Allen Lee interned with Home Furnishing Center Inc., using his language skills in Mandarin to coordinate order processing between the warehouse and sales office.
How did you get your internship?
My brother works at Starlux Airlines, and he heard about an opening at Home Furnishing Center Inc., which is a wholesale and manufacturing furniture corporation based in the Phoenix area, and I heard of the people I could reach out to through him. That led to an introduction to HFC VP and co-founder, Shihping Lee, and then I set up an interview from there. I wasn't seeking out roles specific to wholesale furniture, but the type of role itself was exactly what I wanted: real sales experience and in a setting where being bilingual in Mandarin would prove useful beyond being a bullet point on a resume.
What kind of work do you do throughout your internship?
A lot of my work was doing order processing, which I didn't quite expect when I came in--I assumed I'd be working more in the warehouse. I filled out and reviewed order forms, kept track of shipments, and acted as the bilingual liaison between the sales office and warehouse staff, translating shipping details into Mandarin so that nothing fell through the cracks. I also listened to conversations about pricing and inventory decisions, giving me a broader picture of the daily workings of a wholesale furniture business. By the end of the summer I knew the whole process from an order coming in to the merchandise leaving the warehouse.
What new knowledge did you learn during this internship?
The biggest skill gap I had to fill was specific logistics vocabulary in Mandarin because everyday conversational Chinese doesn't get into specific shipping terms like “warehouse zones”, or “shipment specs”, so I had to learn that stuff fast if I was going to be useful. Also, when I started out I didn't know the whole order process from start to finish. I could contribute to some tasks here and there, but not see how it all fit together. Both of those became strengths of mine by the end of the summer as I worked through it over and over again. Being bilingual became the thing that set me apart on the team and I got comfortable enough with the process to anticipate issues before they became actual problems.
What did you find most challenging about your internship?
The most difficult part was not a task, it was getting over my own fear to speak up or take the lead. I would notice something early that was worth flagging, but I would hold back unless someone asked me directly, because I didn't want to overstep in a business I didn't fully understand yet. I had to see how things really ran for a couple of weeks before I felt comfortable enough in my own reading of a situation to bring it up without being asked. Changing from being reactive to being proactive was harder for me than any of the technical or language bits of the job.
What was the most meaningful part of your internship?
The most meaningful part was a conversation that I had with the VP when I interviewed him for an Internship course (PAH 493) assignment. He walked me through his career, the framework he thinks about the business in and was honest about mistakes that the company has made. I've never had a sit down conversation with someone so successful and have the sole purpose of the conversation being what I can learn. What stuck with me most was when I asked what he'd do if money weren't a factor, and he said he would just keep working, even if he knows he needs to retire in the next couple of years. Hearing that from someone who had built the company from the ground up was worth more than anything I could have picked up in a textbook.
What was the most significant contribution you made?
After hearing remarks about rent pressure that kept coming up in the office, I asked about the warehouse's overhead halfway through the summer. This led to a longer discussion with VP Shihping about the real financial constraints the company faces. It wasn't something I was supposed to investigate, and it demonstrated to him that I was focused on things other than my own responsibilities. On paper, it might seem insignificant, but after that point, I felt like my questions were taken more seriously.
What advice do you have for other students as they begin their internship?
My biggest piece of advice is to pay attention to timing, not just what you say or do, but when. I learned over the summer that the same idea or question can land completely differently depending on whether you bring it up in the middle of a busy stretch or when things have slowed down enough for someone to actually engage with it. Early on as I have said, I wasn't confident in taking initiative, but the biggest growth came from learning to read the room and speak up at the right moment instead of waiting for a perfect moment that never comes. If you're going into an internship, pay attention to the rhythm of the workplace, because that will tell you when your input is actually useful.