In early July this year, the professional course teacher posted a recruitment information in the WeChat group. Jiangxi Shengyi Technology Co., Ltd. is recruiting human resources interns, with priority given to class cadres. My first reaction was very excited because few companies can provide short-term internship opportunities, especially in our field, which is rare. I signed up with the teacher that day and asked the teacher to submit my resume. About 10 days later, I received an interview invitation and then started my internship at the company.
From July 18th to August 23rd, about a month of internship, I met many people, did a lot of work, and learned a lot. As my first internship job in my life and my first contact with work related to my major, I want to record my experience and thoughts as a memento.
Starting the Internship#
There was a small episode at the beginning due to communication problems with the timing. I arrived in Jiujiang after 12 o'clock in the evening on July 18th and stayed in a hotel near the company. The next morning, I went to the designated hospital for a medical examination, and then returned to the company to attend pre-job training and complete the entry procedures.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly until I entered the dormitory with my luggage and looked at the bare bed and desk. A sense of unfamiliarity and loss suddenly arose. Here, I didn't know anyone, everything was unfamiliar and unknown. After unpacking, I sat down and suddenly a question appeared in my mind: Is it the right choice to come here for an internship? One week later, I found the answer.
During the Internship#
On the first day of entering the company, the biggest impression I had was strictness, including strict hygiene and confidentiality. As a visitor entering the company, I needed to register and cover the camera on my phone; when entering the office building, I needed to change into clean shoes. Since I didn't have shoes, I wore shoe covers; if I didn't have permission, I couldn't enter certain areas. After thinking about it, I realized that the company is in a leading position in the industry and certain things must be kept strictly confidential.
It's interesting that the dormitory, office, and cafeteria are all in the same building. The dormitory is on the 5th floor, the office is on the 3rd floor, and the cafeteria is on the 1st floor. If you don't go out, you're in the same building 24 hours a day.
The department I was in is called the Human Resources and Administration Department, abbreviated as HRAD. I used to think that the human resources department only had administrative assistants, recruitment specialists, compensation specialists, performance specialists, etc., but different companies have different arrangements. In my department, there are also personnel responsible for logistics and infrastructure, such as managing the cafeteria, dormitories, and company facilities.
On the first day of formal work, I met with the supervisor and manager under the guidance of the supervisor. He asked me which of the six modules of human resources I liked. I was at a loss at that time because I had no practical work experience and couldn't say which one I liked. I just wanted to start from the beginning, so I said recruitment work. In the following month, I learned recruitment with the recruitment specialist in the department and helped the HR assistant with other work during my free time.
The main tasks that occupied most of my time were:
- Interviewing general workers
- Handling entry procedures (including pre-job training, signing labor contracts)
- Organizing files
As a manufacturing company, the main product is copper-clad laminate. Although most of the work is automated, manual assistance is still needed. Because the workload is large and the work is hard, the turnover rate of employees is quite high, so we almost have recruitment for general workers every week.
We would release recruitment information on weekends, conduct interviews on Mondays, announce the results in the afternoon, and then arrange for those who passed the interview to go to the hospital for a medical examination on Tuesday, return to the company for training, and complete the entry procedures on Wednesday before officially starting work...
On Monday, I accompanied my colleague who was in charge of recruitment to interview candidates, and then we screened them together and sent out medical examination notices. After completing the pre-job training on Tuesday, we arranged an open-book exam, and on Wednesday, we led the newly hired employees to sign employee handbooks, labor contracts, and other documents. After completing these tasks, we started entering the personal information of new employees into the system.
Before that, I had registered on the job information websites of more than 70 universities for the upcoming campus recruitment. It was a simple but cumbersome task to find the job information website of each school, register, and save the account and password. Some websites required review, so I had to log in every one or two days to check if the review was approved.
During my free time, I would search for suitable candidates on Zhongpin, BOSS Zhipin, and 51job, invite them to submit resumes, and arrange interviews. This made me think of the invitations I often received from others on these recruitment platforms. At first, I thought they were just completing performance tasks, but in reality, they had job vacancies, which is why they invited me persistently.
There was also an interesting task. My colleague gave me many personnel files of people who had previously applied to the company and were successfully hired, but for various reasons, they did not choose to join. So I had to call them again and ask if they were currently looking for a job and if they were interested in the company's positions. At first, I was worried that I would be scolded, but fortunately, the other party was polite and courteous. Some politely declined, while others wanted to continue the conversation and added me on WeChat.
One day during lunch, I happened to sit with the supervisor and we chatted. The supervisor mentioned that out of the 7 people in our department, only 1 person majored in human resources management, and the rest were related to chemistry and chemical engineering. I was quite surprised and asked why people who were not from the relevant major would also work in this field. The supervisor explained that most of them had transferred from the company's technical department to the HR department. In other words, they had worked in the company's technical department for many years and had an understanding of the company's products, business, and technology before transitioning to HR work. This has its advantages, mainly being familiar with the company's business and departments, making HR work smoother. However, compared to people with a major in human resources management, they lack more specialized knowledge because they did not study this field in school.
I also remembered what my colleague who worked in recruitment told me. If you major in human resources management in college, try to work in this field in the future. For HR professionals, studying human resources management but not working in HR is a big taboo in this industry.
In addition to completing recruitment-related work, I also participated in the onboarding process for new employees. This included collecting and registering personal information, entering it into the company's SAP system, and organizing paper files.
August was the company's corporate culture month, and I mainly participated in three activities. On August 17th, there was a voluntary blood donation activity. Since I lived in the company dormitory, I got up early to help move things and set up the venue. After breakfast, I also registered to donate 300ml of blood. Employees who participated in blood donation would receive welfare gifts from the company, such as a bucket of oil, a box of milk, and two bottles of honey, with a choice of three. The city blood center would also give out gifts based on the amount of blood donated, such as a bottle of Pocari Sweat, a set of bowls or cups, etc. I thought to myself, this is a lot of benefits, I almost earned back the blood I donated. There was also a free bowl of pig liver soup.
On August 19th, there was the 4th Family Open Day, where employees could bring their families to visit the company, see the production process, and play and eat together. As a staff member, I participated in some work arrangements. This year's theme was "Passionate Work, Warm Life". At first glance, it may not seem significant, but upon closer inspection, I realized that these two are interdependent and complementary.
The last event was the first King of Glory e-sports competition, which started on August 1st. There were few people in our department who played, so we borrowed three players from the technical center. We made it to the semifinals, but on the day of the semifinals, the team members were all working overtime and didn't have time to coordinate, so it seemed like we were automatically disqualified (after leaving the company, I heard from my colleague that they rescheduled the match, and we won the semifinals, waiting for the next match to compete for the championship).
For specific details and reports, you can visit the official WeChat account of Jiangxi Shengyi Technology Co., Ltd.
End of the Internship#
Returning to the question I had at the beginning of the internship: Is it the right choice to come here for an internship?
My answer is - yes, it was the right choice.
This internship taught me the first lesson of adapting to the environment. From the initial confusion and unfamiliarity to the current familiarity and habit, I learned to accept and adapt slowly because the environment is unchangeable, and we can only adjust our mindset to adapt to it. After living in the dormitory for a long time, I became accustomed to my bed and desk; after sitting in the office for a long time, I became familiar with its layout and routes; as for the cafeteria food, the more I ate, the more accustomed I became, and every day at mealtime, I would wonder what dishes would be served. Communicating with colleagues more, I realized that making new friends is a simple thing.
In the future, we will face unknown environments and unfamiliar people, whether it is a startup company or a well-established corporation, whether it is experienced professionals or inexperienced rookies. Adapting to the environment is one of the necessary skills.
Secondly, I call it "learning to be content". Many people get tired of their work and feel that work is tiring and exhausting, but I focus more on the relaxation after exhaustion.
After completing the tasks assigned by the leaders, returning to the dormitory, taking a shower, listening to favorite music, or eating delicious snacks, or doing nothing and just lying on the bed and falling asleep, this is also a kind of pleasure, the pleasure brought by work. From another perspective, busy work makes our lives more fulfilling, and the day is no longer wasted and idle.
During the internship, I didn't have many tasks to do, and I completed them quickly, but I enjoyed the process. Although the work I did was not particularly important, it allowed me to understand what human resources management specifically involves and how to do it. Don't complain about work, focus on the work itself and the value it brings.
Thirdly, build courage and challenge yourself. As I mentioned earlier, making phone calls to people who previously applied to the company and were successfully hired requires a certain amount of courage. You have to risk being scolded when calling them and asking, "Are you currently looking for a job?" This can be offensive to some people. At first, I needed to think about what to say before the call, write down the key information on paper, and then read it out according to the written words. The more calls I made, the more fluent I became, and I became less nervous and afraid.
Learn more, do more, ask more - these were the six words my teacher reminded me of before the internship, and my colleague also taught me these six words during the internship. After the internship, I realized that these six words should be carried throughout our lives, whether it is work or life, we should strive to learn more, do more, and ask more.