been different? What if you were born into an entirely different culture? This question can’t actually be answered, but global internships provide a nice experimental gaze into other cultural realities.

A CV more interesting than your average bear
Take two candidates for a graduate engineering position, Bob and Bill. They have roughly similar grades and extra-curriculars. The only difference is that Bob interned in Australia whilst Bill worked for a company in Vietnam. Before the filtering process of an interview, Bill is a little more intriguing – he stands out. He signals a more interesting candidate, one who takes initiative and is curious about self-development.

New friends, new ideas
Making friends overseas is fun because every conversation is potentially a challenge to your entire way of viewing the world. New jokes, food and dance are all great benefits – but even more profound is the exciting novelty of a new climate of friendship.

Coming back a superhero
Returning from their internships, participants often say that they feel like new people – like their dreams and visions for the world are somehow so much closer than they’ve ever been. This sense of agency and courage is nothing short of super hero status – you feel like a new person because you are a new person.

 

AIESEC’s Global Talent

AIESEC is a student run institution that organizes international internships and volunteering opportunities. Operating in over 125 different countries, Global Talent offers internships in young and gunning startups, all the way to big game multinationals. Internships can range from six weeks to two years, depending on what a candidate is looking for in their placement. AIESEC Sydney operates from campus and exists to facilitate the wonderful experience of global internships for University of Sydney students.

We live in the best time to be alive. The world has always been large and endless, and yet today it is firmly in the palm of our hands, if that’s how we want it to be. In the old days, if you were born a cultured German, you remained a cultured German – and might not have even acknowledged that something outside of your part of Germany existed. Today, not only can we skype anyone from anywhere – we can travel abroad to live, work, eat and laugh amongst them.

Ninos Mansor
Current student at the University of Sydney and PR Manager, AIESEC Sydney