EF Education First

Placement organization

Name of organization: EF Education First
Town/city: London
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website:

Student

Name of student: Gabriella Miralles

Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: multi organizational
Organization’s activities: In the London office, the activities are supporting and allocating tour directors of the UK and Ireland region
Target group of the organization: Americans and Canadians
Company culture: there is a prominent hierarchy in EF, and in the London office. However, every single EF employee I have met is extremely kind and open minded. I loved the company culture!
Number of employees: hundreds in the organization but four in the office
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 was working in the London office of the EF Educational Tour sector

Brief description of your daily activities: I had to manage tour director tablets, send itineraries to the tour directors, prepare materials for them to go on tour, assist with any questions they had while they visited the office, organize the tour director room, send out evaluation results.
Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment I had to redesign the questions used for the end of year meetings with each tour director. After the high season, the director of the office has a meeting with each tour director. Since there are hundreds of tour directors allocated to the UK regional office, I found a way to make the process more efficient
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervision was done by the regional coordinator of the office. She was absolutely fantastic, and was always on time with my reviews. She was also very intuitive and really took the evaluations seriously.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? stress-proof, open minded, team player, proactive, ambitious, patient, kind, (an extroverted personality is helpful but I wouldn’t say necessary)
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Teams (you will learn there)
English: Advanced

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane, can also go by train

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I had to arrange it myself, I went with Airbnb
How did you go to work every day? bus, underground, you can walk if you are close enough

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? I didn’t
Do you need a work permit? I didn’t
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? Yes you must be advanced in English as you will be on the phone and working with fluent English speakers

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € around 80 EUR there and back
Accommodation (monthly): € 800 EUR
Local transport (monthly): € 160 EUR (company pays)
General costs of living (monthly): € 200-300 EUR
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They paid for my flight there and back
they paid me daily for lunch (8 EUR a day)
They paid my transportation to and from the office (around 160 EUR for a travel card)

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare as, however when I arrived there I noticed many differences.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? A little, I had to get used to the different words and phrases they used, and how politie they are, it is very very different to the dutch directness

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: gabmir22@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be clear with your communication but do not be ‘dutch direct’ as that will come across as rude
Do not take this internship if you are not a big city person.
Be polite and considerate as they are very polite people
Communication is key!
Be mindful in the underground, and give up your seat when necessary!
Be careful with pickpocketers, it does happen
Watch your surroundings, it is not as safe as the Netherlands
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There are ENDLESS possibilities in London!! The most amazing city with endless opportunities. Use your weekend and after work to explore, there are events and activities happening everywhere you turn. The internship itself could not be located in a better place. It is literally in the center of London on the shopping street. I had truly the best experince ever!

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