Internships in Hong Kong with The Intern Group

I would speak highly of every aspect of my summer, organised by Intern Hong Kong.
Day of arrival was very well organised by IHK as I was picked up straight away and taken to my apartment, something that would have been much more difficult if I had to organise it myself. The accomodation was well situated, less than a minute to the MTR, and many shops and restaurants located nearby. The welcome pack was very useful, especially as they contained the pre-paid SIM card and Octopus card for travel. This meant that I could get settled in straight away.
The work aspect was equally as good. I enjoyed every day during my internship, and I learnt a lot.
The social part of Intern Hong Kong was particularly amazing. There were events constantly being organised, whether it was a weekend trip to Macau or a quick dinner after work. I definitely saw and did much more in Hong Kong than I would have done had I gone alone/without the IHK support. I formed great friendships with many of the other interns, and the variety was very interesting. And when organising our own events, such as weekend treks or going out for dinner, the Intern Hong Kong team were very helpful with suggestions and tips.

I would say one of the benefits of going on a summer programme, is that when you arrive there are other people who have already experienced Hong Kong for a couple of days/weeks/months and therefore you get straight into the culture and life of the city. The time absolutely flies by and I would have happily stayed out there for longer. Both Hong Kong as a city and The Intern Group as a company have created a great lasting impression and I would highly recommend both !

I had an unbelievable experience in Hong Kong. The program was well-run, supportive, and has very accommodating and fun staff! The city itself is absolutely my favorite in the world and because of this trip I envision myself coming back very soon!

I stayed in HK for 3 months and enjoyed every single day!
When I came to HK I didn't really know what was going to expect me. Of course I was a bit scared, because I was so far from home (Switzerland) and there is nobody I know. The day me and my roommate arrived Blair, the former event manager of the intern group, came to our apartment, showed us around and had dinner with us. A couple of days later we had some after work drinks and got to meet the other interns. Everybody, from the company as well as the interns, were so nice. I am very glad I got to meet all those lovely people.

My internship: I worked for an online shop in Aberdeen. It was my first work experience and I was surprised by how much responsibility my two bosses gave me. Unfortunately, they weren't always nice to me. At some point I even considered to quit. At the beginning of my internship there were two other interns as well. They also had some problems with our bosses, so we talked about the work situation with the intern group director, Krystal Lee, over dinner. She listened to our problems and then contacted our bosses. I always felt very supported by her and I am so glad I got to meet her!

Accomodation: I was aware of the fact that the apartments in HK are rather small. I just didn't imagine them to be this tiny. I lived in Wan Chai with two other interns. We had three bedrooms, a living room (with a TV, which we have never used), a kitchen and a bathroom. I was shocked when I first saw my bedroom cause in there was literally just my bed. I didn't want to stay there, but then after like 2 weeks I began to like the apartment and so I stayed there. Also the location was great.
Leisure: There is so much to do in HK. Apart from the complementary events like a trip to Macau, dinner at the peak and visiting the Buddha on Lantau Island, we went clubbing in LKF, traveled to Shanghai and Beijing on the weekends, had boat parties, went to the markets and shopped a lot. There was always something going on.

In general there is not a bad thing I can say about my experience in HK. I was so sad I had to leave and I know for sure that I will be back. I have met so many amazing people and learned a lot - not just about how a business works, but also about me. Coming to HK was one of the best choices I have ever made and I can only recommend this company.

I have spent three months in Hong Kong on a legal internship at a compliance firm. The work I have completed has been varied, interesting and educational. some tasks I have worked on include client proposals, policy drafting and writing articles for the company magazine. I have learnt a lot about this particular field of law and also the everyday dynamics of a busy office.

Hong Kong is a great city for social activities and sight-seeing. The InternGroup program is great as you get to meet so many other people and they organise lots of trips and social gatherings.

I have encountered no difficulties during my internship but I always knew the InternGroup staff were a phone call or email away ready to help.

I would recommend an internship in Hong Kong to anyone wanting to experience a vibrant busy city and fabtastic work opportunities

Within this review, you will find out about the horrible experience I had with The Intern Group during my summer internship in 2014. This company used deceptive marketing to lure in interns and did not deliver on their promises. The directors of this program were not responsive when I dealt with severe issues with my accommodations during my 2-month stay in Hong Kong. After speaking with several other unhappy interns on this same program, I feel that a warning is in order for future interns considering the Intern Group for their internship abroad program.

To begin, I will start with the most relevant piece of information regarding the "top-quality" internships that the Intern Group provides. During my time in Hong Kong, I got to know several other interns on the program. After speaking to everyone about his or her internship, I found that everyone seemed to feel unchallenged, unhappy and taken advantage of. In my personal situation, I had asked the Intern Group to facilitate an internship with a large financial company, preferably with a company that has a presence in the US. This was 6 months prior to my program start date. One month before I was to leave for Hong Kong, the Intern Group finally contacted me and pressured me into taking a position with a start-up insurance brokerage that employed two other people, since there was limited time.

The Intern Group claims to have several connections around the world with top companies in various fields. However, I did not come across a single intern on my program that was with reputable company. Near the end of my stay in Hong Kong (HK), I asked my employer about how the Intern Group approached him about taking me on as an intern. He told me that the director, Krystal Lee, met with him and simply asked, "Do you want a free intern this summer?" Wow... I could've done that. A huge portion of the Intern Group's program fee is the internship facilitation & accommodations. For the up-charge that participants spend in the JOKE of the "facilitation of an internship", one could spend the same amount and stay in a luxury hotel for 2-months, with free breakfast!

Now I will move on to discuss the bed bugs; a problem that not only greatly affected me, but also affected everyone in my life back home. During my research stage, I found several photos on the Intern Group website displaying western accommodations, double beds, a huge kitchen, and modern appliances. Upon my arrival in HK, I walked into the apartment they had facilitated, and was SHOCKED. The building looked and smelled 100 years old, one of the rooms had bunk beds, and the entire apartment was approximately 400 square feet. I didn't complain, however, and stayed in the flat for about 5 weeks. For those few weeks I was getting severe bites all over my body; my ankles, shoulders and arms! Some of the bites are still on my body and will likely leave a scar. Since I have never dealt with bed bugs, I attributed the bites to mosquitoes at first, thinking they must've gotten into the flat through the bathroom fan that was exposed to outside and unable to be closed. However, when I started noticing black and yellow debris all over my bed, I started to get worried. I started googling, and immediately found out that I was dealing with bed bugs. I did thorough research into bedbugs to find out the severity of the issue I was dealing with. The results were unsettling. I searched my bed and found several casings of bed bugs and was completely disgusted. I found that bed bugs were treated in several methods, but the most effective was through hiring a professional fumigation company, then a cleaning service to remove any eggs that weren't killed during fumigation. I read terrible reviews online about people who used cheap bug bombs or mattress protectors, only to find that these methods almost always resulted in the issue persisting for several months. I relayed my research to the the HK director, Krystal Lee, and the manager of directors for the Intern Group, Andrew Prachuablarb. I laid out exactly what I expected from the company in terms of dealing with the situation effectively; I did spend $7000 for this program, after all.

They responded by telling me I had to sleep in that infested bed for the night, and that they would "take care of it" in the morning. After the first night in temporary flat, they emailed me saying they had taken care of the bed bugs using a cheap bug bomb and the company refused to clean the apartment, even the mattress!!!! Based on my previous research, I refused to re-enter the apartment until it had been properly fumigated/cleaned. Again, they refused to live up to this standard. They decided to move us into a different flat, and told my roomate and I to collect our belongings from the infested flat. While this sounds like they did a great thing, since the fumigation company didn't treat our belongings, we were simply moving the unhatched eggs to the new flat!! Sure enough, I started finding bed bugs left and right in the new apartment and after complaining, the intern group scheduled a "consultation" with a fumigation company. They treated me as if I was over-reacting to the situation, even though I had bites on my body to prove I was getting bit! During the consultation, they told me I had to find a bed bug on command, as if they were just conveniently sitting around for me to find. AFter finding out that it was 20,000 HKD for treatment, they decided to, again, take the cheap way out and give me a ghetto, zip-up CLOTHES DRYER that I could treat my belongings in cycles. However, my mattress couldn't fit inside of it, all of the cracks and crevices in my flat couldn't fit into the machine. It was a temporary fix to shut me up for the remaining few weeks of my stay. Not to mention, I found out that the same day of my departure back home, they moved new interns into the old flat with bed bugs!!! I quickly warned them of the situation. The day I was leaving I woke up to two adult bed bugs crawling towards me right when I woke up. The experience was absolutely revolting.

Upon my departure home, I had to throw away all of the clothes that I had with me, to ensure I didn't bring the bugs back home. My parents were sick with worry and had to lay out an extreme plan-of-action to prevent the spread of the bugs which involved: throwing away my suitcases at the airport, staying in a hotel for 3 days, and doing a lengthy RID treatment through my hair to ensure that I didn't have eggs near the roots. This not only caused a financial burden on my family to replace my lost itms, but also gave them emotional distress upon my arrival home.

While communication was a huge issue, the program itself also had several flaws. The excursions that were promised on the website conveniently changed upon my arrival to three, rather than the four that I paid for. "Dinner with a View at Victoria's Peak" turned into just dinner, since they chose such a foggy night to take us up there. I felt like I was utterly trapped for two months with no way out and the responses I received from the Intern Group were always questioning and unhelpful. The practices of the Intern Group during this ordeal were extremely unpleasant. The company only has 3 employees in Hong Kong, leaving participants with no where to turn in the event of an emergency when they are "busy".

After being home for about a week, I found out that The Intern Group sent out an email to the interns that moved into the infested flat saying that the bugs in the flats were cockroaches and are brought in from the US. Basically, lying about the type of bug & blaming ME for bringing them into the flat.

I have never dealt with such an unprofessional company. BUYER BEWARE & GOOD LUCK!

I really enjoy the time and think highly of the intern experience in HK. It is a super dynamic city that never sleeps. In this city, I learned valuable lessons about local business and culture, either through firsthand experience or conversation with inspiring friends.

I interned with a Bahrain based recruitment consultancy firm. In addition to maintaining daily office operation tasks, I worked on the project of finding sales managers for our client company from the talent market in mainland China. I researched online, read resumes, nailed down candidate lists and finally introduced candidates to our client (company)’s HR manager. My intern company even brought me to their client meetings with Adidas, Coach and Ralph Lauren. As I walked out of the office, what I carried along are my understanding of HK labor market and working condition, confidence in dealing with people related task, broader vision of possible future career choices, as well as connections with nice coworkers!
My company is just a few minutes’ walking away from my apartment. With Soho and Lan Kwai Fong nearby, both my office building and living place are located in the central area of Hong Kong Island. The location advantage made it so easy for me to explore the trendiest and coolest area of HK.

Other interns, as well as our lovely country director Krystal, together we formed a fun group! I enjoyed the time with those interesting folks from different parts of the world: Germany, Spain, Sweden, UK, local HK and mainland China. We all share the same spirit and goal to know HK as much as we can and create fun as much as we want. Together we explored cool bars in Lan Kwai Fong, cheered for horse racing in happy valley, enjoyed cruise dinner on Victoria bay, sang Karaoke in Causeway Bay and visited fancy casinos and antique architecture in Macau!

My time in HK with the Intern Group is an enriching experience. I felt like a different person in HK as my passion to explore and concur a place was aroused. I admit that this ambition wouldn't be recalled if I just stay at my university and concern about grades from most of the time. Now in retrospect, I am thankful with this opportunity. I regard it more than a working experience; it’s a life event of investment---some money and time invested to pave out a possible way out for life. You can enjoy your easy and comfortable little peace in the corner somewhere in this world, while on the other end on this planet, there are people who strive in a busy metropolitan. Though there are tides of hustling people and cars, you can feel the dream from every single one in the current. There, I was feeling so alive too. HK definitely affects my mind set. The investment is worthy, so I would like to recommend this experience to people as well!