Internships
The Team
You will be working in the Sales Department, with a multicultural and multilingual team who work together for the growth of the company grow and offer the best service possible to customers. The working environment is relaxed and friendly and we will try to meet your needs in order to cooperate in harmony and enjoy our time together.
The Work
As War World Scenics is a fast-growing online retail company that designs and produces its products to sell through online selling platforms such as Amazon and eBay, as well as its own websites. We can therefore offer students an experience in all aspects of the business, not only in translation but also in marketing, research, administration, customer service, website maintenance and social media (Facebook, Twitter, newsletters, blogs). We are a young and dynamic company that aim to offer our interns the best experience possible both socially and professionally.
In detail, you will:
- Translate, proofread and localise product descriptions
- Manage the selling platforms (Amazon, eBay) for your language of study, which will include marketing analysis
- Use of the Microsoft Office package
- Carry out customer service tasks in your language of study
- Manage the social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook) in your language of study
Technology
Although each translator is allowed to use its program of choice to complete the translations, our translators usually use SDL Trados Studio 2017 as CAT Tools. You will therefore have the chance to work and practice with one of the most commonly used translation programs. This will be a very important skill to put in your CV!
Location
The internship will be based in our head office in Unit 30, Lonlas Village Workshops, Skewen, Neath (SA10 6RP).
Future
The Internship scheme can also be a trampoline to future employment within the company. So far, the two students who have done their internships with us are still working with us. See our case studies to find out more about them.
Languages we can offer
- Spanish
- French
- Italian
- German
- Chinese
- Arabic
- Polish
Our internships are flexible, and you can start whenever you want according to the university requirements.
Getting in Touch
If you are interested in an internship at WWScenics please email us at: internships@wwscenics.com
CASE STUDY
Student Name: Agnese Guya Porcari
Course of Study: MAs in Translation and Interpreting (Extended)
Internship Dates and Times: 17th of September 2018 – 7th of December 2018
Your Experience
How did you hear about the internship scheme at WWS?
One of my Master colleagues told me about her work experience at War World Scenics and that they were looking to hire an Italian in-house translator to look after their Italian market, selling platforms and customer service. She found the agency on her own, so War World Scenics was not yet on the list of agencies in partnership with Swansea University but I was interested by the opportunity it presented to me.
What was the application and interview process like?
As the company was new to the Swansea University internship scheme, a fixed application process was not set yet. I therefore got in contact with Mark, one of the company directors, and arranged a meeting in the company office. We discussed together about university requirements and how to match them with the company organisation and needs. It was a friendly meeting, which aim was to ensure I was a reliable and competent person and that my language skills were good enough for the company needs and we agreed the terms of the cooperation.
What was your role in the company, what tasks did it involve?
I worked at War World Scenics as in-house Italian translator; however, from the beginning of my internship, I was entrusted with the management of the company Italian selling platforms and social media accounts as well. My duties therefore varied from the translation and proofreading of product descriptions, to data analysis for the sales team and social media activity. I in fact extensively used my IT skills with programs such as Excel and Word, enhanced my CAT Tools abilities using SDL Trados Studio 2017 as translation tool and learnt how to use complex selling platforms such as Amazon and eBay. The social media of the company I took care of were Facebook and Twitter, where I posted pictures and descriptions, liked pages, got in contact with customers, etc.
Did your role in the company evolve over time?
My role in the company consistently evolved over time: I started as simple Italian translator and, as I demonstrated my reliability and professionality by working professionally and learning new skills, I was entrusted with more responsibilities, such as price editing, the management of the company Italian marketplace, researching in the modelling field in order to find right keywords and titles for the Italian products, etc.
What was the most valuable aspect of your work experience?
The most valuable aspect of my internship was the fact that it allowed me to match both the practicing and enhancing my translation, proofreading and linguistic research skills and learning new skills. Among these new skills I have learn and practiced, I can mention IT skills (professionally using Excel, Amazon and eBay), organisational skills (autonomously manage my time and workload and setting up a collaboration between the company and Swansea University), marketing skills (management of selling platforms), communication skills (efficiently and comfortably communicate with colleagues and superiors in a working environment, participating to office and manager meetings), etc. I largely appreciated this dynamic kind of work because it allowed me to never get bored in the workplace and to try different kind of works and understand what I like most and least and which are my strong points.
Another important aspect of my internship at War World Scenics was the opportunity to get a direct insight into working life; I was able to experience what it is like working full time in an office, including travel to work, lunch breaks and everything is involved in the working life.
Did the internship meet your expectations?
When I applied for this internship scheme at War World Scenics, I thought it would have been a three-month internship entirely based on translation tasks, proofreading, editing and terminological research. I found myself involved into much more activities instead, all related to the company functioning; these activities included the management of the selling platforms of the company, the care of customer service issues, etc. I could therefore get an insight in many different work fields and find out what I like doing and what I prefer not to deal with.
How has this experience impacted on your professional and personal development and career goals?
In terms of personal development, through this experience I gained much more self-confidence and more ease in efficiently communicate with work colleagues and superiors during everyday working life, meetings, etc. This internship taught me to value my work as well; over time, I could clearly see the impact of my work (both translations and marketing work) on the company sales and this was a great satisfaction and reward for the hard work I did together with the Sales Team. This work experience taught me to value my time, both my working time – in order to get the best results – and my free-time. Having a full-time commitment really made me aware of how important and valuable my free time is and how important is to take time to relax and do what I like.
In terms of career goals, my time at War World Scenics expanded my horizons: I was convinced that a freelance job was what I was looking for; after this experience, I realised how much I enjoy being an in-house translator and being involved in the whole production process and not just translating texts I do not know where they come from and where and how will be used.
