Internship Opportunities in China

Beijing is beautiful city except of pollution, local people are nice to you. Subway is easy and cheap way to go around Beijing, it's all in English inside so you don't need to ask anybody, however taxi can be difficult because from time to time they don't even stop by you, if you are foreigner.
I was happy with accomodation provided by Gi2C, it was so modern, nothing like Chinese typical appartment.
Concerning my internship I think it's good experience for fresh graduates before starting their career showing how does real work look like.
What have I gained? Confidence. I was working at travel agency, had to be all the time on a phone, it made it easier for me to communicate with people on a phone. Basically we organized trips for business leisure groups for example for exhibitions all over Europe.
I've tried to find internship by myself first but outside it really diffficult, I didn't manage it and went on few agencies. I choosed Gi2C after all.
My simple advice for newcomers: just go, experience it and enjoy yourself

1. VISA:
Gi2C helped me with M visa, no problem. I also did my own research before coming to China for to be sure that everything’s legit, and it is. You can stay in company as intern with M visa.

2. Accommodation:
I was sharing pretty new and clean flat near Tuanjiehu (nice area, by the way, there are parks and Sunlitun’s pretty close, I recommend) with girl from Philippine. One more friend in my life, hope to see you soon, Phoebe! I’m not so picky but it was nice to have decent accommodation.

3 . The placement:
I was working as Marketing Specialist at foreign owned business consulting company (but stuff was almost all Chinese). I mean I was really working not like some interns who just watch TVserials at their workplaces and then moaning that there are no benefits for future career from this internship. I can’t say I love Chinese way of doing business neither can I say I really want to work with Chinese businessmen anymore but I definitely learned a lot and obviously have improved my professional skills. Working in China with Chinese people it’s challenging but how can you develop yourself without facing challenges? So I really appreciate this experience and I dare this is a huge plus for my CV cause I’m not gonna stay long at home, I want to develop my career in Asia.
4. Conclusion:
In my opinion if you determinate to develop your career in Asian region this is a great opportunity. You can choose any agency of course. I made a decision to work with Gi2C because I liked the way they provide information, Mary (my manager) always gave me a lot of details, gave me quick answers for all my countless questions. Maybe you can find another agency you like better. I’m adult I know what I want, I paid for the program by myself and I did my own research for to be sure that I’m doing right thing.
So my advice for someone who is coming: be patient, be polite, find out what you really want and be picky then. If you know what you want Gi2C will help you get it. If you don’t nobody’ll help.

I do recommend going with Gi2C because they really do a lot for you. It was nice to be picked up from the airport, and taken to the accommodations. I was assigned roommates that were also starting internships, so I instantly had friends, I wasn't alone and I appreciate it. Gi2C also hosts dinners and networking events with all of the interns and it helps a lot. In addition they are helping you at anytime of the day if you need a translator, or directions, or help planning trips. I wanna say thank you for that. Once I called my manager in the midst of the night because couldn't get on a taxi on my way home and he helped me even he was obviously sleepy.

Gi2C is definitely legitimate and I had an amazing experience while in China. I would recommend it. I would recommend any student go for the 2 or 3 month program. I did it. The first month you are settling in with your company and the second and third month is where you really begin to form professional relationships with your colleagues. No worries about language, each intern is assigned an English speaking supervisor even if company isn't foreign owned. It means the intern will always be able to communicate with someone in the company.

I'm more than OK with my company, but some of other interns have mixing feelings. I guess it can be lack of sense of reality or too big expactations. Life and work in China has nothing to do with our previous experience. Also some companies are just better than others, like in the states. Btw, Gi2C does a great job if you are not satisfied with your company helping you find suitable position to complete internship, I saw how they did it to my roommate.

I bet anyone with an open mind would love this opportunity. Btw, I received a really good recommendation and it helped improve my CV. So thank you guys from Gi2C, good job!

1. VISA:

They will tell you to get a visa m which is impossible unless your boss in your country of residence is nice enough to give you a letter attesting he is sending you abroad to attend a marketing course which is illegal by the way!!!! So you would probably have to come under a different visa.

2. Accommodation:

A lot of people think that the accommodation is individual and i did based on the first description the make about accommodation: " Having your your own accommodation upon arriving means that you can get right down to excelling at your internship in China. During this time, Gi2C can help you find alternative accommodations - based on your budget - for the duration of your time being in Beijing or Shanghai." But if you pay enough attention and go on the next pages you will understand that it is shared. If you want your own flat like i wanted you would have to pay an additional 3000 rmb.

3 . The placement:

Gi2c has a very good network with marketing departments of a lot of companies and it makes sense because it is the easiest work to get for a foreigner in china. Most of the time they will come up to you and tell you they have something for you in a finance company in the marketing department and you will end up not doing what you want. I was placed in a company located in a bad area, the building was disgusting and they even gave us individual toilet paper to go to the bathroom.

4. The support system for accommodation :

They will send you some internet links but after that you are on your own. I was lucky enough to be helped by a friend's uncle who helped me find a flat 1000 rmb cheaper than the only flat kris found for me after i complained about the lack of support in regards to the accommodation hunting process.

5. Complaining and refund:

I was lucky enough to find a much better internship placement with one of their competitors in a very good company in my field. I will not name their competitor in order not to sound as if i am advertising on their behalf.

Once i informed Gi2c that i indeed found a much better placement. The first thing kris asked me was to send him the job description of my new internship so that he could look for the closest position possible in order for me not to leave gi2c. Which is a shame because i had been telling them what i wanted since August 2014 and it was already February 2015.

6. The refund and the consequences:

So after proving to Gi2c that they indeed did not provide me with the service they promise they would, i was given a refund of 5500 rmb the exact amount i asked to pay their competitor who found me a much better internship. I thought i had lost my premium package privileges after a meeting with kris but there was a misunderstanding because after meeting again with kris and yuri i was told i could still attend the monthly events and could still ask for any guidance i would need regarding my visa etc.

7. Conclusion:

That being said an internship in China is really GREAT experience you just have to be extremely careful about the internship offer and not be shy to reject an offer if you do not fully feel comfortable with it. My experience with Gi2c was not good but they admitted their mistake and i think i could have had a better internship if i had been more careful with the position they offered me.

The Gi2C programme was fantastic, it was unfortunate that I was only here for a month and already fully qualified in the field I chose before coming to China.
Subsequently, I was unable to learn that much professionally from my internship but I did learn a lot personally and experiencing the culture here was amazing!

Coming here to Beijing was mainly to get some work experience but I got so much more out of these few months. For me, Beijing is way too crowded but I got to learn more about the Chinese cultulture, I met some great people with whom I'll definitely stay in touch and I visited some cool places while I was here. As for the internship, my colleagues were so kind and I feel like I was able to know what it is like to work for a company in Beijing.

My working day starts at 9 AM and finish at 6 PM. My basic day is writing post for social media and prepare the events of the week. It means sending a lot of e-mail, pay the booth, packing the product we need... Sometimes I wear a bee costume to promote the company.

About the problem I encountered, I had a lot of problem with my visa for different reasons!

You expect something when you come to China. It could be learning the values that Chinese people have, it could be job experience, it could be Chinese language or being independent and be in a completely new environment that you have never encountered before. I would say you will get the most of things that I have listed if you stay in Beijing enough time and if you desire to get those, but another thing is that the job experience you would get in China is different from what you experience in different countries. There are different systems that dominate the companies, especially local companies. Many businesses in China are largely based on relationships more than the abilities of the company itself, but it is interesting to know how it works and to know how the money flows in this Giant country.