Internship 2012

Having finished my exams and being back in Copenhagen, it is time to embark on the next phase in life: summer 2012. Most of that will be spent on working for Procter & Gamble, the enormous global multi-brand firm. I have chosen an internship in order to regain some financial security before I head out to the States, but I chose this specific one to get a better understanding of working for and life in a global firm.

I have pretty much been employed for the past 10 years, except when travels or boarding school did not allow it. This, however, will be my first experience with a larger company, and it shone through on day one. The structure and uniformity of all electronics, software, and facilities meant that all computers, conference rooms, and phones were pretty much identical. This is super practical: The monitors are all set up for the same screen dimensions, and there is power cords installed so one does not have to bring their own.

Of course the size also makes things more bureaucratic. Loads of forms had to be filled out and signed. Everything you want / need for your work, both physically and electronically, has to be requested and signed of on; other jobs simply gave you an extra apron if you needed it. I don’t mind it, not least because the flow of information seems to be extremely efficient, but it would simply be impossible to retain costs if tens of thousands of employees worldwide were allowed to supply their own power-cords or USB cables. Nor is it, thank God, not over the top: Pens, paper, printing and general office supplies are free for all.

The most impressive event on my first day was their gesture of providing me with hotel / plane tickets for Stockholm the following day. Since the Denmark office is part of P&G Nordic, they gather all their interns at their main office in Stockholm for 3 days of ”onboarding” (explaining the company, the divisions, provide training courses, meeting country leaders, answering questions, etc.). So before I contributed anything to the company, I flew out of Copenhagen Tuesday morning. It might not seem like that much, but for a new guy, it shows a lot of goodwill and faith in my abilities. Hopefully I won’t disappoint.:)