Request for Question Clarification by
claudietta-ga
on
11 Nov 2002 19:57 PST
Krazo,
Being a Stanford grad myself, and having some experience with getting
work from Italian companies, I am posting this to help you out a
little. The answer is that it is EXTREMELY difficult to work in
Italy. Below are my comments.
1. As noted by Respree, it is very important to speak Italian very
well. They don't tend to speak English.
2. The way the internship system is set up is very different from ours
in the US. They expect that as a student you live with your parents
(don't have expenses) and so they don't tend to pay at all. They also
believe that they are doing you a huge favor --which they would if you
are Italian-- because there is a lot of unemployment among university
people, and recent graduates.
3. If you do work for them (as an intern) it will be for free. I have
a business school friend who worked for Ducati last summer, and it was
for free.
4. If you do end up working for any company in Italy at that level,
you tangible benefits would be much inferior to those provided by US
companies. They just have the internship structure that we do.
If you are intent on getting an internship in Italy, this would be my
strategy
1. Have one of the counselors at the CDC contact them directly. I
think this would carry much more weight than you calling them.
2. Learn Italian very well. (Say hi to Prof. Napolitano!) Italy is
particular and peculiar in Europe in this respect. They have a low
rate English/Italian bilingualism, and getting along would be very
difficult.
3. Figure out who your richest uncle is, and have him push his weight
around. Unfortunately, Italy is still of very old-world mentality, and
'who you know is what you know', as the saying goes.
4. Do an exchange with the Stanford in Florence, and figure out who's
who in the industry. Network like crazy. Convince them to take you
while you are there for the following year. If they take you, have a
backup plan in case they change their mind along the way. This
happens a lot more in Italy than in the US.
5. Don't limit yourself to Ferrari. I'm sure a million Italian
university people really want to work for them. Most of Italian
industry is fueled by small-niche market enterprises, which are the
best in the world in what they do. They are worth working for too.
Good luck, and let me know what else I can answer.
Claudietta
