Nomad’s land

Placement organization

Name of organization: Nomad’s land
Town/city: Bishkek
Country: Azië
Website: http://www.nomadsland.ch

Student

Name of student: Arno van Dijk

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Nomad’s land is specialized in selling tailor-made programs to travelers who look for a rather unique experience. The vast majority of of sold tours are made for physically fit travelers, but they do not exclude other target groups.
Target group of the organization: Adventure travelers
Company culture: Arguably, the hierarchy within the company is flat. Everyone has his own say within the company. To a certain extent there is an informal atmosphere, but nonetheless the employees in this company are working extensively for six days a week.
Number of employees: 7
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Although I am mainly working in the tour design & sales department, I did also find myself working as a marketeer for the first couple months. The latter actually turned out to be too intensive as it was also expected that I would do my other jobs.

Brief description of your daily activities: Every week I am working six days, but the working hours are depending on the amount of work that is available. On some days I would start at 08:00, whereas I would start on 11:00 on other days. The official time for wrapping up is around 17:00, however, in the sales department it often is the case that you will be working throughout the clock.
Brief description of your company assignment: I worked on quality management systems within the company’s back office by means of introducing the PDCA cycle to the daily tasks of employees.

By doing this, I have been improving the work efficiency of both the salesmen and office managers through the creation of specific sets of templates for their specific roles in the company. Furthermore I have been creating the corresponding written procedures for those templates, which lower the need of training for future employees.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Alex Johnson was the supervisor for my internship. He is a very friendly and helpful American expat who has been living in Kyrgyzstan for years.

Other colleagues have also been supervising me a little bit, but with lower quality than Alex did. If possible I would always recommend Alex to be the supervisor for an intern.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, stress-proof, multitasking, sociable, charismatic, confident, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Basic
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a visa for 60 days is given upon arrival.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Two years 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? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 350EU (retour flight, flexible tickets, double check-in luggage)
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 20 – 30EU
General costs of living (monthly): € 150EU
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? Free accommodation was given at the company’s guesthouse.

After the sale of a tour I could get a commission, which is a percentage of the total price of the tour, which is actually set by myself. Usually 5% – 10% of commission is gained after a sale, and it depends on skills in sales.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I barely prepared for the country’s culture, although I did of course make the required documents prior to the commence of an internship.

In a way it is hardly possible for a person to fully prepare for the country’s culture. Kyrgyzstan is a country in which anyone will experience a culture shock, what really helps is being flexible and open-minded.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: a.vandijk95@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: I recommend anyone going to Kyrgyzstan to read the following:

– You can stick to the 60 day visa that is given upon arrival at Manas Airport. Near the end of your visa you should cross the border with Kazakhstan to get a new 60 day visa.
– A language course is not necessary, but one would benefit if (s)he would learn the Cyrillic alphabet and some basic phrases in Russian and Kyrgyz.

– The work at Nomad’s land is very extensive, it does absolutely not fit to everyone as there are six working days in a week.
– The company requires you to be an independent worker, and you will get a fair amount of responsibility.
– The employees at Nomad’s land can have different opinions on tasks, make sure that all the salesmen, and the company director have agreed on a company assignment and daily activities.
– Be able to express your own opinion on matters, otherwise you might find yourself having a very busy time during your internship.
– Long-term planning is widely unheard of in Kyrgyzstan, therefore flexibility is a very nice skill to have.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Bishkek is a beautiful post-Soviet city, which was known as the green capital of the Soviet-Union. It is easy to spend entire days just walking in the city center. During the winter months temperatures might well be below -20C, whereas it can reach up to 40C in June and July.

In the city itself there are many different restaurants and bars, of which some are home to large groups of expats during the night.

Nearby Bishkek one could visit the Ala-Archa national park, make a day-trip to Almaty in Kazakhstan, or visit silk road heritage near the village of Tokmok.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link