EarthCheck

Placement organization

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

Student

Name of student: Joost van ’t Hof

Specialist area: Tourism Management (NL)
Placement period: 2019-2020

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Consultancy agency
Organization’s activities: Providing advice on sustainability in the tourism industry. This is divided in certifying hotels/resorts, helping with the construction and helping with the organisation in general
Target group of the organization: Hotels
Company culture: Informal. Within the company it is required to dress formal, however, everyone is quite informal towards each other.
Number of employees: 71
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?
Design

Brief description of your daily activities: Writing reports and doing desk research

Brief description of your company assignment: During my internship I wrote reports and did research about sustainable construction in The Netherlands. This was of course from home due to the corona crisis.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: There was a meeting every day in the morning (8:00). This was done via teams. Furthermore, there was a shared folder in which my supervisor could track my process.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Report writing skills, teamplayer.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Microsoft office
English: Advanced

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Previous students
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Working holiday/tourism 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 your English is okay, no

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1000
Accommodation (monthly): € 500
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 1000
Costs of visa: € 350
Costs of work permit: €
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, it is quite the same

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t get a working holiday visa. Get a 6-12 month tourist visa. A WH visa is a visa you can only get once in your life (or you have to work for 88 days).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Hiking, swimming, going to a football match

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