ANDIAMO! Services

Placement organization

Name of organization: ANDIAMO! Services
Town/city: Rome
Country: Italië
Website: http://andiamo-services.com

Name of student: Susan Timmerman

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Global Incentive House, Destination Management Company and Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Creating tailor-made incentives, organising events and operating in the MICE industry
Target group of the organization: MICE sector
Company culture: The company culture is pretty informal. Everyone is very open in their communication and there is not a very strict hierarchy. As long as you show respect and willingness to work you can say and do pretty much everything.
The manager of the company is a Dutch woman and most employees are Dutch, so it could be said that there aren’t that many differences with any other Dutch company.
Number of employees: 5 full time and 5 interns
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Operations
Brief description of your daily activities: – creating tailor-made quotations
– Logistical duties; contacting suppliers i.e. hotels, restaurants & transfer companies
– Writing descriptions on new products and programmes
– Developing new products for Andiamo!
– Assisting in organising tours from a to z
– Assisting at events
– Contacting clients

Brief description of your company assignment: Looking into possibilities for ANDIAMO! Services regarding pre-incentives. How can these be used more effective and what type of pre-incentives could be of interest for the company. In the end I had to create some of these pre-incentive products.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: As I was being supervised by the manager of the company, she was often very busy and not able to help me at any minute. However she was always there for me when I really needed her and in this way I learned to solve a lot of problems myself. By writing every week a successes & concerns email to my supervisor she always knew how I felt and what I was dealing with. I actually loved this way of expressing my thoughts as it gave me the opportunity to say how I really felt.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? stress-proof, teamplayer, independent, creativity, communicative
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel, Powerpoint, creative writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian: Basic
Other languages: Dutch, Mother tongue

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? via the website www.easystanza.it
How did you go to work every day? by foot or 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:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
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? No, not necessarily, but some knowledge of Italian could be useful

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €120 (incl. 70 kg lugage, I love Ryanair!)
Accommodation (monthly): € €550
Local transport (monthly): € €0 (I have never paid for a ticket but if you would it costs you €35 a month to travel unlimited)
General costs of living (monthly): € €200-250, of course it was much higher when including going out, clubbing and shopping…
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They offered me a private Italian language course, 1,5 hours once a week.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Actually I did not prepare myself at all. As I was going to Italy, a European country, I did not feel like I had to. In the end I can say that there were more differences than expected but nothing to be worried about. Everyone can get used to waiting a little longer for everything (public transport, governmental issues, etc.) & eating pasta for lunch 😀
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: susantimmerman@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: At ANDIAMO! you really should remind yourself that you are ‘just’ an intern and you do not have full responsibility for the trips you are organising (Not doing this really stressed me out in the first couple of weeks). Just be open to your supervisors as they are very experienced with working with interns and know how to help you. Furthermore inform them as much as possible on the trips you would like to join as they constantly need assistance at their trips anyway!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Just enjoy Rome as much as possible! Try to see more than only the highlights and fall in love with the city.

For all pour students in expensive Rome: have an aperitivo! Pay €10 for 1 drink (cocktail/beer/wine/soda) and enjoy unlimited Italian bites.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link