Backpacker Deals

Placement organization

Name of organization: Backpacker Deals
Town/city: Melbourne
Country: Australië
Website: https://www.backpackerdeals.com/

Student

Name of student: Simone Benneker

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Online travel agency
Organization’s activities: Backpacker Deals is made up of people that love to travel. This is what comprises the culture of Backpacker Deals, the people that make up the team. The team of like-minded travellers is the foundation from which everything else stems.
Target group of the organization: Youth market (backpakcers)
Company culture: Backpacker Deals is a small start-up online travel agency that offers tours and deals at a relatively low price to all, I would say that there is an informal atmosphere (you can wear clothes you like) and you will be working with 3-4 other employees. Every employee has their own responsibilities, someone does content, someone does digital marketing etc.
Number of employees: 5
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

I worked in the digital marketing department and over time I was also active as as customer support service employee.

Brief description of your daily activities: Create insight repots and wbsite, analyze user behavior, provide feedback on new website designs, testing new website, contribute to the design and development of new mobile app.
Brief description of your company assignment: Creation of a mobile app for the company and creating partnerships and exchange links with travel influencers in order to increase the digital marketing as well as brand awareness/exposure.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor, Dinesh, is a great guy who gives you a lot of freedom, but is also very involved in the assigned tasks. His guiding every week was a great motivator in order to keep striving to get the best out of this internship.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Teamplayer, sociable, stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? SEO, Excel, PowerPoint, writing skilss
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? www.flatmates.com.au
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Working holiday visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Internet
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? Only if your English is not on a high level

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1100
Accommodation (monthly): € 800
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 500-600
Costs of visa: € 290
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? I was lucky enough to receive an internship compensation every week; $200 per week, this is approximately 130 euros per week.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare for the Australian culture as it is a very western country, however you can do some research via the Australian Government website.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not really

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Travel in Australia as much as you can!! The area around Melbourne also has some great spots: Great Ocean Road, Grampians National Park, Philip Island. I went to Tasmania for 10 days and it was the most beautiful place on earth, also known as “Mini New Zealand” Definetely worh a visit!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Samen as mentioned above. Melbourne Southbank is also very nice, just like Shrine Remembrance, Botanical Gardens and the Eureka Skydeck Tower is definitely something you will not easily forget.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link