Finding an appropriate internship
How did I start?
Somewhere around February 2004 I came up with some plans to do my graduation Internship abroad. There were a couple of countries on my list but somehow Australia always had drawn my attention. Most people ask, why Australia? Well, good question, hard to answer, it’s a feeling I have. The feeling of exploring the world, exploring a culture 16000 km away from the Netherlands. And ofcourse, the perfect way of doing that is by doing an internship.
Sending Emails
From the moment I decided to go to Australia, I started to look for experiences, internship agencies and companies (dutch multinationals with an office in Australia). Every company I found got an email from me with my resume and a letter with my plans. But the only thing I got back were rejections. I had a look at the Australian yellow pages and searched for some more possible internshop companies. I also looked for Australian people on forums and sent them a message with the question if they could help me. All without success until I got an email from a general manager of a computer company in Melbourne. He read my story and was interested in providing an internship. I was very happy but already really soon I started to doubt if his company was a good company to do my graduation Internship. He didn’t react on my emails and that was pretty frustrating.
I decided to give him a call to get things back on track again and to start the process of getting my visa. This was all around September 2004 and time was running out. It just didn’t work out and I decided to use the services of an internship agency.
Internship agency
During my search for interesting internship companies I found agencies that arrange internships as a paid service. There were dutch agencies but also Australian ones. These agencies are not cheap, they charge about 1000-1500 euro for arranging an unpayed internship. Certainly a thing to think twice about before hiring them but I really wanted to go so in September 2004 I gave ISPC the order to go and fix me an internship
And.. what else?
Yeah, what else, ISPC actually can arrange about everything for you, as long as you pass them some $$$, but there are also some other things to think about.
IB-groep
IB-groep, is a dutch organisation that is responsible for the execution of several acts and regulations, such as student grants and information management. These acts are commissioned by the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science. When doing an internship abroad you are not living at home with your parents, which means you can apply for a grant, helping you to support yourself.
You’re also not able to use your public transport card so you can get a small amount of money per month when you hand your card in before you leave. But keep in mind that you have to work at the company at the first of the month in order to get the grant for that month. When you start at the second of the month, you won’t get the grant for that month!
It’s also advisable to give someone permission to arrange your IB-Groep things while you are away. You can do this by filling in a form together with the person you want to give permission to.
Insurance
It’s also important to have a good insurance. Be sure your health insurence covers your stay abroad and if not take an extra insurance. At Fontys University of Professional Eduction I had the possibility to apply for a special student abroad insurance.