Stage I – Preparation Dear student,

You have recently started the preparations to find an International internship or Graduation Assignment (GA). In

our previous email we informed you about the 3 stages of finding a internship or GA. We now like to give you

more in depth in formation about the first Stage: the Preparation Stage.

The following 5 steps are part of the first stage:

1. “Make sure you meet the requirements”

Each course has its own requirements! So, go to OnderwijsOnline (#OO) page of your study stream for the

placement manual. This document gives you all the important information on your internship requirements

including your Internship threshold.

2. A. “Find your passion”

Since your placement is your first introduction to an international business environment and an orientation

towards your future career, it is important that you find the right Internship or GA for you. Therefore, ask

yourself the following questions:

• “What kind of company would I like to work for?”

• “What position am I most interested in?”

• “What is my added value?”.

Keep yourself updated and follow International Placements on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/HANInternationalPlacements

B. “Prepare your CV”

Prepare your CV in English and check it with your English Language professor.

Make sure your CV only have a maximum of one page. This will get you thinking about what's definitely worth mentioning, and what's not quite impressive enough to include.

Later in Stage II, when you have found an interesting vacancy, you should try and adapt your CV for every

single application to demonstrate that you're the right person for this specific Internship. Think about what

specific experience or skills would impress that employer, and make sure these are prominent.

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3. “M ake choices - focus ”

When you have decided what you want to do, focus and limit your scope:

• Compile a top 5 list of companies you would like to work for;• Make a top 5 list of positions you are interested in;• Choose a company that links with your added value (your own unique skills, interests &

background);• Also, look into visa requirements, costs etc. when deciding where you want to go. You can

use website s like www.goinglobal.co m and www.wilweg.n l to find information on countries, how to write a resume and sp ecific country requirements such as visa etc.

4. “ Find your Internship – looking for and finding an Internship takes work! ”

There are different routes to find an Internship:

A. Find your Internship or GA through HAN Internship Por tal or visit the Open Office

5. “ Check whether your social media are up - to - date and look professional”Recruiters will do a check online, before inviting you for an interview. So make sure:

• Your LinkedIn profile is up - to - date;• All the information and photo / video material online (Facebook, Instagram etc.) look

profession al.

On HAN Internship Portal you can find the internship vacancies from both the companies of the FEM International Placements Network and the Network of your studystream. First you need to inform your Placement Coordinator of your plans to do an International internship. The Placement Coordinator will then give you access to the HAN Internship Portal, after which you can log in to https://praktijkaanbod.han.nl/en-us and see t he vacancies available.If you need any tips and tricks on how to approach your top 5 selection of companies you want to work for, please come to the open office hours of Inter national Placements.

B. Find your Internship or GA through your own networkYour own network is a very good start when looking for an internship since 70% of all internships are

found through networking. Personal networking coupled with online networking will yield better results

tha n spending your time on searching for vacancies on placement boards. Sta rt with your top 5 selection

of companies and check your own network by doing desk resea rch on various social media, e.g. LinkedIn.

You will find the factsheet “How to use LinkedIn to find an International Internship” at page 3 of this document.

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How to use LinkedIn to find an International Internship.

Example: A Communication student is searching for a placement in Branding in the food industry in an English Speaking country.

Step 1 In the search bar; ‘Search for people, jobs, companies, and more’: you search for branding or brand manager or brand etc.

Step 2 In the right margin you can specify your search by choosing: - Location: United Kingdom, US , Canada- Industry: Food & beverages(use the add button if the location/ industry is not listed)

Step 3 In the right margin under current companies you find companies that do something with Branding.

Research these companies : look at their website, mission, annual report, press releases and select a Top 5: e.g. PepsiCo in UK & USA

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Step 4 Type in the search bar; ‘Search for people, jobs, companies, and more’: “branding, PepsiCo”

The search result shows you people who work/worked at PepsiCo in a branding (or related) position.

Note: in the right margin you could specify the relationship with the persons of your search e.g. 1st/ 2nd connection

Step 5 Check the persons of your search result on: - his/her (current and past) position on

relevance (past companies might be just asinteresting and more accessible)

- if and how you’re connected to this person (viaa fellow student, alumnus, tutor HAN, family)Note with an unpaid account you can only seethrough who you are connected with 2nd

connections

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Step 6 Check whether your connection can help you to get in contact with the specific marketing person of your search result at PepsiCo. If not, connect with the marketing person yourself and ask if he/she can offer you a placement (be concrete about the requirements & your added value and why you are interested in that specific company)

When you ask a person to connect with you, you add a short message (844 characters) to introduce yourself. Note you can only add a message if you are on a desktop Things you could mention in this message are:

- Who you are;- How you are connected or how you

found this person (desk research);- Why this is your preferred company;- Why you would like this persons to

help you;- What could be your added value,

when you would do a placement atthe company.

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Step 7 Repeat step 4-6 for search results with the terms brand or brand manager in combination with PepsiCo & take other foreign countries into account as well

Step 8 Repeat step 4-7 for other companies e.g. Coca-Cola, Nestlé or companies you have found when you looked at the previous workexperience of the people in your search results.

Open Office: If you have any questions or if you need more tips and tricks on how to approach your top 5 selection of companies you want to work for, please come to the open office hours of International Placements.

Opening hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11.00-15.00hrsNijmegen LvS F2.45Arnhem R31 C0.04