As an AIESEC intern your goal of your stay abroad is not only to successfully complete the internship, but also to learn more about yourself and the foreign culture.

Introduction

You want to develop personally.

Thus, AIESEC provides a good opportunity. With your buddies and the Local Committees - of your home country and your exchange country - you have a lot of people who are ready to help you in every situation/problem that might come up.

Introduction

However, you are here to learn and not only to hand over responsibilities and to take the easy way...

Of course some problems can‘t and shouldn‘t be solved without help but many difficult situations that will come up during your stay can be solved by yourself.

Introduction

To explain why you should take this opportunity and become a more „solution oriented“ person, this presentation will first

• lead you through the background of this characteristic and

• also will provide some scenarios and possible solutions to them.

Introduction

Background

The Leadership Development Model (LDM)

AIESEC has a vision of peace and fulfilment of humankind‘s potential. As an AIESEC intern, your role in this vision is to become a leader, who will be able to address world issues.

Background

AIESEC develops essential characteristics in a young person to start life-long leadership journey. The LDM consists of these four characteristics:

Empowering others, World citizen, self aware and solution oriented.

What does BEING SOLUTION ORIENTED mean?

Person who adapts and shows resilience in the face of challenges.

Person who transmits positivity through uncertainty.

Person who takes risks when it is needed.

Why should I be a solution oriented person?

If problems come up, you as a leader should be able to stand up and not only find a solution for it but also to put it to practice. Even when the more comfortable way would be to hand over your problem to someone else.

Part of being an adult is that people expect you to take decisions and the responsibilities for these.

Like Thomas Edison – the inventor of light bulbs – said:

„ Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.“ So take the opportunity and be solution oriented by taking the opportunity to first try to find a solution for your problem on your own.

Reflection Space – Ask yourself

The following Scenarios are some examples of what might happen during your stay in Germany.

Before you go through them, please ask yourself some general questions and note down your thoughts.

Why am I doing the internship with AIESEC?What do I want to achieve during my

internship?What kind of person do I want to be after my

stay abroad?What kind of key-learnings will I experience?What may be the biggest difficulty for me in

Germany?

Reflection Space – Ask yourself

Scenarios

Case A:

You have had several conflicts with your room mate and anyway you don‘t like the room AIESEC organised for you. You really feel unsatisfied with your whole living situation. What do you do?

Note down your action steps!*

*suggested solutions will be presented at the end

Case B:

In the first two months of your internship you always get the same easy and boring tasks. You don‘t feel challenged enough. You actually wanted to learn a lot during your internship and had expected more of it.

How do you handle the situation? What would you do?

Case C:

You are ill and can‘t go to work. You decide to go see a doctor. The receptionist in the hospital tells you to pay 180€ for the treatment. You know you are insured at the DAAD. On your smartphone is still the mail you got from the reception team with all your insurance documents.

How will you handle the situation? Will you pay?

Case D:

You wanted to meet your buddy at the cinema but unfortunatly your phone credit is empty and you neither know the way to the cinema nor do you know the phone number of your buddy.

What do you do, to get to the cinema on time?

Suggested solutions

Case A

As it is very difficult and very time intensive to find a new apartment you always should at first try to arrange yourself with the situation. Many problems with interns accommodations come up because of cultural differences. Sometimes it is just a question of adapting and adjusting with your new living conditions. Be open minded and be ready to make compromises.

Talk to your room mate about your issue, tell them in a polite way what is annoying you and also come up with possible solutions to your problems.

If the first two don‘t work, contact your buddy and the Reception Team and tell them that you are willing to move to a new accommodation.

Google is your friend! Search for websites for apartment searching. Many can be used in English, too. Buddy and Reception Team may also help you to understand the adverts and also can accompany you to apartment sightseeings and castings.

Case A

Talk to your buddy/iGIP Team/Reception Team, they can give you advice on how to approach your boss about your issue. As there may be some typical German polite phrases you should follow

Talk to your employer and ask for the reason why you get these tasks and if it is possible to give you some more challenging responsibilities

Come up with examples of what you would like to do and why you are qualified to work on them

Case B

If your requests get considered don‘t forgot to thank for this opportunity and to proof your employer that he made the right decision

If nothing changes after your talk, then it might be an option to take an AIESEC member with you to find a solution together with them

Case B

Always call your office to tell them that you are ill and that you can’t come to work. When you are at the doctor also ask for a medical certificate that you can give your employer to proof that you were ill.

You may have thought that because of your insurance you don‘t have to pay but by having a look at your insurance papers you will see that you have to pay at first but you get it back when you apply for repayment at the DAAD.

Case C

Therefore you have to ask for a receipt and also keep the original.

If you have problems to fill out the application form for repayment you can still ask for help directly at the reception desk in the hospital or you ask your buddy to help you

Case C

If it is before 8pm: stores are still open, try to find one which sells phone credits.

If there is none or if it’s after 8pm and stores are closed: ask people on the street or bus drivers to help you.

If they don‘t speak English: use hand and feet to explain what you mean or use a German dictionary app on your phone.

Case D

Ask someone on the street to use their phone to call someone whose number you know by heart, so that he can contact your buddy via Facebook etc. to tell them that you are lost and might be late

Or ask them to Google the route to the cinema. Take a photo with your smartphone to remember the way or write down the directions

Case D

TAKEAWAYS

Informing yourself about laws and rules in Germany before your stay will help you in a lot of situations.

If you have a smartphone, download apps that will help you when you are lost (dictionary, roadmaps, public transport, etc.)

Keep all the information material and important receipts, maybe also scan them, in case you have to proof your point

Takeaways

Inform AIESEC about problems, but also show that you are already taking actions to solve them and don‘t just hand them over.

If you need help from others it is always a question of how you ask for help. People are more willing to offer their time to you when you are polite and proactive.

Takeaways