Well, this is perhaps the goal that I was the most concerned with. It seemed the hardest to nail down, and because of that I had to consider quite a few different options. The hardest factor was that I was looking for an internship that would give me a lot of international interaction in a business management setting. Those are very difficult to find when it's not part of a program that you have to pay for.
For a while I was considering going to Mexico as a direct enrollment exchange student, and doing an internship program through the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). It was a really exciting opportunity. Dreaming of going abroad again and working in an international company was something from my dreams, but there were also little things that made it difficult to really consider.
I'll admit it was nerve-wracking to think that I may be abroad when I should be getting my career started, finding a place to live, and wrapping up everything with my offers. Not to mention, to go to Mexico, I was going to have to pay extra tuition, and I would have to fly back to Utah for my graduation, back to Mexico to finish the semester, and back to Utah again for the rest of my life. With all of these things together with everything that I've got going on now and I'd like to continue, Mexico was more of a back-up plan and a nice dream than anything else.
Well, diligent searching of the online job postings lead me to find a humanitarian organization that was looking to take on interns. In the post, they mentioned that they were looking for someone to interact with the case workers in Guatemala. I applied for the position, and immediately sent an e-mail to the director, informing him that I was interested in starting immediately. We scheduled the interview within the next week (and the same week I had to give my final decision on Mexico), and not only did I get the position, but I also got it approved through the Global Management Certificate Office. Big Heart Humanitarian is still in the growth phase, so I will be able to have a lot of interaction with Guatemala, as well as an influence in the management and organization of the non-profit.
I have yet to really start my first day (I've done a few small things here and there), but I'm really excited about it. I am also really impressed with the work of Excend Consulting, one of our partners. They cover our overhead costs, which is marvelous, and it allows all money raised to be given to the children (yes, I'm working in an unpaid position). If you want to learn more about either of the organizations, visit http://www.bighearthumanitarian.com or http://www.excend.com.
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