There comes the day when you toss your graduation cap in the air, proudly closing a chapter in your life. “What’s next?” you might ask. For fresh graduates, navigating life after college and pursuing a career may be nerve-wracking as you never go down that path before. Applying for an internship in the right company during your studies can serve as the first step to getting a grasp of the working world, as it serves as a chance to apply the knowledge you’ve earned in the classroom while developing desired soft skills such as time management, leadership, adaptability, problem-solving, and teamwork.

Fortunately, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility program, Mitrais is committed to frequently opening internship opportunities for college students who want to learn with the company. Interns from all over Indonesia flock to Bali to learn from the best mentors in our headquarter, a perfect fusion of learning, work, and pleasure on the beautiful island of Gods. This time we’re going to tune into successful internship stories from our two incredible Mitrais talent: A.A. Ngurah Pasha Catra Parama and Veronica Bernadetha Lelyemin.

How It Started

Catra, Junior Designer, was looking for an internship opportunity as part of his college development program. He was then encouraged by a classmate to apply as a Graphic Designer intern at Mitrais. ”The internship with Mitrais seemed like an awesome idea, so I applied without hesitation and thankfully got accepted. Right from the first week, I knew I’d be having a blast. The people are nice, and they taught me a very valuable lesson: how to work and thrive in a company.” revealed the confident young Designer who once won his college men’s pageant.

Similar to Catra, Veronica Bernadetha, or Detha, the Email Direct Marketing Assistant, was also driven to apply for the internship by her own college’s program. “It was a program from my university to apply practical skills in Strategic Communication, which I have learned throughout the years.” recalled the Javanese-Moluccan girl. Detha was beaming when she learned that she was requested to fly to Bali for the internship mentoring. So, she packed her suitcase and left Yogyakarta for what she thought was a two-and-a-half-month learning gateway. “The accommodation was fully facilitated by Mitrais, so I could focus on learning and working as an intern. Quite nerve-wracking at first, as I had so little knowledge and experience in a professional field.” she recounted.

Little did they know that their two-and-half months with Mitrais would turn into a year and still counting.

Swinging from Internship to Full-time Job

Before their internship was over, Mitrais happened to need additional employees and didn’t hesitate to consider them instead of sourcing externally. Their hard work, determination, and eagerness to learn and evolve have charmed Mitrais to offer them full-time positions.

During his internship, Catra worked closely with the Marketing Team and Senior Designers, learning valuable designing skills and work ethics. “I created various designs such as posters, banners, newsletters, PowerPoints, social media posts, basically all my team’s designs requests,” he chuckled and continued, “One month before my internship period ended, I got a full-time job offer, and I immediately said “Yes”, and here I am.” The stars are working in his favour: recently, he just nailed a client’s interview and is so excited to embark on his first project with them.

Detha also shared her POV, “The program was supposed to last for two and a half months. However, after two months of mentoring with the Marketing Team, I was offered a position as an Email Direct Marketing Assistant. I thought about it for a while – as I haven’t finished my student responsibilities. I decided to continue my journey with Mitrais, seeing how the positive environment encouraged me to grow (career-wise) without neglecting my prior obligation as a student.” And her gut feeling was right: she grows each day, going through each task and learning more things. “Adapting and learning becomes more enjoyable with the support and guidance from my colleagues. Being a full-time employee and student at once has been nothing but amazing,” admitted Detha.

A Balanced Life

Catra enjoys both his work and student lives equally. He credits Mitrais’ work-life balance as their catalyst, “The facilities provided, the workload, the work culture, everything is a balance of productivity and comfort: happy mind, happy soul, happy pocket,” he grinned.

Detha agrees with Catra and shared her take, “The work-life balance in Mitrais helps me manage my time, and it really shows how much I’m appreciated as a human outside of work. The ability to work remotely and shut my laptop down on time means there is no such thing as taking a rain check on gatherings or events because of work or being caught up with workloads and abandoning my study. That’s the finest point of work-life balance, in my opinion.”

Tried and True Takeaways

Every success has its secret recipe that keeps people going after their dreams. Catra shared, “One very important thing I’ve learned from my teammates is you can’t build a big hotel if you haven’t laid the first brick. We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short amount of time but underestimate what we can do in the long run. Start laying your bricks early, but not rushed. Bricks will turn into walls, walls become rooms, and those rooms will eventually become your dream hotel.“

Detha swears by the power of courage. She remarked, “I would say, don’t be afraid of trying out new things – there are only two possibilities: It’s either you succeed, or you fail. If you succeed, you learn what works and how it’s done. And if you fail? You learn what doesn’t and find another way that works. I perceive it as an endless learning and discovering process. So, start your adventure and explore!”

Get Ready for the Next Internship Opportunity! 

Want to start using the skills you learned in college and find a possible career?

To secure your first internship with Mitrais, keep an eye out for upcoming chances by following @lifeatmitrais on Instagram.