SEO-China 2007 Summer Internship Reflection
作者：王晓婕
Michelle Wang
University of Pennsylvania
日期：2007.10
My experience with SEO-China made the summer valuable and memorable. Being a college sophomore with zero professional experience, I did not even have an idea of what to expect from this internship. Throughout the course, I gradually realized how much rigorous learning this opportunity has provided me with. I would like to highlight a few points which might be valuable for future reference.
This internship started by a week of orientation training program where all the interns came together and participated in a series of speeches, visits and social events. We were introduced to the history and the spirit of SEO program and also learned about the overall situation of venture capital industry and the projects that Gobi was involved. This was a very intense week and successful brought us up to a speedy working pace. We also had a few group working opportunities through the debating and group projects assigned during the week, which would prepare us for the following internship projects.
After the orientation, each of us was assigned to different portfolio companies of Gobi. I was assigned to Shanghai Cartoon Communication Group. Due to my limited expertise and experience, I was pretty much working “on-demand”. My tasks ranged from translating, market research, to human resource assistance, and even basic video editing. It was a great opportunity for me to explore different aspects of the industry and in fact I think it was a very good way for college interns to get most out of their experience.
An integral part of the SEO-China internship with Gobi was to complete a “Gobi Project” in a pre-assigned group. The purpose of the “Gobi Project” was to carry out a research on a potential industry for venture capital investment. Due to our limited knowledge of the industries, the biggest difficulty for my group was to decide a potential industry for investigation. Later, we were also challenged in the process of contacting companies to schedule appointment. But what I enjoyed most was to cooperate with everyone in the group and to contribute what each one could. All of us learned a great deal throughout the process.
Apart from working in the company, we also initiated a community service project with a local charity agency. We spent a few afternoons with a group of intellectually challenged students and it was a great feeling to see that we have brought happiness to them. We organized a birthday party at the end which made a blast. We only wished that we had more free time to do something more enduring.
Overall, my experience with SEO-China program was challenging and pleasant at the same time. It was not easy to arrange time for all the above-mentioned projects within two months. But what most important was the first taste of professional environment it has provided and the friendship with other interns was another valuable intangible asset.