Learning from New Experiences: A First-Week Internship Story at the Muhammadiyah Central Board
Starting an internship has been a rather different experience for me as a student. During my lectures, I mostly learned about various management theories and concepts through classroom learning. Through the internship, I had the opportunity to see firsthand how work and various activities in an organisation take place on a daily basis.
I carried out my internship at the Central Board Office of Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta. On the first day, I attended the opening and introduction session for interns. After that, I was placed in the Programme Synergy and Cooperation section and received guidance on the activities to be carried out during the internship.
The first week was a time to begin getting to know the work environment while adapting to the various activities in the office. Besides learning about the work in the section where I was placed, I also took part in several activities with staff and other interns. One of them was firefighting training.
That training was one of the interesting activities for me because it provided knowledge about preparedness in facing emergencies. Activities like this made the internship experience feel more varied. I not only learned from desk work but also gained experience through activities with people in the office environment.
On the work side, I began to learn about various administrative activities carried out at the Muhammadiyah Central Board Office. One of the activities I did was recapping, scanning, and archiving incoming letters. The scanned documents were then stored digitally in Google Drive according to the year stated on the letter.
From that activity, I began to understand that document management is an important part of supporting organisational activities. Well-organised documents are easier to find again when needed. For me, this work also became an opportunity to learn to be more thorough in examining and grouping documents.
Besides archiving letters, I also learned to record data through a logbook and the SuratMu application. Some letters in the application were then downloaded, recorded, and archived according to the year stated on the letter. From this, I became more familiar with how administrative management processes are carried out directly in a work environment.
I also had the opportunity to help record data on members of the Muhammadiyah Regional Board from 13 provinces. The data was then arranged in a spreadsheet by including the biodata of each member. This activity gave me experience in managing a considerable amount of information and organising it into more orderly data so that it is easier to use.
Not only working within the division, I also took part in activities with staff and other interns. One of them was group exercise, which was followed by a meeting with the Personnel section regarding preparations for a Fun Run event. In that activity, interns also had the opportunity to help with the organising committee.
Through that meeting, I could see how an event is prepared through communication and cooperation among members. Each person had their own role and coordinated with one another so that event preparations could run well. This was an interesting experience because I could see firsthand how cooperation is applied in an organisation.
The first week of the internship provided many things to learn. From administrative work, data management, and training to attending meetings and activities with staff, everything provided a closer picture of the work environment.
As a Management student, that experience also made me see that the knowledge learned in lectures can be found in various daily activities in the workplace. Document management, data organisation, communication, and cooperation are some things that have been studied in theory, but now I can see their application directly.
The first week was indeed just the first step in my internship journey. However, from several activities I have undertaken, I am beginning to understand that learning does not only take place in the classroom. The work environment also provides many opportunities to get to know new things, try various activities, and understand how the knowledge learned can be applied in real life.