What originally inspired you to intern in Shanghai with CRCC Asia?
Greg: To complete my masters I had to intern in a company for at least 2 months. I was living in Spain, I am originally from Brazil, and I had finished my Masters in Marketing in Madrid. The situation in the EU was really bad at the time, thus, it wasn't ideal for me to return to Brazil.
I started talking to friends in class to see what they were all going to do, one of my closest friends form Costa Rica told me that he found a website with internships in Shanghai: CRCC Asia. I thought he was crazy to do that, and he didn't make a strong case for his decision. Months passed and I hadn't found a proper place to work, so I changed my mind and thought an internship in China could be really interesting to do culturally and to gain some experience.
Describe your day to day activities as an intern in Shanghai.
Greg: I worked in a British agency called Profero that has offices all over the world. Initially I was "hired" to work at the Branding department but the area that needed more help at the time was Performance. In the beginning of my internship I changed/improved the slides for the presentations we were doing for big companies. It was a very methodical work that took long hours and days.
When I got this work done, I started learning the fundamentals of some of Google's tools that I would be using for the rest of my internship: Google analytics, SEO & SEM. I was very lucky to have this internship because I was able to learn a lot, my co-workers showed a lot of patience to teach me stuff, and the atmosphere at my work was fantastic.
Going out for lunch in a typical Chinese neighborhood and getting to know my co-workers was very nice. They wanted me to try all type of foods and ask me things about my country; it was very nice to see our differences and share stories.
How has this experience impacted your future?
Greg: This experience had a significant impact on me because not only did I make a lot of new friends, but I had the chance to learn a lot professionally, and the opportunity to visit China. I was offered to stay in Shanghai for more time and work at Profero as a paid employee. Unfortunately, I had all my stuff back in Madrid and things to settle, so I didn't stay. I am still in contact with the friends I made at my work, and other interns from the program!
Right now I am working with Google SEO and SEM in Brazil, so I have to thank my internship for the developments in my professional career.