Moi Panda: Internship experience and work life
My name is Alex and I am a Marketing student at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences working at Moi Panda. Originally, I was born and raised in America. Moving and acclimating to Finland was a difficulty at first, but I quickly made friends and connections that made it feel more like home. School was not very difficult to get used to as it was similar enough to my experiences in the United States, but the work culture was a different story entirely. I had trouble finding positions that did not require Finnish language skills, and I did not have professional connections to get my foot in the door. I was very nervous I would not gather the internship hours that are required by my university to graduate. Luckily I saw an internship posting for an international company and I applied as soon as I could. That company was Moi Panda and since then I have had the opportunity to finally put my skills to use, at a company that is doing meaningful work.
I have been working here for two months now, and I have had the chance to hone my professional skills in a multitude of ways. Moi Panda is a startup which means that there is not a massive workforce within the company as of present, and this is actually extremely advantageous for me. It has given me the chance to complete many different tasks in and around the world of marketing. I have filmed and participated in videos about the company, created social media content, studied analytics and marketing strategies, and so much more. This is the main reason that I enjoy this position, because I get to explore what tasks I enjoy and which I do not. I would likely not get the chance to do this in a large corporation, and I am extremely grateful that this is one of my first jobs in the professional field I am entering. This way I now know exactly what kind of positions I would enjoy and would perform well in.
Being an international company, I also am working with a diverse team of coworkers. The best thing about this is that everyone was born and raised in different environments, and everyone has different school and work experiences. This gives our team much more perspective and a lot more creativity. We all think, act, and are fundamentally different people who all have unique ways of problem solving and performing tasks. We challenge each other to not only be better, but to think differently than we normally do. This has definitely been one of my favorite aspects of the position. A job should push you to develop new skills. It should force you to do new things, to think in new ways. If you do not learn anything from a job then that job has failed you, or it is not the right position for you. I now know that I am never going to sell myself short or become complacent in my career. I will continue to push and develop myself just as I have during my time at Moi Panda.
Overall, I am just happy to have had this opportunity. It has given me the chance to hone many different abilities, all of which I believe are going to help me for the rest of my professional career. I am extremely grateful that I had this opportunity because I genuinely now feel more confident and ready to become part of the workforce. I often doubted myself, but after being able to put my skills into practice and helping to develop a company with a mission I believe in, I now feel as though I am truly ready to begin my professional career.
Alex Endersen | Creative Digital Marketing Intern
