Abercrombie & Kent Australia

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abercrombie & Kent Australia
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website: https://www.abercrombiekent.com.au/

Name of student: Arda Elma

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: One of the world’s foremost luxurious tour operators Abercrombie & Kent Group has three headquarters which are located in; UK, USA and Australia. The tour operator focuses on luxury travel, customized holidays and offers journeys to each continent, covering many destinations worldwide. A&K has 52 offices worldwide, 49 local offices and three main offices consisting of Destination Management Companies (DMC) & Tourism Outbound Comapnies (TOC).
Target group of the organization: High level of income the majority are aged between 44-60 years.
Company culture: Obviously there is a hierarchy within the organization. However, the communication between the colleagues are rather informal. The external communication is formal. In general, most of the employees are very helpful and open-minded which creates a comfortable atmosphere to work in.
Number of employees: 70
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing & Product
Brief description of your daily activities: Creating & Designing E-newsletters, Creating & Designing itineraries for the website, Itinerary loading, Price loading, Scheduling & Posting content on social media accounts, Trend-watching, Brochure loading
Brief description of your company assignment: In total I had to make two company assignments. The first company assignment was creating a detailed competitor analysis regarding the social media accounts and website of the main competitors Abercrombie & Kent Australia. The second company assignment was creating a content plan regarding the website and social media accounts of the tour operator and providing the host company with recommendations.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The marketing department has its own small office. Besides the intern the Head of Marketing; Anthony O’Shea, Sales & Marketing Coordinator; Krizia Fiora and the Marketing Coordinator; Mason Crozier are in this room as well. My company supervisor was the Marketing Coordinator Mason Crozier. As all the team members of the marketing department he was very helpful as well. The overall atmosphere is quite relaxed. When you show and bring your ideas in to the business you are highly appreciated and more considered as an employee rather than a stereotyping intern.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, responsible, team player, sociable, stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? Photoshop, Excel and MS Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Through a Facebook page
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, working holiday visa is required to execute your internship.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Online through the official website of the Australian government: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/417-
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? I applied for my visa three months before starting and received it in two days
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? In case you do not study in English at NHTV and have difficulties with it, it might be useful to take a language course.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1200
Accommodation (monthly): € 500
Local transport (monthly): € 0 – (Approximately €100 per month if you want to take the tram to work)
General costs of living (monthly): € 850 including accommodation, depends how you want to live
Costs of visa: € 320
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? A wage of 300 Australian Dollars per week. However, this amount was gross which means that you will earn 1020 Australian Dollars per month. The taxes

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Make sure you read at least some articles or books regarding the culture of Australia, so that you have at least a basic knowledge for it. This will be highly appreciated by your colleagues as well. One important hint is to not stereotype the Australian culture with t
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not specifically

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 141274@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: It is useful to have good writing, communication as well as presentation skills.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Melbourne is a huge city and there are always festivals or other activities during the entire year. The 20 weeks are going very quick, make sure you enjoy the city as well as its surroundings. There are plenty national parks outside Melbourne. It is worth to see them during the weekends.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link