Senguang Li developed his sales strategy and communication skills in his internship with an international trade company.
How did you get your internship and why did you choose it?
I had dinner with my internship supervisor, who graduated from Arizona State University and was working at an international trade company. Since we studied in Arizona together, we had a lot of common experiences. I asked him if he had any opportunities to host an intern. After completing a phone interview, I was offered an internship position with the company. As an international student in the University of Arizona, I hope I can join a company in the trade industry after graduation and continue to improve my communication skills in English. Therefore, I chose this opportunity to start building those skills.
What was your favorite part of your internship?
The most satisfying part of the internship was that we had team meetings and meetings with supervisors every week. The supervisor will assign us the tasks for the next week and point out where we could improve our work. When we had questions, the supervisor would patiently answer them for us. The most meaningful part of the experience was that we got to communicate with each other through group meetings, which promoted the development of stronger colleague relationships. When you build stronger relationships at work, you can face problems together when they arise.
What new skills did you learn in this internship that are related to your Applied Humanities degree?
I learned a lot of transferable skills during this internship. For example, I gained experience working with customers that have different styles of communication. I also learned different sales methods and strategies and I practiced how to maintain good relationships with customers and colleagues. These skills related to my Applied Humanities major and emphasis in Business Administration. Only relying on book knowledge is not very effective, and in this internship I got to practice a lot of the professional knowledge we learned from the PAH 383 Pre-Internship: Building Career Readiness course.
What did you find challenging about your internship?
The most challenging thing was a circumstance when someone on the team quoted the wrong price to a customer. Fortunately, the customer noticed the price problem before placing the order, so our team held a video conference to solve the problem. In the meeting, we discussed how to get the price and declaration more effectively, and not to make such mistakes in the future, because such mistakes can easily cause significant losses to the company. This also taught me to do things carefully to not cause irreparable losses because of carelessness.
How has your internship experience influenced your plans for your future?
This internship has had a great impact on me because it let me know that there are many things I still need to learn, and if I want to do a job well, I need to devote myself to learning because even a small mistake may result in losses for a trade company. This internship also taught me about the prospect of working in the trade industry and motivated me to continue to work hard to reach that goal in the future.