The trend has definitely changed. Amidst the hectic days of final exams, students not so long back ago were trying hard to squeeze in travelling plans for the holidays. If it wasn’t those famous backpacking trips to Europe or a challenging excursion to the famous Korean mountains, it was definitely day after day of nonstop skiing. Of course, there were the one or two rare instances that would try to fit in an English hakwon somewhere in between, but the general trend was focused on rest and relaxation, in other words, having fun. Like its name, the purpose of vacations was to “vacate” oneself from the demanding and stressful academia and recuperate oneself before the upcoming semester.
This is no longer the common picture. Nowadays, more and more SNU students are using their vacation to participate in an internship, take up a part time job or contribute to community service. Between the overnight preparations for their last exams of the year, students now have to find time to revise their resumes and search the web for working opportunities. The reason for this varies. Some want to gain real-life experience. Others want to know whether they made the right choice before they graduate and take up a career in that field. In order to know more about the changing trends outside campus, we met with three SNU students to hear of their experiences and gain insight into their thoughts.

INTERNSHIP
Although a common phenomenon in worldwide universities, student internship in Korea is only a recent trend. Nevertheless, there are no questions as to whether it is a growing trend. Before, only a handful of firms, mostly well-known global companies, provided internship opportunities for their prospective workers. Every year, more companies are opening up some of their positions to university students who want to learn through experience what it takes to work in their company. Joon-kyu Lee, a third year student from the SNU College of Education, speaks of his experiences as an intern in a consulting firm.

Q: What kind of company are you working for? What kind of work do you do there?
A:
I am currently taking an internship at a local strategic consulting firm. Its focuses are on construction and telecommunications among other business sectors and industries.
The past few weeks have been very exciting and instructional. The team that I am with is devising a marketing strategy immediately after an M&A (mergers & acquisitions) and so I was able to see firsthand how two distinct companies come together as one company, and how the people, resources, and culture combine to form synergy. It makes me proud that I participated in such an important process.

Q: It seems as if taking up an internship during the winter or summer vacation is a must these days. Some praise such a trend, while others are against this, saying that young students should not be tainted by the monetary world at too young an age. What are your thoughts?

A:
Yes, I am well aware of the various praises and criticisms. The responses I receive from my close friends and peers are no different. I’m not saying that I’m shunning ideals and turning into a mammonite, but I believe there definitely are non-monetary benefits of taking up an internship; most are usually more important than money. For me, I sincerely wanted to test myself to see if I really wanted to pursue a career in consulting. Considering my major, a “normal” course of action would be becoming either a middle or high school teacher. Or, if I was interested in working for the government, like many SNU students are regardless of their major, I would be studying for gosi (the national exams for civil service). So it’s rather rare for someone in my major to be interested in business. Therefore, although I have a certain passion towards the study of business, I still have looming doubts is this really the right way. So this internship opportunity is a way for me to gain confidence in taking the road less taken. To answer your question, in a sense, I’m doing this to find out if this career path is actually something I really want.

Q: I’ve heard that Korean companies frequently have dinners together after work frequently called hweshik (회식). Please share with our readers some of your more interesting incidents.
A:
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of hweshik. Although I see the importance of team building in any kind of organization, hweshik sometimes goes overboard. The excessive drinking late into the night, and the mental burden on the juniors to form a jovial atmosphere is something I do not enjoy. Not to mention that it takes away from the quality time spent with family and friends.
On the other hand, I would be lying if I said I didn’t like it altogether. Apart from waking up the next morning with a hangover and the poktanju shots (mixed liquor, usually a combination of whisky and beer), the noraebang tends to be quite entertaining.
I did however, have some issues with the pouring and the drinking of drinks. In Korea, there is something called ju-do, which is the way of drinking. These basic manners and etiquette are used as indicators to the education you have received, as well as what kind of person you are. Going against the ju-do is very disrespectful so when sons and daughters reach the legal drinking age, their fathers or grandfathers often teach them the proper ways in drinking, including things such as how to use two hands when a senior pours you a drink and how not to leave the others’ glasses empty, which are all codes of the way of drinking. But, as most of my drinking experiences were with friends and at parties, it was difficult to act as I had been taught. I had to constantly ask myself whether what I was doing was in accordance with the ju-do

Q:
When did you come to feel comfortable in the organization? What was the turning point which made you feel that you “belong”?
A:
I think getting accustomed to an organization is a gradual process. At first, things were not easy. Being new to the company, we were rarely called by our names. In the first couple of weeks, interns were called either “interns” or “RAs (research assistants)”. And since it was a very competitive environment, there was little time for chit-chat.
But time passes, and naturally I had opportunities to interact with most of my co-workers. If we were assigned to the same project, we usually worked to a similar timetable and therefore saw each other throughout the day. To sum up, there wasn’t a moment of enlightenment when I felt I really belonged to the place. Weeks passed and before I realized it I got to know most of the people and felt comfortable as a team.

Q:
Compared to school, which is more demanding? Which do you feel is more valuable?
A:
I would say it is very difficult to determine the value of any experience, but I can comfortably comment on which is tougher. In regards to the mental aspect and the daily life, work is much worse than school. However the work and content itself is less difficult, and the information I handle and the data I collect here is not as demanding as the preparations I make for class. The depth of discussions in work is just about as deep as they get at school, if not slightly less. However this is probably because I’m in an entry level job, but for comparison’s sake, work itself is much more laid back.
Nevertheless, I have to say that prefer school to work. At my current job, the average time at which I return home is around midnight. Going to the office during weekends is not a rare occasion. I’m also confronted with deadline after deadline. And being that I am part of a bigger organization, I cannot and do not know all the work that needs to be done. Therefore I can’t pace myself nor can I set clear priorities. When I’m done with one piece of work, I’m sent off to do another.

Q:
Final question: What is the most unexpected outcome of your internship?
A:
I gained weight. Working fifteen hours a day, from nine to twelve, I rarely have time to work out. Working at a desk job makes it difficult for me to burn the calories. I just hope I can get back in shape before summer is here!

Written by SNU English Editors