Abercrombie & Kent Australia Pty. Ltd.

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie & Kent Australia Pty. Ltd.
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië

Student

Name of student: Daliah von Harten
Website: http://www.abercrombiekent.com.au
Name of student: Daliah von Harten
Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Luxury Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Tour operator that focusses on luxurious, customized tours offering journeys to each continent, covering many destinations worldwide. A&K has 50 offices worldwide, 47 DMCs and three main offices consisting of DMC & SMC; UK, USA and Australia.
Target group of the organization: 55+ year’s old with a high income
Company culture: Informal
Number of employees: 40
Dress code: smart casual; sneakers and jeans allowed on casual Fridays
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Company consists of DMC and SMC
Level 2 in the office – SMC:
– Reservations (Outbound Tourism)
– Marketing & Product
– Sales
– Executive Staff and Executive Assistant
(Managing Director & Director of Operations)
Level 3 – DMC:
– Reservations (Inbound Tourism)
– Product
– Cruise
– Finance / Administration
– IT

I worked in Marketing
Brief description of your daily activities: Updating SMC & DMC website, update A&K Amex Connect & Amex Entre offers, create internal E-newsletters, assist with Private Jet event organization
Brief description of your company assignment: Manage the new 2013 Australia & Papua New Guinea Brochure Launch Campaign: update the web accordingly, creation of an interactive competition, tracking responses
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision is great as my supervisor takes a lot of time to review my work and give me detailed feedback. This way I learn a lot and can improve my work. Every fortnight I meet with my supervisor to have a quick feedback session.
Connection with study program: Relevant

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? You work a lot in the team but also get individual tasks. You need to be very flexible and able to work under stress as you might find yourself working on different projects at the same time.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word & PowerPoint, basic use of Excel and Photoshop ( the team will teach you if you do not know how to use Photoshop). I also learned how to use the Content Management System and Google Analytics.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Emirates; with only a short 4hour layover in Dubai a very pleasant journey

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? It took me about 2 weeks but then I found a room in St. Kilda East over the website: gumtree.com.au
How did you go to work every day? Train (15mins) & then walk (30mins)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes; Training and Research visa (Subclass 402) – Occupational Trainee Stream; This should be the very first thing you arrange. It took about 3-3.5 months and was granted a day before my departure which was quite nervewrecking. First the company needs to nominate you but you should start selecting all necessary documents in the meantime. For more information go to: http://www.immi.gov.au/visas/temporary-visa/402/transitional-arrangement.htm

Do you need a work permit? Work permit is included in the visa mentioned above.
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Since I lived in Australia before I had to request documents from Australian as well as German bureaus. You need to send some to your contact person at A&K and some directly to the Adelaide Occupational Trainee and Processing Centre. You can find detailed instructions on the website mentioned above.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? It took at least 2 months until I had all documents collected since many offices were shut over Christmas and New year holidays.
Did you need certain vaccinations? No

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? n/a

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): Ca. € 1500 for a rountrip (I went to New Zealand first)
Accommodation (monthly): € 590 -/per month
Local transport (monthly): €, 110 -/per month
General costs of living (monthly): € 400 -/per month
Costs of visa: € 315,-
Costs of work permit: Included in visa
What did the company pay for/to you? € 950,- per month Gross
(AUD $1200 before tax)

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture? I have been there before.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Australians are a lot more laid back than Germans and the atmosphere in the office is very pleasant. In addition, everyone is eager to help out and it makes working at A&K a great experience.

Future students on placement

My telephone number:
My e-mail address: 113132@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Travel around Australia! There are many great places to see. Explore the city and do a trip to the Great Ocean Road.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne is a huge city with a lot of leisure activities. Check out different areas, stroll around the many different markets and go to St Kilda or any other beach before it gets too cold. There are many different restaurants and cute cafes to check out in each suburb and bars and nightclubs to meet every taste. The comedy festival is on in April and you can get cheap tickets for Tuesdays and have a laugh.

Media

“>“>
“>“>

Youtube linkYoutube video internship