I think I should probably talk about my internship and what are my missions / tasks. So let's begin by ... the beginning.
I would like to apologize before beginning this article because I know I got a lot of stuff to tell you so the article will not be as clear as I wanted it to be... I will speak about different subjects so you have to be really aware if you want to understand ... :)
The center of the city, where you can find bars, clubs, crowded streets in the night are far away from me (1 hour by metro). I actually live in the eastern part of Seoul, in a residential and pretty neighborhood where you can find houses (little 3 floors buildings). I think this map will be useful if you want to figure out how is seoul. I take a metro map because I think it's easier to explain on it than on a real satellite map
So my internship company is located near to my house and it takes actually 20 minutes door to door to go there. I'm kind of lucky because the bulk of the employees are commuting like 2 hours every day to go to work and then come back home.
So I'm working from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 6. I get a break for lunch (from 12 to 1 PM), and usually I'm eating with some fellows in restaurants. Lunch time is very special because koreans are really shy and don't want to speak english in front of you even if they're actually speaking well english !!! so for lunch, fellows talk to me in English but 60% of the time is an only korean speaking time sooooo I try to understand what they say, I try to imagine their conversation but that's really hard ...Korean people are also really strict concerning lunch time and time in general. I mean, they will never be late at work, they've to be there a 9, and they're ALL there at 9. Moreover, if employees are ahead, they will not take a coffee or spend some time with fellows. If they arrive at 8:46 they begin to work at 8:46 ...
Also, lunch time is at 12, so at 12:00 everybody take his coat and leave the office. This is like an automatism, maybe the asian automatism, it's hard to explain but they're so steady concerning hours !!!! They seem to have a developed intern alarm which tell them 'time to go, time to go'... One day, I was on the phone at 12, and when I came back in the office, right it was 12:04, there was nobody in the office, so I needed to eat by myself because everybody has been leaving the building at 12.
Another example would be interesting : at home, every day we get EXACTLY the same scheme (with maybe 5 minutes difference) :
8 AM : Breakfast
12 : Lunch
7 PM : Diner
so I don't want to generalize that because I don't get the hindsight to do that, but I really think that the majority of korean families are following the same scheme.
So, let's just come back to my internship. I began to work in January, and I will stop it at the end of february, just a day before my university welcoming day.
However the other days are really interesting. I don't get one special mission to achieve during this internship, but I got lots of tasks. Usually, employees come to see me, at my desk, asking me if I can do some researches for them. Here are the main tasks that I've done since I'm working here :
- Creating a brochure where were referenced all international architects awards (Heerim wants to improve his international influence and thus wanted to apply for different awards)
- Creating a presentation about major competitors (SOM, Gensler, HOK, Nikken Sekkei ...)
- Analyzing the 2011 financial statement and creating following the 2010 model the data basis for the Heerim website financial section (assets, liabilities, stock holder's equity and incomes)
- Creating a presentation and a document about Green architecture (more than 70% of the urban pollution comes from building pollution so architect companies have to find out new ways to build greener buildings, using new technologies, new materials ...)
So Heerim is today the 20th best architect company in the world so that means that the company is generating growing incomes. First, the company was only a korean-based company (just doing business in Korea) but these last 10 years have been marked by an increasing openness to international markets.
Today, Heerim is mainly working in Asia (with works in Japan, China, Hong-kong, Malaysia, Singapore ...) but also in the USA.
Ah, and for the anecdote, even if I'm working in an architect company, even if the building itself and the ground floor are clearly reflected the idea of architecture with style, beautiful materials, colors and forms, when you go upstairs to the higher floors, the magnificent architectural building is moving into a completely standard office building without any effort to make it beautiful ... I mean, some places are really cold without any heating, we can hear the wind everywhere passing through the windows or I don't what, I' working in a noisy open space and I can't get how the 20th best architecture company which creates amazing building can build his own building this way ...Oh and another funny thing by the way : I think that korean people are really involved in their job, they're really loyal to the company that hire them. To motivate Heerim employees, leaders decided to put some messages on hum ... let's say specials spaces ... So when you go to the restrooms, in front of you, I mean 50 cm in front of you, you got like an A3 sheet where you can read about Heerim :
Asia's n°1 & Global n°5 by 2015
Best Design & CM Service Provider by integrated corporate system
Enhance Marketing capability
Strenghten Design & CM Competency
Implement Quality insurance Program
Sistemize Project Management
Followed by these 4 words (Uppercase, bold, XXL)
PEOPLE EXCELLENCE CREATIVITY SUSTAINABILITY
This message is really interesting because it's completely reflecting the way that korean people want to be the best, everywhere, in every sector, in every business. I think it's quite funny that employees are motivated in the restrooms ... This is actually like a big propaganda, like a brain storming, because, you're seeing this message like at least 4 times a day, 20 times a week, 80 times a month.... So, one day I really think you get the message, you know it by heart and you want to be part of that process.
No comments:
Post a Comment