Intern Interview: Peter Schwarz

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Student Intern Profile

Name: Peter Schwarz
Country: Switzerland
Major: International Business Studies
Internship at: GE Capital Japan
Duration: Summer and Fall 2014

Q1: Why did you choose to intern at GE Capital?

Peter: I wanted to experience a global corporation and get insights into the financial sector.

Q2: What are some of your projects/responsibilities at the internship?

Peter: I have a wide variety of work. I assist the Strategic Sales & Marketing Teams, for instance, with research and analyzing potential customer companies. One of my main projects was to analyze Swiss and German multinational companies in Japan.

Q3: What have you learned from the internship?

Peter: I learned a lot in terms of analyzing problems, doing efficient research using databases, etc. In addition, I was able to improve my Japanese reading skills.

Q4: What was the biggest challenge you faced during your internship and what did you do to overcome it?

Peter: At the beginning of this internship, I struggled with Japanese-related tasks. Even though I am able to communicate fluently in Japanese, reading and writing is my weakness. I overcame this by trying to pick up many finance-related Japanese terms, and I gradually got used to it.

Q5: Please tell us your future goals or your plans after graduation.

Peter: I would like to work for an international company like GE.

Q6: How do you envision your internship experience helping you in the future?

Peter: It helped me to get insights into an international company in Japan. I feel more confident now about job hunting and my career plans in general here in Japan.

Q7: Would you recommend this internship to other TUJ students?

Peter: If you want to experience a professional and international company, GE is the right place – especially if you are interested in finance.

Peter's Daily Schedule

TimeActivity
9:30Arrive at work; go through e-mail
9:45Do research on several companies
12:30Lunch with other interns
13:30Work on my own project on Swiss and German MNCs; work on smaller tasks assigned by the team.
18:00Finish up