We had the pleasure of sitting down with Latiifah Awasil, a bright and ambitious young woman who completed her internship with us after graduating from Aleemiah College Girls. As her first professional experience post-HSC, Latiifah joined us amidst the challenges of transitioning from academic life into the professional world—a journey filled with growth, learning, and memorable moments. In this interview, Latiifah shares her insights and experiences working alongside our team, adapting to new responsibilities, and developing skills that she will carry into her future academic and career pursuits. Through her story, she offers an inspiring glimpse into the impact an internship can have on personal and professional development, as well as valuable advice for those considering a similar path.

A first-hand account of balancing responsibilities, developing key skills, and gaining insights into a dynamic work environment.

My name is Latiifah Awasil, I’m 19 years old and I’ve just finished HSC at Aleemiah College Girls. After Covid-19 messed up with the school calendar and forced many students to redo their HSC I pondered on how this 1 year will put me back compared to the newly graduated students. So, I started looking for a job to acquire some working experience which will benefit me in the future for potential job prospects. When I was informed about this internship at Honoris Educational Network I was thrilled about the opportunity and immediately came to the scheduled interview.  

Obviously as it was my first time doing a job interview, I was a bit apprehensive on how it would go but luckily, I got the chance to pursue with the internship. At first, I was quite stressed and scared for the first days but the environment here is very friendly and all my colleagues were helpful and made sure that I was comfortable. If ever I needed help for any of the tasks given to me, one of them would immediately help, so the work environment would be very smooth going.  

I was helping the Sales Department with the follow-up calls with the potential students who needed to either send their documents or asking them if they were still interested in following the course. Then I started doing the first calls and started helping students to enrol for their courses, of course under the supervision of my colleagues and my supervisor. They were all greatly helping, each taking the time to give me some training, so I was not lost. At first, I took some time to understand the different terms or abbreviations they were using or how does the process go and how were the different departments are linked to each other. So, it was stressful but the more I did the tasks the more it became easier, in the end it came naturally thanks to their help.  

I would not say that the internship did not come with any challenges, but it was nothing which could not be solved. For instance, having to slowly grasp the concepts of the different courses available, the different schools with which they were affiliated with, and which school offered which courses. It was quite a struggle trying to remember all that right off the bat. But as I mentioned above, my colleagues were very patient and helpful with the matter. They answered all my queries right away, they were also very friendly, so it did not feel odd to talk with everyone since they all were quite older than me. As someone who was not used with talking with random people it was very stressful at first but the more calls, I made the more I realised that it is not as scary as you think it is.   

One of the most memorable moments would be when I enrolled my first student, it was a very rewarding experience personally and knowing that I just helped someone to pursue studies which will shape their future is an amazing experience. Being able to help students to follow the course of their dreams really brings out self-satisfaction so I am grateful to have experienced it. 

The team I was working with was very friendly and helpful, that’s for sure. They all tried to help at any moment I needed their help and made sure to give me the appropriate training, and make sure that I was understanding. If ever I did not understand something I could just ask one of them and they would right away help. The team was very focused on achieving the targets, they all worked hand in hand to achieve their common goals. They showed resilience, hard work and perseverance towards their work hence it paid off in the end. It was a nice experience working with such people.  

The key learnings learnt from the interaction with the team was that communication is key, and always make sure that your colleague is aware of what is going on with the work so that they can help when the need arises. Furthermore, managing your time efficiently in this field of work is very important as you can easily get overwhelmed with the number of potential students that we talk with. Finally, it helped me become more open to conversing with all type of people which at first may sound scary if you are not used to talk with many people. But now it became easier to have a conversation with different people either on the phone or if ever they came to the office for face-to-face. 

When comparing myself pre-internship, I can say that there has been a real change in terms of self-growth. When I started the internship, I was not able to talk with strangers easily but thanks to the experience here I was able to expand my communication skills making it easier for me to have a conversation in a professional setting with many different people. Additionally, mingling with my colleagues of different age range allowed me to have a broader view about life and they shared their wisdom when it comes to working or general life advice. This allowed me to have a new perspective on life and made me more mature regarding different topics and handling issues is now easier as well as done in a more mature way. Surely, the communication skills have drastically improved compared to how it was during my college years. I highly recommend engaging in conversation with adults when it comes to professional endeavors to receive the best advice for the future. 

Ready for the Future: My Internship Journey and Tips for New Interns 

I can say that I have gained many new skills from this internship such as critical thinking, problem solving skills, time management, adaptability, resilience and interpersonal skills. Concerning future academic prospects, I am currently waiting my acceptance for university, but I intend on implementing my newly acquire skills when it comes to handling assignments and adapting with the new setting. For instance, the communication skills acquired will be rather helpful when it comes to doing presentations or just talking with my future peers. in terms of career goals, I cannot give a clear answer yet as I feel like I need to experience more of the work life in order to have a final view on it but one thing I can say is that I hope to work with people who aspire to work as a team so as to achieve our common goals.  

My advice would be to take the leap and go for it, at first you might find it scary and be wary of the new responsibilities imposed on you but be sure to take your time to adapt. Socialise with your colleagues and do not be scared to ask questions, sometimes you may think that your employer expects you to know everything right away but on the contrary an internship is the best place to learn more about skills you did not have before. Also, do not take it as a joke but make sure to do your best at what you have been asked to do, your efforts will be rewarded in the end.