EarthCheck

Placement organization

Name of organization: EarthCheck
Town/city: Brisbane
Country: Australië
Website: https://earthcheck.org/

Name of student: Lieke Hobbelen

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Eco Tourism Consultancy Firm
Organization’s activities: Consulting, relationship management, benchmarking
Target group of the organization: Companies who want to become eco friendly (hotels etc.)
Company culture: Nice people, relaxed but focused atmosphere. Consulting is very busy, benchmarking is less deadline focused. Friendly managers, also other interns.
Number of employees: 35
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I worked 2.5 months in Consulting and 2.5 months in Benchmarking.
Brief description of your daily activities: Consulting: write proposals, make PowerPoint presentations, prepare workshops, do research for colleagues.
Benchmarking: Data submissions, data clarification, make appendices with data information, help colleague.
Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment I write a report on the Corporate Social Responsibility of EarthCheck.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I don’t have a lot of direct contact with my supervisor. She is my manager at the moment but I work close together with my colleague who guides me. When I was working at consultancy she wasn’t my manager so I talked to her only once or twice to discuss how I was going etc.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Team player, independent, performable.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills, excel, powerpoint, word.
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself
How did you go to work every day? First by bus or train, afterwards by foot.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, can be several visas, I have a working holiday visa.
Do you need a work permit? No?
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Myself
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 Hour
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? If you are bad in English I definitely would.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1400
Accommodation (monthly): € 420
Local transport (monthly): € 100
General costs of living (monthly): € 170
Costs of visa: € 300
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Nothing.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I had friends tell me about their experiences in Australia, and I knew the culture was pretty similar to what I was used to, so I didn’t need a lot of preparation.
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: 142879@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: What to do: do your best, work hard, ask questions if you don’t understand, socialize.
What not to do: keep quiet. You will feel left out, everybody in the team is friends with each other and all very nice so try to fit in.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: South Bank, several bars & cafes, islands in front of the coast: North Stradbroke Island, Bribie Island.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link