Voluntary Horizons

Placement organization

Name of organization: Voluntary Horizons
Town/city: Santiago
Country: Chili

Student

Name of student: Loes van den Broek
Website: http://www.voluntaryhorizons.com
Name of student: Loes van den Broek
Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator and volunteer organization
Organization’s activities: Sales, marketing, social media, new contacts, assisting group/individual volunteers while in Chile
Target group of the organization: Groups (high school students) and individuals (18 – 30 year olds)
Company culture: No real rules, everybody respects each other and asks questions to the ones he needs answers from.
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual (jeans, dress, t-shirt, top, it does not matter!)
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Company structure: Sales&Marketing, Individual volunteers coordinator, Program manager, Business manager, Director (supervising, customer relationship & marketing).
I worked mostly as coordinator of Individual Volunteers
Brief description of your daily activities: (activities are never the same, it depends on the amount of inquiries VH gets and how many volunteers are active in Chile at that moment.) Staying in contact with individual volunteers, handling new inquiries, e-mails & calls to project partners, agencies and volunteers, translating website, preparing information for group trips.
Brief description of your company assignment: Competitor analysis & improvement of projects for the individual volunteers. Created new PDF brochures for VH to send out to the agencies.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Let me work independently, always willing to help when there were questions, explained VH to me & let me read several documents about VH, reviewed my comp. assignment and gave feedback.
Connection with study program: Relevant

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent & team player, stress-proof, advanced level of English, solution oriented, good communicator, initiator.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane (around 16h including one stop over)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Via Voluntary Horizons
How did you go to work every day? Metro (also possible by bus)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No. You can stay in
Chile on a tourist visa. However, this is only valid for 3 months, so after
these 3 months you can either pay to extend it, or go to another country (I
went to Mendoza, Argentina) to get a new stamp which makes your new visa valid for another 3 months again.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: No documents needed, make sure you STOP your OV at one of the OV machines, otherwise you have to pay a €200 fine. And make sure you fill out all other documents necessary that are on DUO.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No. I already had all
vaccinations from previous field trips, though those were only recommended for Chile, none were necessary, though advisable! Check online!

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes, it is required by Voluntary Horizons. prior to placement.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1200,00 (approx. mine was more expensive)
Accommodation (monthly): € 400,00 – 450,00 incl. food, laundry
Local transport (monthly): € 50,00 (1 EUR for a single ticket, no matter how far you go)
General costs of living (monthly): € 80,00 (going out, shopping, leisure, life in Santiago is pretty expensive. Dutch prices for clothes, food and going out)
Costs of visa: n/a
Costs of work permit: € n/a
What did the company pay for/to you? € Nothing

Culture

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

Future students on placement

My telephone number:
My e-mail address: loesssss92@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Nothing in particular. Very open environment with friendly and fun people. Culture in Chile does differ from the one in Holland, in terms of food, meal times, man-woman relation (it is more of a man culture), though not shocking (for me), but if you are not used to travelling it can be.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You will never get bored in the city of Santiago! Though consider beforehand if living in a millions city is what you want! A lot of different areas, parks, restaurants, bars, shopping malls and noise! There is also a lot more to see outside of Santiago, f.e. Valparaíso (1,5h by bus) or one of the many beaches. For Visa extension you can best go to Mendoza, Argentina, for a few days, it is a great city!

Media

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