Alexander Mackaay, UA, Trainee in USA

Posted by admin in AIESEC Stories, International Internship Experience     

Aug
3

Hi AIESEC !

I’m Alexander Mackaay and I’m part of Aiesec UA in Antwerp, Belgium.  At the moment I’m in the USA and doing an internship in Minneapolis, Minnesota a beautiful city full of surprises and surrounded with a lot of nature! I work downtown at CH Robinson, a third party logistics provider. I could subscribe my internship as ‘transportation sales’. I try to move all kinds of goods around the US, and especially going to the west (California, Nevada,….) because I’m in the west zone. So what I do? All day long I’m in contact with trucking companies and try to convince them to ship our loads. At the same I also need to take care that my goods arrive well and solve all kinds of problems and issues that could come up during a shipment (you would be surprised how many there are).  So what am I especially developing/learning? I think the ability to build business relationships, a lot of negotiation skills, team work, being patient and of course a lot about the transportation/logistics industry. This internship gives me a good insight how it is to work with the American spirit (slightly different than the European) and to live abroad where you need to do everything yourself. I think doing an internship increases your independence and also makes you think outside the box.

I would say, go and do international internship, you will never regret it and you will gain new experiences and meet new interesting people!