The COVID-19 pandemic meant that Candice Choi and Catalina Yang had to do a long-distance, or remote, internship with Gateway Consulting Limited of Istanbul, Turkey. The strategy and investment consultancy engaged the pair to work on a global promotion and marketing programme for its soon-to-be-launched human resources management system (HRMS) mobile app. Their part of the campaign primarily targeted the mainland China market, where the HRMS app, featuring multiple AI-powered functions for staff roster planning, leave applications and payroll management, was expected to attract plenty of interest. “Based on the original content written in English, we worked on the Chinese version of the marketing materials, translating the text into simplified Chinese characters.” Choi says.
“We worked very well as a team,” Yang recalls. “We simply split up the translation jobs equally and supported each other. For instance, when Candice did the translation, I would do the proofreading.”
The more challenging part of the project was doing in-depth market research. The objective there was to look into product-specific areas, comparing apps which might compete with HRMS, assessing the prospects for future market development, and looking at investment cycles. “Although I had taken a marketing course, it only scratched the surface,” Choi says. “When I encountered unclear parts, I would consult with Catalina. We would then talk to our supervisor in Istanbul for further guidance after coming to a mutual understanding.”
“To ensure nothing was lost in the long-distance verbal communication, our supervisor often provided recaps of our discussions in clear and concise bullet points.” Yang says.
The pair agree that the project was an eye-opening experience for them in a number of ways. “Primarily, we had to focus on translation, which gave us solid work experience to be included in our CVs,” Choi says. “But it was also a chance to strengthen our technical competencies, and the additional market research tasks let us show our versatility. And by successfully accomplishing each of the tasks, we should have more career options in future.”
Yang adds that the experience taught them about the workplace competencies and the importance of good communication skills. “This internship gave us practical experience of using English to communicate in a workplace setting, which is different from casual conversation because workplace communication requires a much higher level of clarity.” Yang says.
