When I first learned of swissnex, I wasn’t sure if this was the place I wanted to intern because I had absolutely no prior knowledge about it. My other hesitation was how this internship with swissnex China would fit into my business major. However, after visiting the swissnex Boston office, I was more than happy to accept an internship with swissnex China because the visit showed me that the work environment would be very open and casual. I actually would be able to work on various projects and do real work rather than mindless busy work that interns usually receive.
Upon starting work with swissnex China, I was a bit lost because I still had not fully understood the operations that swissnex China undertakes. It seems as if they have a hand in everything and not anything in particular. However, I was thrown right into the flow of things, which is a good thing. It actually reminds me of my dad how he thinks that in order to learn anything, you start off with the hardest thing so that everything else is a breeze.
As an intern, my first main task was to aide in the makings of the Fact Sheet Version of the Annual Report. At first I was taken aback that I was given such an assignment because I had no idea what projects swissnex China supported so how could I be trusted to summarize a year’s event that is to be published. However the more time I spent researching swissnex’s activities, the more I learned. By the end, I was very proud of the Fact Sheet because it was well written and informative. The fact that people will see my work across the world is satisfying.
Being trusted with such a meaningful task makes me feel content. I am actually contributing something of worth to the organization and my work is not to be gone unnoticed. I’m glad that I don’t get “pushing paper” tasks; I have more opportunities to learn. Not to mention I was presented the opportunity to interview Sophia from Make+ program. I like that I have the freedom to interview whom I think are interesting and get the chance to explore more of Shanghai for the pretenses of work.
I thoroughly enjoy interning at swissnex China.