Being thrown in with the Sharks
(constructioninformer, 2016)
I am an intern for the Behind the Brands campaign, which is part of the GROW thematic unit. The campaign focuses on the world’s 10 largest multinationals in the food and beverage sector and ranks their performances on several themes. I am happy to be part of this this team because it nicely suits my background in international development studies. However, when starting this internship, I came across some new experiences.
Surviving the sharks
There is a tendency at Oxfam, called to ‘throw you in with the sharks’. To me, one of the best examples of this was the first time I joined a conference call. I was asked to make some notes, which did not seem too difficult at first. However, when dialling in, I barely had an idea who was on the line and – to me – random voices just appeared through from the speaker. Moreover, the amount of abbreviations made it feel like I was listening to a language I was not yet fully capable of understanding. Minute taking turned into a quite stressful experience. Another paradox where I feel I am supposed to know everything while I clearly do not is that I sometimes find myself with not enough tasks, while everyone on the team is extremely busy. This means that sometimes they are almost too busy to give or explain new tasks to me so I could actually help them out with taking some of the pressure off. It was only then, I realised how much stress all these campaigns bring with them.
Learning by doing
I entered a new world: days starting with the search for an available desk. However from then on: you never exactly know what a day at the office could bring. One of the funniest experiences I had so far was going around the whole building to present the best practices gender report and hand everybody some chocolates to celebrate the launch. It was a nice way to learn about what people at all the different departments are doing. Just by the questions people asked in the first room, I realised what I should tell the next room. I realised that that is probably just the way it works when starting at Oxfam: learning by doing. It feels a little strange at the beginning but actually I do like working in this practical way. I am curious to what the rest of the internship will bring.
Lonneke Michiels
“Written by Lonneke Michiels, who is interning at Oxfam Novib’s Behind the Brands campaign. She studied international development studies in Wageningen and is passionate about sustainable trade and justice. She spend two months doing thesis research in China and speaks English, Dutch and French. Lonneke has a thirst for practical knowledge, seeking to experience as much of the world as she can and always ready for a new challenge. “
