Global Challenge: British Consulate Melbourne – Project Officer
History & Political Science, 2018
Overview of the internship
My role looked specifically at increasing ties between British and Australian universities, through research, trade and expansion of current ways. I also completed a large amount of research into possible businesses for inward and external trade, both on the British and Australian side. This involved analysing and assessing various domestic and international businesses. Throughout the internship I was able to attend various meetings with CEOs, Australian parliament members and discuss with them my ideas for increasing university and entrepreneurial ties between universities and countries alike.
Other roles included undertaking detailed research into British trade post-Brexit and looking at ways that this could benefit the trade and political relationship between Britain and Australia. This research is being continued and the research that I undertook and analysed provided the vital foundation.
My final role involved being a representative for the British Consulate and Government for various different events around Melbourne and Victoria, from attending business lunches and forging stronger relationships with Australian businesses and even laying a wreath on days of remembrance on behalf of the British government.
Main achievements
I incorporated a new way of thinking with regards to inter-university ties and entrepreneurial trade between both countries. I researched, planned and developed this new way of thinking and created a framework that can be used in order to connect international and cross-border universities as well as different institutions through finding similarities between establishments and finding ways for these to naturally evolve and develop. This framework is still being developed today in the Department for International Trade and will continue to hopefully become an influential part of increasing university and institutional relations internationally.
Most enjoyable part of the internship
I enjoyed the opportunity to really contribute something and make a difference to the team that I was working in each day, from increasing productivity, to creating original ideas to develop relations as well as possible businesses and institutions that may be willing to expand or invest into the United Kingdom or into Australia. I found various new, up and coming firms that could have been willing to expand into international markets, from either Britain or Australia; some of these leads are still being looked into today.
Skills developed
My commercial research skills improved massively over the course of the internship, due to one of my roles involving discovering and analysing different Victorian based businesses that had the potential to expand into British markets. After finding the businesses I introduced a way of assessing them and the likelihood of them being able to succeed in foreign markets, based around their product portfolio and the market type, showing that my skills in development and original thinking also improved. Moving to the other side for five weeks, removed me from my comfort zone and forced me to adapt to a different city quickly in order to perform to the best of my ability in the work place.
My skills of debate and pitching also improved, through speaking to large numbers of members of parliament and top international businesses such as Deloitte; it improved both my confidence in presenting but also my ability to think on my feet and create calculated counter arguments to different problems.
How the internship will help me in the future
I believe that this internship will be invaluable to me when applying for future positions. Not only is it something completely individual and different to a standard internship, purely due to the location, but also because of the type of work that I was completing. My role varied to such extents in my time there that my skills of adaptability, research, analysis on national and international levels, public speaking and general ability to conduct myself in a correct manner in corporate situations improved to such a huge extent, that it will make me seem far more attractive to future employers.
The type of internship shows that people doing the Global Challenge internship can offer something new to the corporate team and this form of progression is invaluable to employers. Not only does the Global Challenge internship make us stand out in the never-ending chaos that is graduate scheme applications, but also the skills that we gain from submerging ourselves in another country and an entirely different corporate role makes us a massively beneficial member of the team.