My initial impression of my internship company through interactions over email and my initial interview was that they are lax and much more laid back than American businesses. I got this impression from the informal language they used in emails and the low sense of urgency to respond to emails. This was a different experience of interacting with a business professional, one that I was hesitant about at first because compared to American businesses where expectations of professionalism and timeliness are understood, I was unaware of what to expect. After accepting my placement, the impression that they had not established a clear expectation of my job responsibilities remained. I had expected to communicate with my company more than I did before I arrived, so a lot of understanding of what I?d be doing was up in the air until I arrived on my first day. At this point, my initial impression of how business is conducted in Ireland was that it is disorganized and lacks rigidity. After I arrived, my impression of the company changed when I realized they are just very flexible and not as regimented as American businesses. They were willing to let me work with creative freedom and wanted me to provide constructive feedback whenever applicable which I saw as a great opportunity to grow through this internship. Now I see other businesses in Ireland in the same light. They create positive staff culture and relations through flexibility and are overall more casual and free-flowing. The change of my impression took time, but I realized I was forcing my expectations and singular point of view onto my experience and how I thought my company or other businesses in Ireland should operate. I?ve since realized that in doing this I caused a lot of unnecessary stress for myself about why things weren?t going the way I thought they would or should.
