Interview with an NHTV 4th year leisure student about his/her placement

I did an interview with Maarten, currently a 4th year student at the NHTV University of Applied Science. He follows the leisure management course in Dutch. I interviewed him because he did his 3rd year placement in the Netherlands and I wanted to stay here as well. Therefore I asked him if he would like to share his experience and challenges he had at his placement.

Maarten and I had a great conversation about his experiences as an intern at Club Poema in Utrecht. Finding out what challenged him, made me realize that this could also affect me just as much.

First of all, he didn't find his placement through school, so the whole procedure to get the internship where he wanted was a lot more difficult. He had to convince NHTV that this internship is a great opportunity for him to learn from, especially the fact that we was aiming to improve his weaknesses and perhaps make them his strengths. Additionally, he needed to show that his passion is getting people together to have a great time, creating events is his goal, which he already does with his own company. I now realize that trying to put your weaknesses in front is a good way to show that you are motivated and willing to improve these too.

Another aspect is that he mentions that if you are on your way to become a leisure manager you should find by yourself what you passion is, because leisure is a very broad and complex term.

Maarten realized during the internship that subjects that you are not so interested in are highly important to still know them. As a manager you need to know your field of expertise and a manager needs to know all about these parts your employees are dealing with.

When you work for a company, especially as an intern, you need to follow rules your boss wants you to follow. As they are in charge of it and of course new ideas are welcome but you need to know that they might not always accept your suggestions. This is something to keep in mind, so that you do not easily lose motivation when you have to work for a company.

Projects you completed for the NHTV were mostly fiction and not realistic, therefore failing one project was not much of a big deal. But when you step into the real working world, you get realistic assignments and these count, so make sure to deliver high quality work. The better it is the more your colleagues can appreciate your work and your working attitude. Moreover, you can make use of the knowledge you gained at the NHTV. An example that Maarten mentioned, is the steps you take in project management from Grit or Verhaar are highly important, from the preparation to the execution and evaluation. Also, when you believe you did a great job on something, first put yourself in someone else’s position and ask yourself the right question, example: what do you need to know when your organize an event?

During your placement you are working full time, which means 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. So here time management is crucial to successfully complete your working hours, assignments and personal stuff. A great way to prepare your time management during your placement is to plan ahead. It is possible to keep yourself planned and perhaps plan every week your next week already. Also mention how many hours you will need when undertaking a specific task or activity. Like this you can make sure that your time is spent efficiently when handling so many things.