My unforgettable internship amid Covid-19
Hello, my name is Shiv Singh and I am an international student from Mumbai, India. I am studying a Master’s degree in Business majoring in Sport Management. This is sadly the last trimester of my studies here at Griffith. I chose to do the ‘Post graduate business internship’ elective this trimester as I was keen to add internship experience to my resume before graduating and looking for work.
I landed an internship with AFL club Gold Coast Suns in the Commercial and Partnerships team. I consider myself very fortunate to have landed an internship with the club this year because the sports industry was one of many severely affected by Covid-19. I had secured an internship with the Suns back in February as part of another course but the internship could not go ahead as a result of Covid-19 and I was gutted to have not been able to start my internship at that time. However, I persisted and sent an email to the HR manager of the organisation in June when the league was scheduled to start back up again and asked if I could now intern with them. They got back in touch with me, scheduled an interview and got me on board. I was ecstatic to have re-secured an internship with one of the only two AFL clubs from Queensland.
I have now interned once a week for 10 weeks with the club and have just two more weeks to go. It has been nothing short of a wonderful experience. The whole club has been very welcoming and treated me as one of their own. I got to attend the Suns’ home games at the Metricon Stadium, which has been one of the highlights of my internship experience. My first day was the most memorable and I could not have asked for anything better: I was introduced to everyone working in the office and personally introduced to the CEO of the club as well. I was given a team corporate polo T-shirt and an extremely cool team jacket along with other club merchandise. I was later asked to join all the other employees at the Metricon Stadium for that night’s home game against the Western Bulldogs! The game ended in a defeat for the Suns but was an unforgettable experience for me as it was my first time at an AFL game and I could not have asked for a better first day.
The internship was an immensely enjoyable experience as a whole. This internship was exactly in line with my career objectives and gave me a chance to put my theoretical knowledge into practice.
My key takeaways from my internship are:
Development of interpersonal and communication skills
These skills can only be gained effectively in a workplace environment. I was able to better these skills due to daily interactions with highly experienced people working there.
Practical skills
Nothing beats practical experience and I got an opportunity to apply my academic knowledge to real life scenarios. I was able to vastly better my understanding and knowledge of technology as well.
Self-confidence and self-esteem
Working with industry experts and as part of the team helped boost my self-confidence greatly. I got an opportunity to do something that I enjoy doing and this brought out the best in me, which resulted in a very positive job performance. This was noticed and appreciated by my superiors which increased my self-confidence, self-esteem and helped make me a well-rounded professional.
Business etiquette and networking
Business etiquette is something that cannot be taught and can only be learnt at work by seeing other experienced managers. Business professional dress is another important trait I picked up. A good professional dress sense helps to develop a visual impression and sends a message that you’re professional, helps build one’s image and self-confidence. Plus, I have developed important professional networks here.
My advice to anyone looking to get the most out of their internship is to have a proactive and disciplined approach, be open to learning and never underestimate yourself. You can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.
By Shiv Singh