Over my summer between grade 11 and 12 I interned at International SOS, a emergency medical and security assistance organisation.

My goal was to use the experience to understand what the various careers in the medical field were as I am keen on pursuing Biomedical sciences. I wanted to get to know the people working there and understand their journey into working at ISOS.

While I did expect the office to be a lot like a call center, I didn’t know much about the organisation itself. Going in on my first day it was exactly like a call center, but I still did not know much about the work that they did. Over the two weeks I interacted with doctors and Customer Service Executives of different levels who showed me how medical assistance has so many layers to it.

I did not expect to be interacting and working with actual doctors, but when I did start speaking to them and asking them about their journey I learnt a lot about why they became doctors, and how they realised that the doctor’s profession wasn’t for them. This inspired me because I realised that there is a lot more I can do in the medical field without being a doctor.

I listened to quite a few calls each day, and I realised the importance of communication. This was essential because those who required the emergency services were not always easily contactable and moreover the organisation is massive and they have centers all over the world who need to be included in discussions. I really liked how everyone in the organisation regardless of experience and status were still valued equally.

I think my intended goal was met because not only did I get a new perspective of the medical field, but the projects that I got to do there required my technological skills to be used and the people at ISOS found the work that I did very useful.

I feel that I was able to successfully finish my presentations and present them with ease because I paid attention to details and procedure over my two weeks there. Furthermore, I was able to develop a good rapport with the people around me because I tried to be as useful as possible and engaged in conversation to show my interest for the field.

I don’t think I made mistakes, however my projects were a massive learning experience for me because I haven’t worked with Microsoft/ Windows in several years and they fully operate on this software. Trying over and over again by myself to understand the various tools available on these platforms I was able to learn how to use the tools better.

Advice for the next set of interns:

• It is very easy to be to yourself and not engage with the people there, I would suggest that interacting with the people who work there as much as possible is a very insightful experience.
• Pay attention to the detail with which they work so that there aren’t cases of miscommunication, because the problems caused by this could be detrimental to the kind of work they do.