Interaction with actual work practice while studying is a crucial educational moment that significantly affects a person’s future path. No matter how detailed and inclusive the theoretical academic course would be, the student will have an extremely flawed concept of their future activities without obtaining practical knowledge. On the other hand, the opportunity to get to know your profession more closely allows one to rethink their values, revise their curriculum, and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Such familiarization can take place in different forms, but the most common are internships and externships, which differ in the scope of immersion and tasks. The first option is attractive to those who want to gain long-term practical skills and directly interact with their future career. However, an externship is much better suited for initial exposure to one’s profession due to the shorter duration and focus on observation (Doyle, 2021). It was this type of work training that I went through in collaboration with Heng Heng Group Inc., and the purpose of this report is to analyze and evaluate the experience gained.
Information about this company is scarce and not very widely distributed, but it is sufficient to understand its most essential elements. Heng Heng Group Inc. is an internal business corporation based in Brooklyn, New York (“Heng Heng Group Inc,” 2022). Their main activity is the restaurant business, around which the primary corporate resources (“PPP loan data,” n.d.) are focused. It was founded on January 26, 2016, in its current form and retained it to this day, which speaks of stability even in the face of various crises. To cope with external factors such as COVID-19, Heng Heng Group Inc. used the Paycheck Protection Loan program helps, which allows for retaining company functionality (“PPP loan data,” n.d.). Thanks to this approach, I had the opportunity to complete an externship in this corporation.
My introduction to the workflow of Heng Heng Group Inc. happened from the perspective of the manager, whose position I observed 9 hours a week. As part of my externship, I got to know two main aspects of this profession in the context of the restaurant business. Since the organization currently has 13 employees, the number of managers is small, and I observed in detail all aspects of this position. First of all, the manager’s role was associated with a lot of organizational work, without which the work of the entire organization would have been significantly disrupted. Secondly, the manager often interacted with the clients, solved problematic issues, and analyzed non-standard situations. Thus, within the framework of this externship, I had the opportunity to observe both the internal aspects of the manager’s work and the external ones.
First of all, from a personal perspective, it allowed me to examine in detail the working practice of a professional in this field of activity. As my observation has shown, a manager in the restaurant business has many responsibilities related to both general administration and coordination and ensuring human resources and supply chains (Giannotti, n.d.). Such a number of topics that require attention form the need for personal qualities that I observed. Therefore, in addition to learning more about the practical responsibilities of a manager in this area, I was able to identify several professional traits that can be useful in any administrative context. Among them, I want to single out responsibility, communication skills, and the ability to make quick decisions in problem situations.
From an academic perspective, many aspects I observed during my externship were consistent with the theory I learned in the Business Administration course. This theoretical material aims primarily to acquire and develop a wide range of skills that allow one to maintain the organization’s efficiency (“Business administration vs. business management,” 2022). The experience gained during my externship was directly related to the practical implementation of these skills in various contexts. Therefore, observations of an employee of Heng Heng Group Inc. overlapped with many of the courses studied. I saw the reflection of the basics of the Business Ethics course, as well as Microeconomics. Since this specialist often has to interact with the establishment’s customers, proper ethics are necessary for the smooth functioning of the restaurant. The fundamentals of microeconomics are involved in many of the day-to-day duties of such a manager.
Thanks to this externship, I learned a lot of new information regarding both practical and theoretical aspects of business administration, which is extremely useful in preparing for my future career. First of all, observing the functional operations brings a unique experience that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Although the basics of the work I explored are taught in theoretical courses, many practical details can be learned only after working for a certain time. Simultaneously, the value of these parts is extremely high since they significantly increase the efficiency of many operations. In addition, the completion of this externship allowed me to get a more objective look at the field of activity in which my future career will be located. Consequently, I got the opportunity to prepare better and rethink my ideals, thinking about what I want from my future career and how I can best achieve the tasks set for me.
Thus, the practice I have passed is helpful for me from many points of view since I received practical skills and was able to correlate them with theory. This allows me to conclude that the externship is a highly convenient and valuable tool for the student. Such experience allows practically determining and clarifying many points that could not be learned from theoretical textbooks. In addition, the externship provides an opportunity to hone existing skills, identify gaps in knowledge and gain new information regarding the nuances of a particular profession. Consequently, from my point of view, I would recommend an externship to all students who have the opportunity to access such programs.
However, I would also suggest paying attention to a few essential points before going through such an externship. First of all, it is imperative to choose an organization that will correspond to the theoretical course being studied and combine it with the student’s interests. Such an approach will motivate a person to learn new things and get more practical benefits from the externship. Secondly, the main advantage of an externship is getting an overview of a future career. Therefore, it is recommended to choose a modern and prosperous company with a strong market position. Otherwise, the student runs the risk of receiving a biased assessment of their profession, which will not correlate to the requirements of more successful employers.
Summing up my working practice, I can conclude that this externship was extremely useful for me from a practical and theoretical perspective. I got the opportunity to get acquainted with the structure of the organization I was interested in and learned more about how the administrative work is arranged. In addition, I observed the work of a qualified specialist, who is distinguished not only by a high level of theoretical training but also by extensive practical experience in this area. This acquired knowledge, combined with the material of the courses studied, will allow me to better prepare for my future career and more effectively research the educational material.
References
Business administration vs business management: What is the difference? (2022). Husson University.
Doyle, A. (2021).Internship vs. externship: What’s the difference? The Balance Careers.
Giannotti, F. (n.d.). What does a restaurant manager do? EHL Insights.
Heng Heng Group Inc. (2022). OpenCorporates.
PPP loan data – Heng Heng Group Inc.(n.d.). Federal Pay.