After being extremely dissatisfied with how I was treated by AIESEC Chandigarh I started to talk to other interns and realized most other interns felt exactly the same way.
One night sitting in our intern house with no electricity, water or gas, a conversation began on how we wanted to stop this happening to future interns. In the past many attempts have been made by other equally dissatisfied interns but yet AIESEC Chandigarh still became the number 1 LC in the world for 2009. Extremely frustrated by this, I asked another intern why there was so many unhappy interns but yet nothing has changed??? The intern replied-
“There are 3 types of people: those who say they are going to do something but never do, those who follow others but won’t actually initiate action themselves and those who say they are going to do something and ACTUALLY do it!”
I hope to be the latter by starting this blog (and do give complete credit to another intern for the idea :) In starting it though, I am extremely realistic when I say I don’t think I can COMPLETELY stop the mistreatment of all AIESEC Chandigarh Interns but I do hope that this blog will at least contribute towards AIESEC Chandigarh not becoming the number 1 LC for 2010!!!
Please help me in my attempt and share your stories- please feel free to share your name OR keep it anonymous (what I will be doing initially or until I finish my internship) and PLEASE share this blog with as many other interns whom you know that are also unhappy with their experience!!!
Lastly I want to make it VERY clear- I am not saying I regret coming to India, nor am I disrespecting AIESEC as a whole. I greatly respect what they do and think they are a wonderful organization that positively contributes to helping so many different people, in so many locations all over the world. What I am saying is that I think AIESEC Chandigarh only cares about the QUANTITY of interns that they bring here and have complete disregard for the QUALITY of the interns stay! For example, AIESEC Chandigarh often never respond to interns as they are too "busy" at functions and events celebrating their title of best LC in the world, eating lavish meals and singing AIESEC Chandigarh chants, applauding themselves for the numbers and figures they have achieved. Meanwhile many interns are begging for a clean place to stay, beds, blankets, water and gas, whilst still paying ridiculous amounts of fees. It makes you sick right! Let’s do something about it this time!!!
Yours truly,
Unhappy AIESEC Chandigarh Intern # 1
One night sitting in our intern house with no electricity, water or gas, a conversation began on how we wanted to stop this happening to future interns. In the past many attempts have been made by other equally dissatisfied interns but yet AIESEC Chandigarh still became the number 1 LC in the world for 2009. Extremely frustrated by this, I asked another intern why there was so many unhappy interns but yet nothing has changed??? The intern replied-
“There are 3 types of people: those who say they are going to do something but never do, those who follow others but won’t actually initiate action themselves and those who say they are going to do something and ACTUALLY do it!”
I hope to be the latter by starting this blog (and do give complete credit to another intern for the idea :) In starting it though, I am extremely realistic when I say I don’t think I can COMPLETELY stop the mistreatment of all AIESEC Chandigarh Interns but I do hope that this blog will at least contribute towards AIESEC Chandigarh not becoming the number 1 LC for 2010!!!
Please help me in my attempt and share your stories- please feel free to share your name OR keep it anonymous (what I will be doing initially or until I finish my internship) and PLEASE share this blog with as many other interns whom you know that are also unhappy with their experience!!!
Lastly I want to make it VERY clear- I am not saying I regret coming to India, nor am I disrespecting AIESEC as a whole. I greatly respect what they do and think they are a wonderful organization that positively contributes to helping so many different people, in so many locations all over the world. What I am saying is that I think AIESEC Chandigarh only cares about the QUANTITY of interns that they bring here and have complete disregard for the QUALITY of the interns stay! For example, AIESEC Chandigarh often never respond to interns as they are too "busy" at functions and events celebrating their title of best LC in the world, eating lavish meals and singing AIESEC Chandigarh chants, applauding themselves for the numbers and figures they have achieved. Meanwhile many interns are begging for a clean place to stay, beds, blankets, water and gas, whilst still paying ridiculous amounts of fees. It makes you sick right! Let’s do something about it this time!!!
Yours truly,
Unhappy AIESEC Chandigarh Intern # 1
I feel sorry for you guys. Yet, not the whole AIESEC works like this. It is the sense of responsibility of the individual in particular that is questionable.
ReplyDeleteI want to suggest for all of you to send a letter back to your home LCs, describing your condition there. Usually the home LC will contact receiving LC if any of their interns complains about violation of internship services, such as bad support in legal paperwork, that are bound to be the responsible of receiving LC.
If the receiving LC would not respond, try to reach your home MC with the help of your home LC. Then, this will be communicated by your home MC to the receiving MC. The receiving MC would have no choice but to interfere in the work of their responsible LC. If the condition is really bad, like there are a lot of violations to the contract, and LC/MC of a lot of countries are complaining at the same time, this could rise up the awareness of quality internship in Aiesec.
So, call all the interns who experience this and make a move together. Asking your home LC and MC is the best and most effective way to seek help, rather than hoping to get a good news from your receiving LC. It is a good way to push for improvement in the LC body.
I'm an alumni of Aiesec and hoping that this culture of numbers ahead of quality won't root in Aiesec anywhere around the globe. I've once heard of LC rating in aiesec.net. I don't know whether it's already applied or not, but if it is, you can help in rating the quality of your internship.
I wish you all good luck. Try to shift your focus from the troubles... You've paid a lot. It's a good opportunity, meeting other interns from around the world. Have a great time. :)