XO Africa

Placement organization

Name of organization: XO Africa
Town/city: Cape Town
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://www.xoafrica.com

Student

Name of student: Julie Conradt

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination Management Company
Organization’s activities: Making tailor made packages for indiviudal travelers, incentives and events
Target group of the organization: High end (3 to 5 star accommodations) individual travelers with tailor made packages. XO Africa’s main markets are coming from France followed Italy and Spain.
Company culture: Everyone at the office is open and social towards each other. The atmosphere is very relaxed, also between the management and director and the consultants. The position of me as a student was just the same as the rest of the company. Everybody respects each other.
Number of employees: 37
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? FIT, IT, Marketing and Sales, Finances, Administration, Event
I worked in FIT
Brief description of your daily activities: Calling suppliers to check for availability/confirm bookings, send emails for booking requests, creating quotes in the system, creating travel documents and synopsis’, prepare GPS for clients, come up with programs.
Brief description of your company assignment: Develop professional skills and work at the pace of the other consultants
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Good

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? All of the mentioned, additionally good communication skills and organisation skills
Additional company requirements for this placement? None, when starting the internship, interns get a special training for the use of the software systems used in the company.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Advanced
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane (12 hrs flight)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? XO Africa provided me with contacts to different landlords, however it didn’t go all to well with them. They gave me other contacts, and this is how I found my landlord and the house I am living in now. It’s a beautiful small and cozy house, four other people live there, professionals and students, all international. (very safe area)
How did you go to work every day? 5 minute walking distance

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: The embassies put a lot of information on the internet, documents to fill out etc… additionally, one has to see a doctor to get the Xray and the medical report and has to go to the municipality to get the police record
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? A lot
Did you need certain vaccinations? No

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? n/a

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 850,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 241,00
Local transport (monthly): € 30,00
General costs of living (monthly): € 200,00
How long in advance did you apply for visa
Costs of visa: € 52,00 application fee, € 767,00 deposit, € 45,00 X-ray
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 250,00 per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No, as mostly foreigners work in the company. The only thing that might influence performance, are the really high temperatures outside

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: julco@gmx.de

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Start gathering the documents for your visa in time. Don’t start looking for accommodation only once you arrived. Be careful. Use Sun cream.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: –

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link