Internship Story at SMDC, an Overseas Real Estate Developer

Eiji Kobayashi (21), university student, internship (4 weeks) at SMDC (real estate developer), English level 1 (Low Beginner) → level 2 (High Beginner)

I’m interning at SMDC, a Philippine real estate developer.

Why did you decide to do an internship?

I strongly want to become someone who can work internationally in the future. With that in mind, I felt that working at an overseas company with a completely different language, values and corporate culture would be a great chance to learn many things. Especially for language, I wanted to learn living English by actually using it in business rather than just studying at a desk.

Also, it’s undoubtedly a rare experience for an unskilled university student to work at a giant Asian company. I was also attracted by the flexible arrangements regarding cost and being able to work for a longer period (one month in my case), which led me to join this internship.

What did you learn from your internship?

Right after the internship began, I could hardly speak or understand English, so I wasn’t given work on my own. So I actively approached people and asked for work, and gradually I was given tasks I could do, such as organizing checks. Completing each task one by one led to the next.

Through this experience, I realized that acting proactively and actively is important. Even without understanding English precisely, I felt the attitude of reaching out and learning by yourself matters. I also realized that a responsible, steady approach to any task creates the next job and produces results.

Based on your internship, what skills do you feel you need to improve?

I learned that my business-level English needs further improvement. Communication in English at work requires speed in responding. Communicating quickly with employees was the hardest part.

More specifically, I felt improving my vocabulary is essential. As I continued the internship and language lessons in parallel, I felt communication gradually becoming smoother, so I want to keep putting myself in environments where I actively use English. Through the internship I noticed many things I lack, and I’ll keep working to improve.

Did you prepare anything before the internship?

Nothing in particular. If anything, I brought short-sleeved dress shirts, but I was about the only one wearing them in the office, so I switched to polo shirts partway through. I had exams right before departure, and in the rush my document preparation was seriously delayed, causing inconvenience. Even so, they supported me, and I traveled safely and completed the program. Thank you very much.

This time you also took one-on-one language study along with the internship. Please tell us the good and bad points.

Because people from leading companies use the training, the lesson themes — business, finance, marketing, economics — were directly related to practice, which was great. I often used words I’d studied in lessons when talking with SMDC employees, so the lessons gave me skills I could use immediately at work.

Also, the Speech Workshop I joined as part of the program was really educational. At first I was nervous about a student like me joining speeches with working professionals, but I gained a lot about how to present and respond. I’m glad I took on the challenge.

How much did you spend living in Manila? Breakdown (e.g. transport, food, entertainment)

Transport (per day): about 300–500 PHP

Food (per day): about 600 PHP (lunch and dinner)

Entertainment: about 8,000 PHP — only some Uniqlo clothes and drinks. I also went sightseeing, but museums were free.

Was there anything inconvenient or troublesome about living in the Philippines? Also, is there anything about the internship that needs improvement?

Chronic traffic jams make getting around very time-consuming, which was a little inconvenient, but I gradually got used to it. Most of my troubles were related to connectivity. That’s about the country as a whole — I felt it even using PCs at the SMDC office during the internship — so maybe expecting the same standard as Japan is wrong to begin with.

As a workaround, the internet connects more easily early in the morning, so it’s good to work in the morning. I also stopped by Grandline after work and on days off to use the Wi-Fi. As for safety, which I had worried about, perhaps thanks to being very careful, I never ran into danger.

How did you spend your time outside the internship and English lessons?

Grandline teachers took me to many places — the National Museum, art galleries, dinner at a seafood market in Manila… I couldn’t have gone alone, so I’m very grateful. It was also great to try local transport with the teachers. Riding the jeepney, the symbol of the Philippines, was especially memorable.

As mentioned above, after the internship on weekdays I often had dinner with SMDC people or professionals training at Grandline, so I never felt lonely. When I was free alone on days off, I went shopping at malls like SM Mall of Asia and SM Makati.

Any comments for those considering an overseas internship?

Personally, I want to say it’s important to clearly say YES or NO in any situation. Shortly after the internship began, SMDC employees took me to dinner, partly as a welcome party. Perhaps because I’m a student, they fed me plenty of chicken and rice, and when I finished they asked, “Do you want to eat more?” I said “I’m OK” meaning “no thanks”, and another plate of the same was added… It was a moment when I felt I must express my intentions clearly.

Also — this will probably be explained at orientation — toilets often have no paper, so be sure to bring tissues or toilet paper. By the way, SMDC’s toilets did have paper.

Before going to the Philippines, I thought I would be painfully aware of how hard it is to work at an overseas company, but looking back, I feel the positive realizations outweighed that. The experience of working at an overseas company is rare, so please give it a try!

　A week at a real estate internship

Day	Content	Description
Monday	Creating customer lists, managing information	I was put in charge of managing customer information centrally. I entered payment due dates, passport details and other information into the database, created lists by condition and transferred information needed for transactions into documents.
Tuesday	Creating customer lists, managing information	I managed customer information almost every day. I also sometimes took checks received from customers to the bank to make payments.
Wednesday	Managing checks, preparing payment documents	The first task I was given after starting the internship was endorsing checks. The amounts were large, so I always handled checks carefully.
Thursday	Preparing transaction documents	The Philippines has a document culture as strong as Japan’s — probably because they need to be thorough in obtaining credit information. Reservations and purchases require many documents, and I helped prepare them.
Friday	Preparing transaction documents	On Fridays we sometimes finished work early and they took me to dinner. On my last day we toasted with drinks.
Saturday, Sunday	Off	I never worked on Saturdays or Sundays. I did homework and reviewed the week on weekends.