Program Opportunities Available
With so many barriers being dismantled in Europe and throughout the world, trade is increasing between the various countries. In this changing international environment, it is becoming more and more important not only to know a foreign language, both written and spoken, but also to deepen one’s understanding of the practical aspects which are so useful in the workplace.
Our internships offer a ”full-immersion” cultural experience to enrich the language and the practical/professional background of the participants. These internships enable direct contact with a foreign culture.
Internships are offered in several fields: although unpaid (as prescribed by the Italian law), they provide the students with extraordinary experience, and can open them the doors of an exciting career, either in Italy or in their home country. Some our of students, who had done particularly well, even received interesting job offers as a result of them.
Marketing: internship opportunities in different business sectors (from Fashion to Buying Offices and from Tourism to PR), as to comprehending the current market trends and elaborating the best possible strategies to promote a product or an event. Translating is frequently involved.
International Business: companies dealing with commerce on an international basis, where the interns can learn how to deal with contacts with clients and partners abroad.
Business Development: internships in various areas (mainly in the sectors of Fashion, Business, Tourism and PR) aimed at better understanding how to enhance the profile of a company.
Sales: shops situated in Florence area offer the opportunity to collaborate with their front-desk and back-office sales activities aimed at selling their products. It is possible to follow an internship in this field also by collaborating with a buying office.
Tourism: internship opportunities with travel agencies and companies promoting touristic resorts in Tuscany. Various activities can be involved (from writing texts for websites to dealing with the e-mail correspondence and translating), but in all of them a good knowledge of Italian is required, along with English and possibly another language.
Hotel/Restaurant Management: collaboration with hotels, shadowing and following the administrative and the client-oriented part of their activities; culinary internships in Florentine restaurants, especially focused on the Tuscan traditional cuisine and wines. Possibility of more wine-focused internships, collaborating with wine-bars or small vineries (often sitauted in the countryside outside Florence).
Fashion: internships in various fields, from Fashion Design (collaborating with teams led by a senior designer) to Fashion Production, Fashion Marketing and Sales (see above). Opportunities also in the Accessory Design and Visual Merchandising areas.
Leather/Textile industry: designing and creating leather clothes and accessories, or shadowing those who make it, within specialized companies. Observing and being gradually involved in the activities of textile industries situated in Florence area.
Secretarial: secretarial support to the activities of commercial or legal offices. Translating is often involved.
Art: different opportunities, from art galleries to museums and photography. Art galleries mainly need organizational support (client relations, e-mail correspondence, events’ organization), while internships in Museums are mainly focused on the updating of databases and the translations of articles to be used for official presentations or websites. In the Photography field, the measure of active participation (taking pictures that will then be evaluated for professional uses) depends on the quantity of available time the photographer has, otherwise the internship can be more aimed at shadowing his work and learning from him. A relevant degree of flexibility is here particularly required.
Architecture/Interior Design: collaboration with the technical activities of Architecture/Interior Design firms (depending on the cases, back-office and on-site), and also opportunities in the Restoration sector.
Law: shadowing and being gradually involved in the activities of International and Italian Law firms, with the possibility of following trials in the Courts, and translating legal documents. The actual measure of participation in the firms’ activities depends on the knowledge of the Italian language, which in this sector should ideally be very good.
Social Work: internships entailing the collaboration with associations and other institutions which aim to assist people or social realities with economic/human problems. The type of activity involved can be more psychological or organizational, from case to case. Moreover, possible involvement in the activities of no-profit organizations working on a national or international basis.
Web Design: internships in this sector entail the collaboration with companies that create websites. Graphic design knowledge is implied, as well as that of programs for applying such designs to the websites.
Graphic Design: collaborating with companies that make designs for commercial and editorial purposes.
Agriculture and Botanic Sciences: rural tourism activities and botanic gardens. These types of internships, however, require a high degree of independence, on the students’ side, as they mainly take place in the countryside around Florence, so as to often involve longer trips to reach the internship place.
Flowers (nursery): This will be outside Florence.
Books: internship opportunities with companies dealing with antiques books. Internship opportunities also in book bindings shops.
We are also expanding in the naval sector, through interesting contacts that we have with companies based in Livorno, the main harbour of Tuscany. These will be mainly oriented toward Commerce, but not exclusively.
Important Information
We also offer the option of an internship without a previous course of Italian, for those who already speak Italian adequately.
The accommodation is not included, but we can offer to whoever is interested a range of options, from the shared student apartments to the family stays and the individual apartments.
All internships are insured, so the students will never be alone. At the end of the program, interns receive an evaluation of the program from the hosting company, along with a certificate, which they will be able to use to enrich their personal CV/resume.
Placements are available Year-Round!
