ibelieveinsoulmates asked: Hi! I was wondering if you could help me. I am French and study Intercultural Management & International Business at a Master's level. I would absolutely love to find an internship in Marketing/Event planning in Iceland! But since I don't speak Icelandic, is there any chance for me to find a internship at all? I'm especially interested in working for Promote Iceland. Do you have other tips to share with a future intern? Also, thank you for running such an awesome blog! :)
Glad you like the blog.
I’m sure you can find something. Still I would say that internships are much less common in Iceland than in much of Europe for example. Virtually all students have had summer jobs or worked alongside their studies, often in areas very relevant to their studies. Finding a summer job may therefore be a good option for you as well.
For an internship that fits you, I don’t think not knowing Icelandic is much of a liability.
Promote Iceland is a reasonably large organization and could definitely be an option. Of course it could be a good idea to leverage your French. I don’t know if Promote Iceland has a French focus. There are several companies, particularly tourism companies that would benefit from a French speaking intern. The first one that comes to mind is Icelandic Mountain Guides, my former employer. They have a special focus on France and I know that they have had interns before. Icelandair customizes their marketing to several international markets, including France. I’m sure they even have a Paris office. Perhaps the French embassy in Iceland could give you tips on companies that market themselves towards France.
In any case, put together a convincing cover letter, tailor it to each company, show that you both have passion and that you will do more good than be in the way. I know fx. that Icelandic Mountain Guides regularly get requests from abroad about internships and they would like to accept many more of them than they do, but they generally fear that it will take up too much of employee’s time. I reckon it’s the same elsewhere. Convince them otherwise.
Gangi þér vel!
