【NCCJ News】First group of students from the Norwegian School of Economics complete their internship with the NCCJ, Laerdal Medical and AVR
Last November NCCJ signed an internship agreement with the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). NHH currently has a student exchange program with multiple Japanese universities and regularly sends students to Japan. In an effort to make the Japanese exchange semester even more relevant and educational, NHH seeks to provide its students with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience through their new «Internship Abroad Program». The program enables students to work as interns for companies outside Norway prior to, or during, their exchange semester.
This spring NHH had four students working as interns in Tokyo. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, all students were able to complete their internship. Below is a brief report on what the interns did during their internships. Some working for the NCCJ directly and others for NCCJ members.
Following are the 4 students reports on their internships and what experiences the gained through them.
Andreas Nesheim, sophomore, Internship at Laerdal Medical Japan
Spending six weeks as an intern at Laerdal Medical Japan was a fantastic opportunity to gain invaluable work experience. As an intern I was tasked with multiple assignments. Some of my tasks included supporting the organising of the Annual General Meeting of the NCCJ, and producing an internal promotional video for Laerdal about their new cloud-based solution for the Asia-Pacific region. My main task however, was to prepare and give a presentation on Norway and about Norwegian business culture for the employees at Laerdal and for Equinor New Energy Branch Japan, a member of the NCCJ. This in an effort to better their understanding of the Norwegian approach to commerce and what to expect when working for a Norwegian company.
My presentation was well received and is to be implemented as a part of NCCJ’s upcoming «NCCJ Academy». When I later learned that the NCCJ’s General Manager was supposed to hold a Cultural Awareness Seminar for the employees of Equinor based on my work, I convinced him to let me come along. On June 19th, we led the seminar together. It was by far the longest and most substantial presentation I have ever done but it also provided me with an immense sense of accomplishment and is something which I am truly proud of.
Returning from Japan I am left with experiences that will help me better understand cultural differences in the workplace, truly realising what an asset diversity really is. Being the odd one out of a homogenous majority, I have also become more confident in my own abilities, an experience that will be equally valuable regardless of where I might find myself in the future.
William Sletsjø, sophomore, Internship at Laerdal Medical Japan
My name is William and I spent 6 weeks as an intern at Laerdal Medical Japan in the spring of 2020. As an intern, I was directly supervised by Svend Haakon Kristensen, the Managing Director of Laerdal Japan and Chairperson of the NCCJ. The work I did consisted of two main projects, as well as some minor various tasks. My main individual project was to collect data and statistics that is relevant to the products Laerdal Medical provide. The purpose of this was to create a fact sheet for the health and demographic situation in Japan and Asia Pacific, and to make it easily presentable to show the relevance of Laerdal Medical’s products and their potential for growth. As I had previously no experience in researching for this kind of data, it came with a steep learning curve, but which was all the more satisfying to master as the results took place. Everything that I learned throughout the process of the completing this project made this a very rewarding task to work on.
The second project was shared between Andreas (the other intern from NHH at Laerdal Medical) and myself. We were to make a short film to present “Cloud First”, which is Laerdal Medical Japan’s transition going cloud based with their software product. With guidance and input from Svend Haakon, we got to experience the creative process of making a short film. During this project I also got to interact more with the employees at Laerdal Medical Japan in the form of interviewing them, which was a pleasant and fun experience.
I greatly enjoyed my stay at Laerdal Medical Japan, and I am grateful for the creative freedom, flexibility and trust I got when working on my tasks. During my internship I have gained valuable insight in a company and industry I previously had little to no knowledge about. It was very interesting to learn about and experience the company philosophy of Laerdal Medical, and the goals they continue strive for. They showed me the value of a strong vision, and that wanting to be a positive force in the world will ultimately be reflected through a positive company culture. This was an inspiring and important experience I will take with me and make use of throughout my career.
Erik Tønnesen, sophomore, Internship at AVR Japan
During my time in Japan, I was an intern at AVR Japan. AVR Japan provides enterprise solutions within AR and VR technology. Overall my experience was great. Firstly, I gained insight and knowledge about an industry which will undoubtedly become a bigger part of our everyday life in the years to come. In addition to this, as AVR Japan is a Japanese company, I learned a lot about Japanese business culture. A better understanding of foreign cultures and intercultural communication is certainly a very valuable lesson when establishing relations with both Japanese and other foreigners in my future career path.
I had several different tasks during my internship. Being a business student, I got to apply my quantitative and qualitative skills by analysing several different markets. Identifying opportunities was an important aspect while making these reports. Other tasks ranged from helping co-workers with translations of documents to English, to attending a week-long business event in Shin-Kiba. I certainly did a lot of different things during my time at AVR Japan. I loved the fact that I was given a lot of autonomy and freedom while working with my tasks. Through this, I got to improve my problem solving skills by being creative, an experience I am sure to benefit from in the future.
Thea Mortensen Holien, sophomore, Internship at NCCJ
I was an intern for 5 weeks at NCCJ. I have also done some small tasks as a result of a voluntary agreement, after the 5 weeks. My internship consisted of assisting the General Manager Simen Aasen, and the tasks were varied. I also got the opportunity to get to know Team Norway. In order to perform the tasks, I had to learn some new software. I used Mailchimp when sending out membership fee invoices. Squarespace was also something I learned when dealing with small, continuous updates to the website, such as when new members were added. Furthermore, I made good use of my computer and Excel skills and knowledge I had gained at NHH going through spreadsheets related to revenues, expenses and financial statements.
During the five weeks I gained a good insight and overview of large parts of the Norwegian-Japanese business community in Japan. This invaluable experience has provided me with a better understanding of the Japanese work life and its distinct business culture. I am left with an experience that I am certain I will benefit from in the future. It was a pleasure to work with and get to know Simen, and the rest of the embassy staff.
I look forward to seeing you again, and I look forward to hopefully joining the Norwegian-Japanese business community in Japan sometime after graduating from NHH.
From the left: Thea Mortensen Holien, Andreas Nesheim and William Sletsjø.
NCCJ wants to thank all the 4 students from NHH for their enthusiasm, professionalism and hard work during their interships. We are looking forward to welcoming new students from NHH in the future and to continue our successful and mutually beneficial collaboration.