La vie de stagiaire: my internship at MyFrenchLife – Hélène

After graduating from Melbourne University, I was looking for an internship that suited my personality. As a French girl living in Australia, I liked multi-tasking and exploring the cultural differences between our countries.

That’s how I ended up meeting Judy over coffee in February 2013…

My role as an intern

My role was a ‘Communications & Editorial internship’ in both French and English. With a degree in Finance and Marketing, I didn’t have a background in editing at all! My writing skills for social media were also close to non-existent. #awkward.

Thankfully, our editors Hannah and Adèle gave me extensive training and taught me everything I needed to know about the inner-workings of an online magazine.

The editing guidelines set by MyFrenchLife™ were a real lifesaver for me because things can get a little confusing when working with hundreds of different contributors, each with their own writing style (and in my case, language).

What my internship entailed…

MyFrenchLife™ is a relatively young start-up – be prepared to do different things everyday! I really liked having the opportunity to work on different topics and participate in the growth of the business during my internship.

“[The] diversity kept my internship challenging, yet fulfilling… There is more room for learning [in a startup] and you’re more likely to witness the effects of your contribution.”

For example, there was a week when I had to help drafting interview questions for some of France’s top Michelin-starred chefs. The next day, I was picking the winners for one of our competitions and ended up mailing prizes to Poland, Australia and France!

This diversity kept my internship challenging, yet fulfilling, and I think all young graduates should give startups a try. There is more room for learning (and making mistakes… oops!) and you’re more likely to witness the effects of your contribution than in large organisations.

The most rewarding aspect was…

Overall, the best thing of my six month internship at MyFrenchLife™ was all about people. I got to work with passionate Francophiles from all over the world. As a French person, I found it interesting to hear their experiences and views about France, whether they were expats, exchange students or tourists.

From day one of my internship, I was a full member of our team and felt very welcome into the MyFrenchLife™ family.

Bonus: as I worked ‘in-house’ at our Melbourne office, I made some great friends – and did I mention that the coffee machine was great? Working at MyFrenchLife™ was fantastic – I couldn’t have dreamed better for a first internship. Merci !

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