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Career Training USA

From Student Hostess to Business Intern in the Coffee Industry

August 15, 2019

2 -min read
Annalisa’s language skills landed her an international internship!
Annalisa’s language skills landed her an international internship!
Image courtesy of Annalisa

Having a part-time student job can open doors internationally – specifically in the U.S.!

“I found my host when I was a student thanks to my linguistic skills and determination. Two years ago, I worked as a hostess for Lavazza at Roland Garros in Paris. They were enthusiastic with my quadrilingual skills and sent my resume to Lavazza US. After my interview with my host, within a week I was welcomed to join the company.”

Annalisa tells us about how her day-to-day life at Lavazzo.

“Every day is different and presents a new challenge! I take care of a portion of the customer service handling, track Lavazza deductions on our Amazon “Vendor Central” software, and manage the dispute process. With the finance team, I co-analyse results and provide dashboards summaries to better manage this process. In order to improve collaboration and efficiency, I am building trainings to gather all the knowledge on customer service and Amazon disputing process.”

Internships can benefit your personal and professional career!

“Through this internship I’ve increased my self-confidence, autonomy, and discipline. My English language has improved, as well as my adaptability and flexibility. I improved my communication to better collaborate with different departments within our company. I also find that my workstyle has become more results-oriented.”

Transparency is key to a great work environment.

“I was lucky to be able to speak my mind every time: If I did not agree on a subject, my personal point of view would have been always heard. Everyone within the company is valued for his assets and receives projects in accordance to his skills. When submitting a project what is taken into account is the quality of the work instead of the time used to accomplish the task.”

Stay curious and get to know your colleagues.

“I’ve learned U.S. culture by working closely with my Americans colleagues: asking questions and observing their daily actions. I’ve been able to share my culture by being myself at work. My colleagues learn about my culture(s) through our lunchtime conversations.”

InterExchange is here to guide you!

“If you are looking for flexibility and thinking outside the box, any internship within the U.S. will help you to make it! Indeed, since the American corporate culture is known for being individualistic, everyone has to work hard by himself to find solutions to daily issues. However, InterExchange is there to help you anytime throughout your journey! Be brave, embrace the challenge.”

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Fatima Rodriguez was the Communications and Recruitment Coordinator for Career Training USA. She graduated with a B.S. in Hotel Administration from Cornell University and also participated in a study abroad program called Semester at Sea, where she lived on a ship for 4 months, took classes, and traveled around the world. Ever since then, she has continued to follow her passion by traveling and helping individuals to experience the world abroad through her position within the Career Training program.

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