MBA Opportunities with an Internship in Asia | TopMBA.com

MBA Opportunities with an Internship in Asia

By QS Contributor

Updated June 16, 2020 Updated June 16, 2020

As an MBA or soon-to-be MBA student, you are aiming for an international career in the global business environment. However, before you finally enter the job market and commit yourself to a company and location for many years to come, it is important to evaluate all your options and gain your final qualifications to succeed in your career. An international internship in Asia can help you with that.

A thriving market with a robust network of professionals

The Asian market itself is rapidly shifting from a manufacturing market to a modern, independent and service-orientated economy. Due to this, the demand for young and motivated people with an ambitious vision is high, which creates excellent opportunities for young professionals wanting to start their international career. In Japan alone, more than 900,000 foreign nationals were employed in 2015, a 15% increase on the previous year (As such, the Asian market provides attractive options for professionals, which you can explore during an internship in Asia.

However, even though your plan might not be to relocate to Asia on a permanent basis for your future international career, the contacts you will gain will prove highly valuable for your future endeavors. In Asia, the emphasis on business relations and contacts is much higher compared to Europe and the US. By living and working in a different country for a longer period, you will engage with a lot of people and will be able to extend your network, for example through certain business networking events, tremendously. Since business ties between the Western and Eastern worlds will be consolidated further in the years to come, you can be assured that your connections will set you apart from your peers and pay off eventually.

Fertile ground for exploring entrepreneurial interests

You might also be interested in eventually setting up your own business entity in Asia. In recent years, the region has emerged as one of the top entrepreneurship destinations worldwide. Destinations such as Singapore, for instance, offer relative ease with which one can start a business, and could make represent the perfect place to become an entrepreneur. An internship in Asia will help you to familiarize yourself with the local startup ecosystem while exploring, whether an international career as entrepreneur will be suitable for you or not.

Improve your CV with Asia experience

Some students may want to consider doing an internship in Asia even before they begin their MBA study, to bolster their CV and impress schools with international experience on their MBA application. However, take note that the market is often not transparent and landing an internship that matches your standards often proves difficult. As such, there are specialized service providers in the market that you can call on to help you arrange a top-class internship position in attractive destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul and many more. No matter which direction your further career may take, an internship in Asia will be of tremendous value, no doubt.

This article was originally published in November 2016 . It was last updated in June 2020

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