Hello!
I recently passsed the first phase and am ready to schedule an interview. Before I put a lot of effort into preparing for a good interview, is the job worth it for current college students?
My minimum wage is 19.18 where I’m from so I’ve never worked for that low- do you think they’d be open for negotiations?
It is a money grab. The staff don’t care about you, and the internship placements have nothing to do with your career.
If there is an issue in the workplace, they side with the managers instead of asking for the full picture.
They make students work atleast 225 hours for 8-weeks, and I’ve had friends report working all the way until midnight. It is absolutely exploitative. Typical hours are 9-6, and depending on your boss they can be extremely rude and entitled. Also it is UNPAID and students barely get anytime to experience the country besides a few optional trips.
There is no room for the consideration of a language barrier, and the interns are not treated with respect.
On top of that, there was barely any networking opportunities to connect with other interns. They match you with a random roommate that you don’t meet until you’re in the host country, and the rooms are exceptionally SMALL!
Save yourself the money and get an actual internship with a program that respects your pockets and your time. They use the idea of being a “global intern” to get people to pay an absurd amount for something that could be put on your resume with more integrity. The work that many interns did wasn’t meaningful/ managers have a tendency to be passive aggressive and non-confrontational. It’s either that or they completely don’t care and don’t make you do anything. People either work too much or not at all and that uncertainty says there is a lack of care from the host organization’s that CIEE decides to partner with.
Also, there is a Blacklisted Hagwon that they are partnered with called Alitora that overworks both interns and employees. I had a close friend leave a week early because of how abusive her workplace was. She was literally ordered to work on a SATURDAY and her boss kept changing her hours from 9:30am to 8:00am all the way until 10:00pm.
It is absolutely disgusting that CIEE would steal the youth of young adults in such a shameless manner with little support for their wellbeing.
Please avoid this program at all costs. Me and many other interns are looking into suing both parties for workplace abuse.