The Global Work & Travel Co.

Placement organization

Name of organization: The Global Work & Travel Co.
Town/city: Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast
Country: Australië
Website: http://www.globalworkandtravel.com

Name of student: Nellie Groeneweg

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Gap year / working holiday travel agency
Organization’s activities: Selling working holidays, volunteer trips, nanny & Au Pair programmes, adventure and teaching trips worldwide from three offices (UK, Canada, Australia)
Target group of the organization: Young people, in university or graduated, age 18-30
Company culture: Young, energetic and professional.
Number of employees: approx. 50
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing
Brief description of your daily activities: Coordination of Social Media, different tasks in regards to the development of the new website for example: collecting content, working with WordPress and checking functionality of new website. Market research and keeping up with / analysing statistics.
Brief description of your company assignment: Conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Good supervision, I am in the same office as my supervisor so there is sufficient opportunity for asking questions and discussing work.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Being able to operate in a team however daily tasks are mostly worked on independently.
Additional company requirements for this placement? High level of social & communication skills, at least basic computer knowledge, and intermediate MS office skills, business acumen, interest/passion towards travel industry and the latest marketing trends & tools, creativity, reliable & punctual
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, Emirates, 3 hour stopover in Dubai

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Via other NHTV students
How did you go to work every day? Public transport (bus & train)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a Working Holiday visa. You can get it via this link: http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/417.aspx
Do you need a work permit? Work permit is included in the visa mentioned above.
How did you arrange the necessary documents: See link above
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A week
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

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): € My return ticket was about 1400 euros
Accommodation (monthly): € EUR 460,- / per month
Local transport (monthly): € EUR 100,- / per month
General costs of living (monthly): € EURC 400,- / per month
Costs of visa: € EUR 425,-
Costs of work permit: € Included in visa
What did the company pay for/to you? N/a

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not really, my office was very multi-cultural (Iran, Brasil, Finland, England and Germany were represented) but in regards to the Gold Coast lifestyle, I was feeling pretty relaxed and happy which contributed to my performance in a positive way.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 111167@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: DO: Travel around Australia after placement. Take some surf lessons (Get Wet).
DON’T (Taste differs): Clubbing in Surfers Paradise, I preferred Broadbeach or Byron Bay.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Must do around Gold Coast:
Hiking, Burleigh Heads National Park and Mount Tamborine, the rainforest with huge trees is great to see. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary for the must-have photo with a koala and feeding kangaroos. Spend a weekend in Byron Bay, book a hostel (I recommend holiday village) take the Byron Bay Express bus, escape from Surfers and enjoy the touristic but very relaxed vibes of Byron. At night, have a beer at the Beach Hotel!
Visit Brisbane, stay at the only around 12 room small Eton House, very friendly owner (Henry) and no drunk, yelling teenagers waking you up at 4 am. Visit the Gallery of Modern Art, walk around in the Botanic Gardens, take a City Cat to New Farm, look in advance if there are any nice exhibitions at the Powerhouse and have dinner at the Himalayan Cafe. For further tips, Lonely Planet!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link