AIESECer Stories: Talent Management Experience & Internship in France
Hi! I’m Simona. I'm originally from Romania, and this is also where I started my AIESEC career. I joined AIESEC in autumn 2004, and since then I have lived and worked in 5 different countries - Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Latvia and now I'm on an internship in France. I always appreciated the knowledge and skills I gained in everything I did, but more than that I appreciate the people I got in touch with, the friends I made. Every experience I had in AIESEC was deeply personal. How could it not be, when so much energy and passion is put into every project? That’s the beauty of this organization :) But after all, all the time spent in AIESEC gave me something else as well - a professional growth that brought me to another step - going on Exchange. Deciding to have an internship was mostly related to my professional career. After the term in the National Board of AIESEC Latvia it was time for a different kind of challenge, so I started to consider my options. I decided to apply for Alcatel-Lucent in Paris, the main reason was the job description: it's an internship on HR , and the project allows me to understand how different processes work in countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa. I think there are 2 main things I got from my time in AIESEC so far that are really useful for this internship: - firstly it's an understanding of this field (Human Resources). As my academic background is Finance and Banking, you can see that any knowledge I have about HR comes from work in AIESEC :) - secondly it's a mix of soft skills that together could be called “the ability to work hard, in a smart way”. Like many other AIESECers, I attended countless training sessions on communication, team work, planning, project management, leadership and so on; these made me aware of the many things I don't know. At the same time, I could challenge my limits, take on projects that were sometimes beyond my abilities, and even make mistakes; in this way I got to know my strong points and weak points, and how to use them to deliver the best results I can. I started my internship with Alcatel-Lucent in Paris in August 2009. Of course everything is still new and exciting, and I'm still getting to know the company, as well as the city. I feel very lucky to be here and this is not only because I really like the project I'm working on, it's mostly because sharing this year with other smart, creative, active, young professionals who come from so many different backgrounds, promises to be a great experience indeed! AIESEC experience is like a Lego game: there are so many pieces of different shapes and sizes that you can choose and mix to create your own design. How will yours look like? |