The Intern

I'm Sabrina Chan, a final year student at Taylor's University, majoring in International Business. When deciding which university to attend for my bachelor's degree, an important factor that my parents and I were looking for was a university that incorporated an internship as part of their module. This was because my parents believed in hands on learning and wanted a program that would give me a 'taste of the real world'.

When the time came for me to chose an industry to intern in, I was torn in a couple of directions. The first choice was to try out in an NGO as it has always been a dream to serve my community as a career. The second was to get my hands into event planning, or more precisely, the business of pageants. Ever since my stint in Miss Malaysia the year before, my interest in the industry had grown. Lastly, I also wanted to get into retail. Owning a failed online business of my own, this seemed like a good option for side income to support myself in the future.



The Internship

After much contemplation, I choose to do an internship in retail as it seemed to carry more weight than my other choices. I got into Pestle & Mortar Clothing, a Malaysian clothing label as a retail intern. The internship would carry on for a period of 3 months -from 6th January 2014 to 21st March 2014. I would receive an allowance of RM5** during that duration and would report to the Head of Operations. My working hours were Mondays to Fridays from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm.

To know more about my journey, or to read my daily reflections, click the buttons on your top left.

Internship Documentation

Friday, April 11, 20143:00 AM

Below are the documentations requested by Taylors University regarding my internship with Pestle & Mortar Clothing.

Internship Appointment Letter Page 1 (click to enlarge)

Internship Appointment Letter Page 2 (Click to enlarge)

Internship Appointment Letter Page 3 (Click to enlarge)

Thank You Letter to Company Supervisor - Eddie Samad, Head of Operations

Thank You Letter to Company Supervisor- Danny New, Retail Executive

Testimonial/ Reference Letter from Employer (Click to enlarge)

❤"Internship Documentation" was Posted On: Friday, April 11, 2014 @3:00 AM | 0 lovely comments ✿


Career Plans

My internship with Pestle & Mortar clothing has definitely given me a clearer understanding of what my future will hold after I graduate.

I do have career plans for the future, but I am still unsure of it. I mean, how many people can be really sure of what they want to do for the rest of their lives?

Thanks to my time in Pestle & Mortar, I did realize a couple of things about myself.

1. I work best at an open environment with no pressure .
 I realize that I am self motivated as many a times while working, I would give myself pep talks and encourage myself to do better. Previously I also had another internship with a corporate company and did not at all enjoy the corporate culture there. What I really like about Pestle & Mortar was the freedom they gave their employees. I loved how I was free to work anywhere in the office, as long as I was doing my job. I loved how I could come in the office wearing tee shirt and shorts. And I especially enjoyed how everyone was so laid back in the office, but still delivered results at the end of the day. Some days we would go for 2 hour long lunches, on other days we would have a quick 15 minute bite. This flexibility allowed for the Pestle & Mortar team to work in an environment that they are most productive. After working for 3 months in such an environment, I'm confident to say that this is the type of company culture that I will aim for in my future career. Some might have the opinion that I'm choosing this because it seems like "the easier" choice, but I know that I work best under such environments too. My internship with Pestle & Mortar is leaving proof. I saw that I was improving to be better than before as I was stayed longer in the company.


2. I am definitely NOT a creature of habit
I compared my task and responsibilities while interning in Pestle & Mortar with the rest of my university classmates. It turned out that I was pretty fortunate as many of them had the same thing to do everyday. They were only in charge of one thing, like for example,some did data entry consecutively for a week while other were in charge of picking up phone calls. I however got something new to do everyday. And I looked forward to learning something new everyday as well. I realized that when my job became too repetitive, I got very discouraged , unmotivated and bored. This is how I knew that my future career had to provide me with an array of responsibilities.
 

Looking back at my new 2 found epiphanies I think working in a smaller and young company might be the best fit for me. I was extremely happy that I was able to witness such a cool working environment to be part of in Pestle & Mortar. Now whenever I go for a job fair , one of my first few questions would always be "What is you company culture like?". For me, this is one of the most important things I look for when I'm finding for future career because the company culture really affects the way I work.

Interning in Pestle & Mortar also made me question what line of work I wanted to venture into in the future. There was nothing wrong with the retail business. It was fast moving and extremely colorful but being in charge to write The Deck made me realize that I really enjoyed writing as well. For over 4 years, writing has always been a part time job for me and I never gave it much thought. I always thought it would be impossible to make a living from writing alone. But I was surprised at how impressed my bosses were with my writing that I thought, maybe a profession in writing could be  possible after all. This is still a pondering thought and I don't think it would be wise to rush a decision as big as this.

Before I left Pestle & Mortar, I also spoke to my bosses about the possibility of me returning as a full time staff as I graduate. They were pleased and but advised me to keep my options open. However, if I was sure that I wanted to work for the company, they said that their doors would always be open for me.
❤"My Future Plans" was Posted On: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 @10:25 PM | 0 lovely comments ✿


Week 11 was my last week in Pestle & Mortar .
I was dreading it as I have learnt ten fold from the company but at the same time I knew that I should not be caught up in my emotions because there were a lot of deadlines that I had to meet especially for The Deck Issue 2.

I was especially excited to interview travel host and male model, Henry Golding who was our featured talent for The Deck Issue 2. I was told by the bosses to keep the interview fun, engaging, witty and not to hold back on the details. I came up with questions that I thought would fit the above requirement to the delight of my bosses and they told me to carry on with the interview. I have been writing freelance for over 4 years now and as someone who was trying to break into the writing industry (part time) scoring an interview with a celebrity was a pretty big deal for me.


Contacting Henry Golding was a challenge as he was always on the go. I did not know which number to call as one week he would be in Singapore, and the next he would be on the opposite end of the world. With the help of my bosses, we tracked him down and he agreed to a 1 hour interview and a photo shoot with us. On the day of the interview, I was extremely excited but I was reminded by my bosses to be professional. The interview went smoothly and I was glad to have carried myself well.

I also assisted in Henry Golding's photo shoot. Our in house photographers were shooting him for the front page of The Deck Issue 2. I was in charge of  wardrobe and had to ensure that his clothing was the right size , was ironed and looked good in a whole. 




In addition to shooting Henry Golding, I also was responsible for another shoot for The Deck. I had the idea of introducing the Pestle & Mortar staff to the readers as they were only used to seeing our retail staff, not the staff from the headquarters. The bosses liked my idea and thought that it would build connection between the Pestle & Mortar brand with their customers which could lead to brand loyalty.


I was told that since my internship was coming to an end, I could choose to hand over The Deck Issue 2 to someone else or if i wanted , I could continue managing it. I chose the later option as I had already invested much time and effort into it that I might as well finish it. This meant that eventhough my internship was officially over that week, I was still to report to the headquarters until The Deck Issue 2 was ready for publishing.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for Smashing Saturdays, a company event. Smashing parties is a BBQ & hangout party hosted by Pestle & Mortar at the Head office in Bukit Damansara. The Smashing party isn’t just all about fun, but a networking platform with our Pestle and Mortar followers, friends and an opportunity for everyone to meet our family members (artist and celebrities we endorse) with music performances, contests events.

1. Sale of Pestle & Mortar merchandises. On these days, we normally will do a launch of new merchandises or a sale just for the Smashing Party.
2. BBQ & Finger food that we will be providing from the Pestle & Mortar barbecue pits for the hungry customers through out the event. For our upcoming Smashing Party, the food station will be manned by celebrity chef and TV Host, Chef Nik Michael Imran (Celebrity Chef & TV Host for multiple TV shows, Masterchef Malaysia Season 1 contestant and restaurant owner of PickNik Comfort Food Cafe
3. Drinks (Alcoholic and non-alcoholic): We had Sommersby sponsoring us this time round. Previously it was Carlsberg and Asahi
4. Performances by invited artists. We had Az Samad, DJ Bunga, Faaz and Skyward performing.

 The interns were given a number of task to prepare for Smashing Saturday. I was appointed the head of the group and had to oversee that everyone did their delegated jobs.






As the event day approached, we had a team briefing to ensure that everyone was clear about the roles that they were to play during the event. I was partnered with Nathaniel, another intern for registration. Our goal was to get the personal particulars of every guest. The whole team was also told that we were to help each other out whenever we finished our own jobs.

On the day of the event, Nathaniel and I were positioned right at the entrance of the party.


We were armed with an Ipad each and went on taking the personal details of the guest. I observed that at first many of the guest were reluctant to give out their information. In fact, many of the left out details like their email address, mailing address and phone number on purpose. Nathaniel and I did have some issues with the more adamant guest who tried to get away without having to register.


After we fulfilled our "quota" , Nathaniel and I lent a hand to Ruzette and Nina who were stationed at the bar. We were stationed there for the rest of the night.Our role was to basically hand the guest their drinks and receive payment. Fairly easy stuff but I sure did make many friends that night. 










After the party ended, we all chipped in to clean the place. Eddie also called us into the kitchen for a debrief. He commended all our efforts and also bid farewell to the interns that were leaving.

Internship Overview

When I take a step back and overlook my entire internship, I'm very grateful to have worked with Pestle & Mortar. When I first came in, my objectives were to " To learn each and every process that is undergone for a product to be made and sold". Now that my internship is over, I realized that I not only met my objectives but I have learnt so much more.  I realized how shallow my objective was in the beginning. I did not understand the concept of holistic learning and only had my mind focus on one part of the internship. Now that I have completed my internship I realize that my growth should not be limited to my knowledge on business. In Pestle & Mortar I also grew mentally and emotionally. I have my colleagues to thank for most of that. The entire Pestle & Mortar team, together with the interns were encouraging, ever willing to held and accepted my flaws. They motivated me to be better everyday. Being part of a group of dynamic young people was just the right environment I needed to be in to push me to be the best that I could be. I also have to give it up to my the bosses of Pestle & Mortar. You don't hear this often, but they definitely had to be the coolest bosses ever. Other than being a business mentor, they genuinely cared about my well being and what was going on in my life. One boss even took it a point to sit me down and find out about my passions. At the end of the day, I believe what made my internship the best was the people.





❤"Reflections / Week 11 17th- 21st March" was Posted On: Friday, March 21, 2014 @12:28 AM | 0 lovely comments ✿


Week 9 & 10 brought in even more responsibilities for me but I enjoyed myself every step of the way.

Firstly, there was our monthly stock-take. This time, Eddie Samad, the head of operations got all the interns involved. Usually, I would be the only intern who would go. I found this to be a breathe of fresh air, plus the more people we had, the faster we would get work done.




We took especially longer carrying out a stock-take at Pestle & Mortar Tangs in One Utama. This was because the shop had been operating for over a week without a storekeeper so everything was in a mess. In addition to counting stock, we had to re-fold clothes, carry out the visual merchandising and clean up the store.





❤"Reflections/ Week 9 & 10 3rd-14th March" was Posted On: Friday, March 14, 2014 @2:56 PM | 0 lovely comments ✿


Week 7 was so busy for me that I decided to combine both week 7 & 8 in one entry.

During week 6, I shared with Danny , the Retail Executive, about my interest in writing.During week 7, Danny introduced me to The Deck, Pestle & Mortars quarterly publication. So far they have only released One Issue and was hoping to release another issue by April. Danny also shared with Hugh, the creative director and one of the partners, about my passion for writing. They both wanted to see samples of what I have written so I showed them some of my articles from I.M Magazine and The Star. They were both pleased with my work and the next thing I know, I was spearheading the entire publication for The Deck Issue 2.  Everything happened so fast. Straight away, Hugh briefed me about the articles that he wanted The Deck Issue 2. On week 7 itself I had to finish and deliver an interview with Kenneth Koh, Malaysia's youngest rally car racer.


I got the interview questions ready and approved by Hugh and then set up an interview and photo shoot with Kenneth. I have to say that this felt very intimidating at first as I was suddenly put fully in charge of a big project, but I saw this as an opportunity to shine and for the bosses to see my additional strengths. By the end of the week, the entire article on Kenneth Koh was finished and delivered on time.


Week 7 also saw the team having brainstorming session for Pestle & Mortar's collection at the end of the year. The designers first put up a presentation of the expected trends in the next season and then showed us a glimpse of some raw sketches that they had for the upcoming collection. We were all encourage to brainstorm and throw out ideas together.



During the session, I voiced out my ideas that Pestle & Mortar could consider making pocket shirts for women as it already had gained much popularity among men . The women who were interested in them had to buy the 'xs' sizes that were in mens' cutting. I  suggested that if Pestle & Mortar were to produce the pocket shirts that fit a women's' body better, they could possibly expand their target market and increase their customers .

I also made my first bank run on week 7. Usually, the other interns or the runner would do it, but this time round I needed some petty cash urgently. I was shocked when Mark. the Finance Director gave me a cheque for RM 25,000. I've never held that much cash in my bag before but it sure did feel good. There was a sense of "one day, I want to be able to make this much money on my own" that got triggered in me.



Week 8 also saw another brainstorming session for our collection that is to be released in May. It was themed the "back to school' collection. As a team, we all gave input on what we thought Pestle & Mortar should produce and what we didn't think could fit into the Pestle & Mortar brand name.  We also spoke about the colors of the products like what colors we thought would not sell and which colors we thought that we should produce more of.



I  did not forget about my main project which was The Deck Issue 2. During week 8, I had to finish writing up the Editor's note. You can see the final copy below.


Previously, all I did was write and submit in my work. This was the first time I was actually reviewing everything  and had to make sure that it was good for publishing. A lot of weighed was on my shoulders but it felt good to be given such a responsibility.

Week 7 & 8 overview

Relating what you learn with your experience
Week 7 & 8 saw me taking on many responsibilities. I was put in charge of an entire project and seeing that the bosses had that much faith in me to hand me the project really encouraged me to do my best.

Observations
Many of the things I did during week 7 & 8 now came naturally to me. Before this, I would have to sit down and think before doing anything just to make sure that I was actually doing the right thing and following the SOP's (standard operating procedures). I observed that I was doing things much faster than before and after being given a project to head, I felt even more motivated to be at work everyday. It gave me a sense of belonging to the company and it also made me feel like the bosses were acknowledging all my effort so far. 

Key Learning
The main thing I learnt throughout this 2 weeks was to not be afraid to fail. Out of all the ideas that I presented to my bosses, only about half of them were accepted while the other half were shut down but I realized that it brought me more peace to know that I at least spoke about it rather than to keep silent and never know if they were good ideas or not. Week 7 & 8 saw me really excited about the company and sometimes even after work when I got home, my mind would still be thinking about how I could make Pestle & Mortar better. I was really starting to enjoy my job.

Development & Growth
I grew so much during week 7 & 8. I felt like all my training in the months before was to get me ready for this. The interpersonal skills I got from the previous trade show was used when I was interviewing Kenneth for The Deck. My experience with previous stock-takes made the Athletic Tee recall so much smoother as I was already familiar with our outlets and the people managing them. Also, during week 7, I really started to share my ideas with the rest of the Pestle & Mortar team and they seemed to be receptive to it.

Key Achievements
One of my key achievements for the week was learning to speak my ideas out. After what happened in week 6, I learnt that I should not be afraid to share any ideas I had with my bosses. One example was when a colleague was dealing with customer service. This particular customer was an outstation client and we messed up his orders a couple of times already. It was partly miscommunication and technical error on our side. I suggested that in addition to our compensation vouchers that we were sending to him, we should sent him a hand written apology letter. I held the opinion that a handwritten letter would be more personal and would show that we were genuinely sorry for the trouble we had caused him. To my surprise, my senior colleagues actually took my advice.


Challenges Faced
The challenges I faced during week 7 & 8 is the lack of time. With so much to do, I realized that I needed to utilize my time in a better way. I started having shorter lunch breaks and whenever I felt like I wasn't being productive, I would either move to another working environment or refocus my mind. This was pretty hard at first as during my first few weeks of the internship I worked at a moderate speed. However, I tried my best to refocus my mind on productivity. It was definitely a battle of my mind.



❤"Reflections/ Week 7 & 8 17th - 28th February" was Posted On: Friday, February 28, 2014 @11:59 AM | 0 lovely comments ✿

Sabrina Chan, The Intern

The Intern

I'm Sabrina Chan, a final year student at Taylor's University, majoring in International Business. When deciding which university to attend for my bachelor's degree, an important factor that my parents and I were looking for was a university that incorporated an internship as part of their module. This was because my parents believed in hands on learning and wanted a program that would give me a 'taste of the real world'.

When the time came for me to chose an industry to intern in, I was torn in a couple of directions. The first choice was to try out in an NGO as it has always been a dream to serve my community as a career. The second was to get my hands into event planning, or more precisely, the business of pageants. Ever since my stint in Miss Malaysia the year before, my interest in the industry had grown. Lastly, I also wanted to get into retail. Owning a failed online business of my own, this seemed like a good option for side income to support myself in the future.



The Internship

After much contemplation, I choose to do an internship in retail as it seemed to carry more weight than my other choices. I got into Pestle & Mortar Clothing, a Malaysian clothing label as a retail intern. The internships would carry on for a period of 3 months -from 6th January 2014 to 21st March 2014. I would receive an allowance of RM5** during that duration and would report to the Head of Operations. My working hours were Mondays to Fridays from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm.

The following posts would consist of my reflections of my internship and other related issues.