A Case of Intern as a Foreign Student

From Vietnam with commitment, will power, hope, and prayings.

May 15th, 2020, that would be the last day of my internship in the USA at Arista Network - a Computer networking company with pretty impressive financials shown on Yahoo Finance. It would be a two month working for me before I head back to SJSU for my Master's. I would like to thank my Manager Amy Southcott, the director of Arista Internal Audit Gennadiy Vernikov. My sincere appreciation for the data analytics team - Kesha and Rama. Most of all, to my mom and dad, who allowed me to experience, grow, and see the USA. Below are some of my thoughts I have put together to reflect and share the internship experience. Given the time of the economy and the Covid-19, I aim to share how an internship can still be of value to us as students and showcase to business about our contribution and potential as value creators.

Context: As a newly undergraduates from SJSU, December 2019, with a Bachelor in Human Resources to acquire knowledge in Accounting. I was fortunate to be enrolled in Master of Accountancy in SJSU. Between January and June, it would be the roller coaster of experience from patience to be working. As an international student from Vietnam, the employment law was somewhat very restricting to us. We are given a 1-year work permit to work, max a 3-year one if our studies are STEM majors. And we even had to pay a lavish $495 for the processing fee. Costly and restricted, our goals with audacious hope as newly undergraduates at least for me is to test our knowledge and contribute our skills and expertise to a bigger vision. Others may do it for various reasons. The work permit process was a long two months waiting. Because of the virus, the entire onboarding process at Arista Network would be online. The laptop kit would arrive at where I live, and I would begin to work from home. Two months straight without going to the HQ at any given point of time.

Timeline: During the waiting time, I got inspiration from my teacher to reread and relearn the Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting. That was from December 19th, right after graduation. I did not stop but begin to work on my review and other gig economies for money to buy books and materials. February 1st, I got my work permit, I then went on submitting job applications. February 15th, by this time, the numbers of applications and interviews I kept tracked have come to a loss due to the sheer amount of applications. I began to question myself if everything I went for was worth it. Then the phone ring, I got a call from my Manager Amy. As an HR Management student, I know the process of the interview from phone interview to group interview and the onboarding process. However, by this time, it seems to be just another interview process for me. Most of the conversation before was stopped at the phone interview. When they heard that my status as an international student, it would be a fundamental understanding of the cost-benefit relationship, it cost less to hire someone who has the same experience and are US-based people. But I got the position as an Internal Auditor Intern. March 16th, I got to work.

My mom and dad were very thrilled about that. My tasks were to support my Manager Amy over a T&E audit to see whether our sales team complied with the Federal Code of Ethics and Conduct. I also did other tasks such as hosting for our online conference, making an IA charter and research of Partner Expectation. All of the functions were to support the organization's bigger picture. And that would be all completed by May 15th, 2020. Mixed feelings, after all.

Thoughts and Reflections:

Knowledge and skills: To my surprise, most of the work I did was taught my old experience back in SJSU as an Office Assistant, HR lectures, and things I did after school and work.

1. Documentation: We now live in an age where everything must be documented. My professor back in SJSU would say that companies are always sued at any given time. So acquiring the concepts and expect one to fill in the details is extremely important. In writings and recordings, documentation is either your best friend or the worst enemy. While time permits, it would be ideal to have the process as your friend.
2. Data Analytics: I would pledge myself guilty for not putting this skill on top of the list. In the world of business, especially in Finance and Accounting, having data analytic skills is extremely useful. Thankfully, most of the projects in SJSU we did involves some excel usage. I would learn most excel in taking charge of the group projects and my job as an office assistant.
3. Business Command orders - Couple of simple rules I called. These rules were a derivative of a conversation I talked to an ex-Army officer.

• Use The Business Command Orders: Conceptually, it is the objective and the mission of the task, the bigger picture, the expectation in a situation. Our director Gennadiy would be explaining to us the internal audit team on the T&E project on the aim and the impact of the projects. It was up to us as managers, specialists and interns to execute the projects.
• Build a cohesive team through mutual trust: I believe it is the book "The Speed of Trust" - by Stephen Covey that explains to me that the speed of work, business, or even in the relationship depends mainly on trust. So coming back to the work I did, look at me, HR, not accounting student. Yet, Amy trusted me regardless and gave me responsibility, guidance, and expectation. I had a perfect space to execute and grow myself.
• Accepting prudent risk: In times of such restriction of the Covid-19. Arista's organization was forced to streamline daily operations via online and extreme limitations. To combat those, the management and our directors had to accept the risk of operating in uncertainty and work efficiency. Let me remind you, my parents called me a tornado when I was a kid. This tornado cost my mom her job as a doctor. So given that, some people in the team I work with have kids and work. That's a whopping 3 in 1 job. Yet, we still carry on accepting the risk of being disturbed, not focus at given times.
• Excercise discipline initiative: In HR class, the recruitment process, our professor would ask us - the students: "Would you like to hire a person who 'just do what they are told'?" The answer was a definite "No." The job description would only tell a person about the job expectation in terms of skillsets and qualities. The real deal is within an organization, how one would fill up the gaps. JFK once said: "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country." I think that would be applicable here. During my time during the intern, I did my job and filled in the roles that the team needs. I believe the Manager and the director have also exercised their discipline initiative to be where they are right now.
• Provide clear intent: I believe that I was given very well expectations and guidance from my Manager Amy. But more than that, I understood the intention and the bigger picture. I would not be able to take the initiative if I do not comprehend the bigger picture. Understand the purposes of your boss, your friends, the people around us are never a bad call. That would provide various range of ways to respond, providing solutions, and using communications.
• Create shared understanding: When in doubt, ask. Assume everyone is adults in one's group. One voice represents the many. One's perception is valuable. Speed is determined by trust, to trust, one must understand. To understand, it depends on the questions and dialogues. Have more discussions to work-related. I believe a little humor can go along.

That would mark a few things I have from the interns. In case anyone asks how effective and efficient I was at work. I think you can always reach out to Arista Network and ask for my Manager. In anticipation of the halt of my interns, I have applied to my Master's. I will still be looking for work after my graduation in late 2022. I wish all the best, especially to international students like me.