IAESTE Annual Review 2018 - 70 years of international understanding
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“I suppose I was not mature enough for the pr<strong>of</strong>essional aspect <strong>of</strong> my<br />
internships, but the whole experience and managing my way through all<br />
<strong>of</strong> them has made me realise what I want to do in life as a pr<strong>of</strong>essional,<br />
but also socially in the same area. I had a very exponential growth in<br />
my career and have a lot <strong>of</strong> responsibilities that I wouldn’t be able to<br />
work on if I hadn’t had my <strong>IAESTE</strong> experience. Thank you <strong>IAESTE</strong>!” [Intern<br />
from Macedonia, internships in Poland (2007), Spain (2008) and Austria<br />
(2009)]. Mostly the aspiration to work in the <strong>international</strong> context and to<br />
work abroad from the knowing why aspect was affected by the <strong>IAESTE</strong><br />
internship.<br />
Chart 2: Responders Group<br />
dispersed team, carry out independent tasks and communicate mainly<br />
through information and communication technologies. 11% are<br />
<strong>international</strong> business travelers, who take multiple short <strong>international</strong><br />
business trips to various locations.<br />
<strong>IAESTE</strong> internship impacts the Career Development<br />
potential<br />
The research has found that an <strong>international</strong> work experience provides<br />
opportunities to develop knowing why, knowing how and knowing whom<br />
career competencies, what, however, many <strong>of</strong> us could find as an obvious<br />
outcome. The interesting finding is that the internships mostly impacted the<br />
“Knowing-why” aspect <strong>of</strong> the career competencies, meaning that <strong>IAESTE</strong><br />
experience provides interns with the energy, sense <strong>of</strong> purpose, motivation,<br />
and identification with the world <strong>of</strong> work (Chart 3). This finding was also<br />
supported by many qualitative comments. One <strong>of</strong> the respondents said:<br />
Knowing HOW, includes career-relevant skills and work-related<br />
knowledge, and <strong>understanding</strong> what is needed for performance. While<br />
the chance to get pr<strong>of</strong>essional experience connected to the fields <strong>of</strong> study<br />
<strong>of</strong> the intern described in the work <strong>of</strong>fer is usually one <strong>of</strong> the most important<br />
criteria checked by students before deciding on the internship, research<br />
has found that the transversal skills (also called s<strong>of</strong>t skills) such as selfconfidence,<br />
global mindset and intercultural and interpersonal skills are<br />
mostly developed during the internship (Chart 4). Surprisingly, foreign<br />
language skills were not usually a big influence. It can be explained by<br />
the <strong>IAESTE</strong> selection process, where knowledge <strong>of</strong> foreign language is<br />
checked before the internship, so this is usually a skill developed before<br />
the internship starts.<br />
Knowing WHOM consists <strong>of</strong> a range <strong>of</strong> intrafirm, interfirm, pr<strong>of</strong>essional,<br />
and social relations combined in a network and providing information<br />
and channels for self-promotion. This was the less influenced career<br />
development competencies area, and the research found that the emphasis<br />
was on building social relationship skills (Chart 5). As other researchers<br />
have found and can also be used to explain these results - it may be that<br />
the respondents had never even thought <strong>of</strong> their social networks from a<br />
personal benefit (career capital) perspective and that they tended not<br />
Chart 3: Knowing WHY is the most impacted aspect <strong>of</strong> the career potential<br />
Chart 4: Knowing HOW - <strong>IAESTE</strong> internship helps to develop self-confidence<br />
and global mindset<br />
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