"Virtual Internship"

This summer, I did a virtual internship within the music field. From start to finish, The Intern Group was supportive, friendly, and extremely helpful. I absolutely loved my experience with the music company and am continuing to work with the company even after the internship is over! This wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t sign up to the Intern Group. I have learnt so much about the industry, gained so many new skills, established important connections, and had so much fun whilst doing it. I was provided with so many tools to help develop my career and I am very grateful to the Intern Group for partnering me with the music company I did my internship with, and providing me with so many helpful tools to further my career.

"You get out what you put into it."

I was able to travel to Melbourne, Australia for an internship from July to December in 2019. I participated in the program during a co-op semester at my university, which The Intern Group was partnered with.

I chose to do an international internship because I thought it would be like studying abroad, but with less homework and more chances to sightsee, meet people, and experience the culture while actually living and working there. That was exactly what happened: I was able to be a part of the startup community in Victoria and learn so much while also being able to spend weekends going to Tasmania, Sydney, and a bunch of other awesome places!

In America, internships sometimes get a bad rap as "making coffee runs" and whatnot and, at first, I was a little worried that an internship in Australia might be like that. However, The Intern Group assured me that the interns did real work. They knew I studied computer science and wanted a role in web development, and found me a position with Startup Victoria, a nonprofit, that needed someone to work on their WordPress website.

I was nervous going into it, but participating in The Intern Group made it much more comfortable for me. In July, I was part of about 20 newcomers, alongside quite a few interns that were already there. Through dinners, outings, and living together, we became good friends. Because of that, I never felt alone.

On top of everything great happening outside of work, I also really enjoyed my internship. This was mainly because I put a lot of effort into it. I often worked a bit overtime but it was because I enjoyed the work and was in the middle of something where I wanted to keep learning and mastering the technology. And if I did work some extra hours at night, I was then able to take some hours off another day.

Working for a nonprofit with a very small team, I had an immense amount of responsibility and room to learn. The majority of my work did, in fact, center around developing code and maintaining the website. Working at various co-working spaces, I was able to participate in awesome events and meet founders, employees, investors, and so many more people in the startup community.

If web development isn't your style, I also knew interns working with things like sales, photography, social media, event organization, and a bunch of other themes.

While these internships are unpaid, it seems to usually be because the companies need more support but don't have the budget for full-time employees. In a lot of cases, those companies want to pay you, somehow, so they do a lot to make your time as rewarding as possible. They make it a great learning experience, where you can dip your toes in as many sectors of the company as you want. I was able to try out design, administrative management, the hiring process, event organization and implementation, content moderation and creation, customer support, partnership meetings, and representation at expos and other events.

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I do think that every participant had a different experience in their internship, but I believe that some didn't enjoy it largely because they went into this international work thinking of it in terms of, "I'm not getting paid, so I don't have to work very hard. I can skip some days to tour Melbourne or travel Australia without telling my coworkers until the last minute, if at all." If you treat your internship poorly, you'll likely be sent home.

This isn't "a vacation in a foreign country with the downside of having to work a bit." It's "an internship with the upside of living in a foreign country." It is something that requires some professionalism and a lot of effort to get a lot of experience and learning out of it. Don't participate in it just because you want to live in another country.

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I know that it can be daunting to commit to a period in a foreign country doing unpaid work (and having to pay to participate). But if you aren't sure what work you want to do or where you want to live, or if you just want to have an international experience while also getting career experience, I wholeheartedly believe this can be worth the price and more, as long as you fully take advantage of it.

"My Internship in Melbourne (Summer 2019)."

I left Milan for Melbourne in July last year to start an internship at a startup operating in the Food & Beverage industry.

My experience with the Intern Group has been outstanding.

The Australian Team of The Intern Group assisted me with precious pieces of advice about life in Australia and its work culture in the months before departure. Preparation consisted of webinars, tailored emails, Skype calls and presentations about Melbourne and its environment.

When I arrived at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne a driver sent by the Intern Group greeted me. He then escorted me to the RMIT Village, which is the residence where I stayed.

My experience in Melbourne was truly unforgettable.
I had the chance to work for HungryHungry, a company that caters to both venues and customers alike.
The founders of the company, Mark & Shannon, are successful businessmen who decided to build a new company so that they could help the hospitality industry with the use of technology.
The company is growing at a fast pace and is actively helping venues all across Victoria during the Covid-19 pandemic. Months ago, HungryHungry even started a collaboration with the Campari Group.

The work environment at HungryHungry was exceptional. I spent my time surrounded by talented people, such as Elizabeth, my coordinator and COO of the company.
Elizabeth is an extremely talented woman: her previous experiences include working as a BI & ICT Planning and Development Manager at the Melbourne Airport. She's also a Board Member of the Victorian Information Communication Technology for Women Network and the Director or the "What's Hot in IT" program.
Caitlin, the Financial Advisor of the company, is one of the most important Venture capitalists of Australia, having helped establish the largest & most active portfolio of early-stage startups in Australia (Artesian Venture Partners).

HungryHungry's structure is flexible: the business is diverse, open-minded and innovative. On Fridays, the company would offer lunch to everyone; all the colleagues were always cooperative and ready to help.

During my experience as a Business Strategy & Business Management intern, I assisted the company with market researches, infographics and presentations. I took part in a workshop where the company defined its mission, vision and values, moreover, I attended the prestigious Emerging Innovation Summit at The Capitol in Melbourne's CBD.

Other tasks, such as working on information sheets, allowed me to learn how to use a different array of sites: Monday, Atlassian, Canva and Outlook, for instance.
The internship also helped me explore functions related to the domain of Public Relations and Marketing.

I loved being part of a company that allowed me to experiment, to learn something new every day.
Work was challenging and sometimes demanding, but never stressful.

The office where I worked at, Worksmith Collingwood, is located north of Melbourne's bustling city centre, in the vibrant and historic Collingwood/Fitzroy area. This co-working space is cosy and friendly: the presence of other companies/professionals operating in the F&B industry meant I had the opportunity to widen my network even further.

Alana, the Experience Coordinator, made sure my stay in Australia went as smooth as possible.
She planned a wide range of activities I wish I could partake once again.
These included a wine tasting tour in the Yarra Valley, a welcome party, movie nights at Hoyts Cinema in Central Melbourne, city tours, excursions to Brighton Beach, an AFL match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, trivia nights, comedy nights, information and tips about the huge amounts of festivals held in Melbourne (from White Nights to events related to fashion, arts and the cinema), a barbecue and an excursion to a wildlife sanctuary (Maru Park and the gorgeous Phillip Island, in my case), where I got the opportunity to see rare/local species, such as koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, baby penguins, cockatoos or kookaburras.

In conclusion, my Australian experience was truly exceptional: a year later, I am still in touch with all the marvellous people I met during my journey.
This experience enriched my life in so many ways: from getting to know other cultures to broadening my horizons, from experiencing a new way of life to admiring the unique beauty of Australia.
I miss Melbourne's cultural activities, its park, its large avenues and its rich culinary offer.
The Victorian capital is a global, multicultural city, a hub of innovation and one of the most liveable places on Earth.

For all the reasons mentioned above, I highly recommend interning with the Intern Group in Melbourne.

"I had the most amazing experience in…"

I had the most amazing experience in Melbourne!!! I can’t say enough good things about the program and the experiences I had there. I felt there was always team support but I was still independent, and Alana was the best. I had a great and meaningful internship with two startups. I’m so grateful for my time in Melbourne!

"Outstanding"

My experience with the Intern Group has been phenomenal. I can't express how amazing and wonderful they have been to work with. Originally, I had plans to intern in Dublin, Ireland for 3 months from March until May. Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus, I was only there for two weeks and made the decision to come home, as I wanted to gain that cultural experience alongside my internship and everything in Dublin had been shut down. The team in Dublin, John, Paul, and Chelsea, were all amazing in helping make a smooth trip back home. The Intern Group offers a lifetime credit, meaning I could go back and finish my internship anytime I want! A couple of months after I had returned home, they reached out and offered me the opportunity for a virtual internship. I took the offer, as I wanted to continue to gain experience and also need something to fill my time during quarantine. I ended up interning for a company in Colombia and I had a great experience, although interning virtually is a something to adjust to, I still felt that my time was valued.

I had ended up starting my virtual internship a couple weeks earlier than the original start date, as that wasn't going to work for me, and the team was very accommodating with that. After my internship, when the original start of the internship was supposed to be, they began to offer many great career development tools to help create a fulfilling and worthwhile internship. They offer a Career Advancement training filled was many useful tips and skills to create a great virtual internship experience. They also provide a wide array of channels on Slack, where you can connect with other interns virtually and still gain networking experience. In addition to that, the offer interactive keynote speaker meetings with many amazing global business leaders, and if you can't make it, they offer a recording of it so you can still learn from the very best.

Overall, the Intern Group is an amazing company to work with, they offer valuable internships with many career advancement opportunities that you can't find anywhere else! With my short time in Dublin and the virtual opportunities, I have made many great lifelong connections. I can't recommend this program enough. If you're thinking about doing a global or virtual internship and you're still unsure, my answer is do it! You won't regret it.

"This was more than a SCAM!"

This was more than a SCAM!

I was supposed to do an internship with "The Intern Group" this Summer for two months. Due to Corona first I was not able to travel to Asia. I tried to contact them and instead of moving my start dates or working with me to sort out the problem, they just tried to find excuses that it was not their fault and due to the pandemic nothing could be done. After several emails and phones calls that were either ignored or cut off, they decided to cancel my program and didn't refund nothing of my full payment I have done!

I cannot explain how disappointed and hurt I am by this company's ruthless practices and I really hope that no one else goes through horrible experience.

Previously one of my friends who was also a participant in their program wrote a Google Maps review on their original London office address that was online on Google Maps, but mysteriously their original Google Maps profile was deleted and disappeared...this all looks very shady to me and I am very surprised Google allows these things to happen.

You can find their address under their Terms & Conditions where it was posted as The Intern Group Ltd, a United Kingdom registered company number: 07891350
Address: Global House 303 Ballards Lane, 1st Floor, London, England, N12 8NP

Now they have posted their office under their following address in Colombia: Cl. 8 #43a-49, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia.
In addition, they also state the business to be ""temporarily closed". The reason is that they don't want to be found by me or other disappointed students and parents on Google Maps or any other platforms and write their honest feedbacks about this company.

Just zoom to Medellin in Colombia on Google Maps and search for "the interngroup" and you will see their new business address.

It just seems that everytime anything bad is written about this company, they either intimidate people to delete negative reviews or start threatening customers with legal actions as they tried to do this with me and my friend.

I do hope trustpilot.com is a decent and objective website and won't delete my review as previous negative reviews about "The Intern Group" that were posted here.

P.S.: My fellow friends and their parents who joined your program will leave you a feedback as well! If it gets deleted here, we will make sure to further investigate it.

Our voices will be heard!

"A letter to John Bradish; Dublin Experience Coordinator"

Dear John,

I would like to reach out to you and the rest of the Intern Group staff here in Dublin to let you know how much I truly enjoyed my experience here in Dublin.

Although it was during a crazy period of time with the Coronavirus, I still immensely enjoyed everyday here. Your constant enthusiasm and excitement made the experience 50x better than I could have imagined.

I can’t wait to come back to Dublin and pick up where I left off with my program. I’m 100% certain that when the Virus passes over I will be right back in Dublin.

I can’t emphasize enough how huge of a role Paul, Chelsea and you all played in making this experience so special and exciting for me. I can’t thank you enough for all the amazing times I’ve had here in just 6 weeks. So thank you again and I can’t wait to be back in this lovely city with all you great people as soon as possible.

The very best,
Grateful Intern