Wimdu

Placement organization

Name of organization: Wimdu
Town/city: Berlin
Country: Duitsland
Website: http://www.wimdu.com

Student

Name of student: Corine Proost

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Online accommodation platform
Organization’s activities: Intermediary for renting out private properties
Target group of the organization: People who use hotels now
Company culture: Company has many interns, everybody interacts with each other, overall informal
Number of employees: 200
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? In the first month I worked 2 days for business development in customer support and 3 days in SEO. After this I worked full time for business development and operations in customer support
Brief description of your daily activities: Analyzing performance from agents, analyzing quality of agents and hosts. Making reports about this. Analysing the most common issues.
Brief description of your company assignment: Develop a workflow for handling online reviews and complaints (social media)
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I always had someone who was leading me and telling me what I should do, also the HR deparment is always helpful.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Team player, social, flexible. When it is necessary you have to be willing to switch departments to help there.
Additional company requirements for this placement? it depends on in which department you work. But mainly Word, Excel and powerpoint
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Depends on which market you work

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Train and airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I found a room via wg-gesucht.de before I went to Berlin, I had a Skype interview.
How did you go to work every day? Public Transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Most of the documents I needed to get in Germany, like registration at the Burgerambt and finanzambt, I did this in the first 3 weeks.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
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): € 140,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 350,00
Local transport (monthly): € 54,00
General costs of living (monthly): € 250,00
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 600,00 per month. Drinks and fruits

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be flexible, show interest.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Berlin has many cool bars and outdoor places, and with many interns in the organization you will find friends easily to go there with.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link