Through this internship I acquired a combination of hard and soft skills that will be useful to almost any future career or leadership opportunity I pursue. Due to the nature of my foreign work environment, I acquired valuable intercultural communication skills, as I often had to demonstrate persistency and clarity when communicating with my busy superiors. I also further developed my time management and organizational skills, as I had to balance commuting between school and my internship while meeting deadlines. My experience also gave me real life work opportunities to learn and grow from. As a rather small NGO, Transitions faced the same structural and financial problems characteristic to most non-profit organizations, and I soon learned that success in my internship depended on taking initiative and being resourceful. I found myself constantly soliciting help and feedback from my peers and colleagues, which was often a challenge. I had to learn to be brief and effective with my communication, especially considering cultural differences, and augmented much of my skillset independently. Over time this allowed me to build on and earn the respect of my colleagues and trust from my superiors, which was incredibly fulfilling and allowed me to work on increasingly more meaningful projects over time.
Through my internship, I acquired a combination of hard and soft skills that will be useful to any future career or leadership opportunity I pursue. I developed valuable intercultural communication skills as I had to demonstrate clarity when communicating with my supervisors. I also further developed time management skills as I balanced school and met my internship deadlines. It was incredibly fulfilling to earn the respect of my colleagues and trust from my superiors that allowed me to work on more meaningful projects over time.