Zoey

Placement organization

Name of organization: Zoey
Town/city: Amsterdam
Country: NL – Noord-Holland
Website: https://www.withzoey.com/

Student

Name of student: Timothy Lange
Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2021-2022

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tourism Recommendations
Organization’s activities: Zoey is a white label company that offers travel tips to customers of other companies like TUI. When people are travelling in a city they can message TUI asking their questions or what to do and we at Zoey answer those questions for TUI. We have also branched out into what we call Lead to Listing we work with companies like Goboony (they are Airbnb for motorhomes) where we send messages to people that fulfil certain tasks on the website of Goboony. The goal of the tips and messages we send to those people is to help them go from a potential lead to making a listing on the site. Goboony needs people to place their motorhomes on the website in order to generate traffic on the site and we help them out. We are also looking at helping students at MBOs with questions they may have and helping them stay engaged at school.
Target group of the organization: Tourism & Schools
Company culture: Zoey is more of an informal company, definitely no corporate feel at the company. Zoey started with a group of friends, and you still very much have that feeling in the company. The average age in the company is between 30-and 40s. Zoey is very much more of a horizontal working structure and is all about working together as a team. If someone else in another department needs help the culture is to hop on to that department and help out. They also hire a lot of interns, so you most likely won’t be the only intern at the company. It’s young and growing fast, every month there are new employees onboarding.
Number of employees: 40
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 am working in the operations department. Our goal is to meet with the clients and have an idea of what they are wanting with our product/service. Then we make sure that all the different departments deliver what is requested and on time. Often I am working with multiple departments where needed to make sure that deadlines are met and the requested service is delivered.

Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities are different each day, to be honest. Every Monday morning, we meet and talk through the different clients and what needs to get done. We then inform the different departments of what needs to be done that week and ask where we can help. Often, we are working closely with the communications department. I might be translating Dutch text to English in the journey templates or making sure that the journey templates are correctly coded for the IT department. Checking KPIs for each company and making sure we are on target. If it appears that we might not be reaching our target, we then brainstorm what possible strategy changes need to take place. We have a back office and there are sometimes error messages that pop up with the messages being sent to customers, so we correct the possible issues might be. Every week and day is different which I thoroughly enjoy. I work 4 days a week from home and once a week travel to the office.
Brief description of your company assignment: Zoey is looking at branching out into the educational sector. Right now, we are working with our first school to see how Zoey can help answer student questions and send students helpful tips. The idea being freeing teachers’ time up as we send reminders from the teacher to students and answer Frequently Asked Questions for the teacher. Due to this being a new market for us I have been asked to conduct interviews to see how Zoey is being experienced by teachers. To see where improvements can be made and where Zoey is doing well in order to sell Zoey to other clients.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I work in a team with my company supervisor and another intern. Together we tackle the projects that come on our plate. So I work closely with my supervisor. Sarra is amazing and I feel like I am able to learn a lot from her as she as an extensive background in marketing. Not to mention she is understanding and friendly. Always a plus for a company supervisor.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Live here

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself
How did you go to work every day? Train

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Not if you are a Dutch citizen
Do you need a work permit? Not if you are a Dutch citizen
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? Knowing Dutch might be helpful

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 41.20
Accommodation (monthly): € 360
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I got a monthly payment of 500 EUR.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Well that happened 10 years ago when I moved to the Netherlands. I didn’t do much though I just kinda showed up and had the full culture shock experience.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? I dont think so

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 182677@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: No not really. Just be ready to work online a lot since it is an online company. Zoey does a good job though making your feel welcomed and knowing how the company works. Due to them having a lot of interns you will not be the first time.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: I didnt do much around the office due to the office being located in the business district of Amsterdam. So I would just go back home to Breda after work. Though I am sure you could go to Amsterdam centre if you wanted would be a 20-minute public transport trip.

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