International Internship / Gap year Agencies (Your experiences?)

Hi guys,

My name is Lukas and I am a recent graduate from Aston University (Birmingham, UK). I returned from a 5 month internship placement in Argentina last month, and was less than happy with the agency that organized the experience for me. I paid almost US $2000 and basically only got an "OK" internship out of it. I did not utilize the other services that were promised as they turned out to be rather useless.

Anyway to get to my point. I decided to do something about the overpriced international internship offerings which seem to dominate the market. However, I only have my own frustration to consider what I would like to change about the current offerings.

Therefore, I would love to know how you guys feel about international internships?

What are you looking for in an agency?

Have you conducted one before?

If you haven't, why not?

What frustration have you had with such agencies in the past?

I would really appreciate if you guys could share your experiences with me.

Cheers,

Lukas

Hi,

I went with connect 123, out of all the overpriced services this one was amongst the most affordable but still cost me a ton. The internship itself was ok, I was presented with admin tasks at the beginning by earned my keep my improving some of the long running processes and was then asked to work on the firms business model. However, most people will just be conducting admin work. I have worked for a large mutlinational (in Germany) in the past on a 6 month placement (part of my degree back then), which was paid well and where I learned a lot more.

Overall, conducting an internship overseas is hugely valuable, employers really love it (got my dream job in part due to having worked in Germany and Argentina).

I am now in the process of setting up a company (wordlyintern.com), that will provide paid professional internships abroad (minus the redicilous fees for applicants). We are still developing the website (hasnt gone live yet), and tweaking the business model.

Either way, if you are considering an internship abroad in the next few months, take your time an look around (my advice would be to apply directly to a firm and avoid the fees).

Fee free to ask me for any advice!