Experience Report Malaysiakuala Lumpur

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EXPERIENCE REPORT

MALAYSIA – KUALA LUMPUR

03/10/2016 – 29/11/2016

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Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Work experience 3-7

3. Intercultural experience 8-11 3.1 Lost in Malaysia 8 3.2 Malaysian Roommates 8-9 3.3 People 9 3.4 Safety 10 3.5 Food 10 3.6 Religion 11 3.7 Trips 11-12 3.7.1 Cameron Highlands 11 3.7.2 Island Pangkor 11-12 3.7.3 Island Langkawi 12

4. Conclusion 13

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1. Introduction

The next two months in Malaysia will be a very life changing experience.

I am studying Human Resource Education and Management with the subject English and the focus on Management, Marketing and Innovation. Last semester I chose to deepen my knowledge in the subject Human Resource Management Basics where I was taught a lot about contexts like HR practises, policies and theory.

Now I got the offer of an internship in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur at Allianz Insurance Company in HR Department. In Munich I have already done two internships at Allianz Insurance Com- pany, in HR department and in Employee Marketing. In my second internship at HR department I met two people who helped me to get the internship by sending my application to HR departments in different establishments of Allianz all over the world.

Only few days later a Malaysian woman was asking for a telephone interview. After ac- ceptance everything went very fast and so I had to do a lot of preparations like organizing documents for university and visa, injections, booking flight and accommodation as well as sub renting my flat in Munich. I had just 2 months time to organize. After all it was very chal- lenging, but at the end I had everything in time. But only a few days before departure, I got a mail that there will be problems with my visa. I had to cancel my flight as well as my accommodation and of course I had no flat in Munich anymore. They did not tell me any reason, why they were not able to give me the visa in the right time. I was only told I should keep calm and wait for the visa, because they can also just delay it and so the whole next month I had big doubts, if I could really do the internship. This was also a reason why I had fears about the stay in Malaysia. After my first experiences with the contact to Malaysia my expectations were that the country will be very slow-working and very different to the European way to work, time should not play an important role and I also had some doubts because of the big variety of culture there. Especially I had no idea, how it is as a European woman in a muslin country. But I have never been in an Asian country so I expected to see something totally different to my life in Germany, which would definitely change my view of life.

2. Work Experience

Week 1: 04/10/16 - 07/10/16

At the first day of my internship at Allianz Malaysia Berhad I was introduced to my colleges of the HR Department. The department is divided into three sections: HR Services, HR Relations and HR Planning and Development. The HR Services has to do tasks like administrating pay- roll, leave, personal files, compensation and staff benefits. Recruitment processes, manpower planning, employee relations, IR cases and staff movements are tasks of HR Relations and HR Planning and Development deals with HR Planning, Development, staff training, staff enrol- ment in professional accreditation as well as engagement survey and HR Global Metrics. After the introducing of my colleagues I had an interesting talk to Mrs Woon Man – my boss. She explained me the structure of Allianz Malaysia and the connection to Allianz Germany. Furthermore it was very interesting to hear about a new Agenda which deals with the attitude towards customers and changes. Additionallz it was very exciting to hear how she 4 | P a g e

came to her position. Furthermore I could join in a workshop about the new attitude of Allianz which Mrs Woon Man told me the day before. It was very interesting and in comparison to German workshops completely different. It was much more active and the audience had to do lots of tasks and games during the workshop. Later I talked with Nelvy who was mostly responsible for me doing tasks in Talent Management. She explained what they are doing at the moment in terms of Talent Management and asked how it is handled in Germany. Actu- alizing of Talent Database, where I fill in the goals for peoples` development and how the development is going so far, was another task I was busy doing this week. I was also allowed to design a postcard for newcomers to Allianz. First I tried to keep close to the Allianz Brand with colours and style which I learnt in the internship in Germany. But the people here told me to feel free to design the postcard. That was much fun to be that creative and so I gave my best. I could also help my colleagues to call interview candidates for an internship. I had to introduce myself and explain which internship I was talking about and I had to check when they would be available. That was a big challenge for myself, because it is much more difficult to understand people on the phone because of side sounds and you do not see the people so you cannot read from their lips.

As Allianz is organizing lots of after work activities I joined dance class and I was doing Zumba in a big dance studio with about 40 participants of Allianz. I also joined in an initiative of Allianz which offers to go running and doing fitness with colleagues. We were driven to a big park, trained there and had a lot of fun.

Week 2: 10/10/16 – 14/10/16

The week started with continuing the database task. I finished that this day and I just had to check them again and put them into a folder in alphabetic range. My colleagues took me for lunch to a Chinese restaurant where I had to experience frog. Not that voluntary, but I said to myself, I want to try everything and it was really delicious and tasted a bit like chicken. Another big surprise was that I was invited to a Japanese Wedding, which is a big pleasure for me.

By reading I was also preparing myself for the development center which I am supposed to join in a week. In that event people are watched and rated in certain categories and by the results later will be decided on their further development. I also joined in an interview with a potential intern. They asked the girl a few questions which were quite difficult to answer. But this was the same in my own previous interview. I also prepared a presentation for a Loyalty Award to congratulate employees who are having their jubilee of 10, 20 or 25 years in Allianz. It was upon to me to create a good design and to choose music for background entertain- ment. And I had to contact the people because of pictures which should be shown in the presentation. I also prepared certifications for this award. Another interesting task was the designing of a welcome booklet, which is supposed to be given to newcomers of Allianz. It should contain several orientation hints as well as checklists to help new employees. There 5 | P a g e

was another after work event: Bowling! We were divided in about 7 groups and did a bowling competition. That was great and I met some new colleagues. Actually it was a little bit embarrassing as we were the worst team. I also got internet access and so I could do some design work at the welcome booklet.

Week 3: 17/10/16 - Friday 21/10/16

The day started with the joining into an On-boarding-program of Allianz for their new employees and interns. I learnt about the company, their people and policies. There I also met some interesting new people, with whom I talked a lot to and about first experiences in Alli- anz. I attended at the Development Centre, in which six persons were rewarded and classi- fied in different skill categories like presentation, leadership, social competence and more. There were different tasks which had to be done by the participants. Every participant was observed by one person of HR. And I could also choose to observe one of them. Additionally I was allowed to introduce the participants to a new task. At the end of the day the six ob- servers met in a room where we discussed about the candidates’ rating. That was quite interesting as I could also act like an observer. I shared my impressions with the others and was also surprised on which details my colleagues spent attention. Up to now this was the most exciting part of this internship.

I also was invited to take part in an interview for a permanent position for a mechanic claims position. In comparison to my first interview joins the questions were much more technical inspired. I started with the prescanning for customer service call centre positions. I called candidates and asked them some questions about their current jobs and their pleasure for customer service to look at their English skills.

Week 4: 24/10/16 - 28/10/16

The week started with working on Loyalty Award Presenta- tion and trying to reach the last candidates who have not sent a picture yet. After that I improved design and layout of a new Presentation for Training Policies and Guidelines. On Monday I felt really sick and went to the clinic next to the office, where I got my medical leave. I also worked on a Booklet for the Training Policies and Guidelines. Addition- ally I had a closer look at the other programmes of staff education and training by summarizing and creating the presentation more interesting. Another task was again having some telephone interviews for the prescanning of customer service call center. I also did some interview invita- tions for permanent jobs. Friday is the day before the Indian New Year – Deepavali - so we had half day. Everywhere you can see sand mandala on the floor.

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Week 5: 31/10/16 - 04/11/16

I got the access to an online platform for job search, where Allianz has a profile. I went through about 500 different applications and had to filter the candidates. I filtered them about different characteristics, like experience in special fields and language skills as well as they are stable or not in their career. Furthermore I joined a meeting where our boss told us about her stay in Germany, where she got much new information about how the HR world should change the next two years in Allianz. That was quite interesting. I did another phone calls for inviting candidates for a job interviews. Furthermore I got access to the Allianz Mar- keting website, where I could have a look on all photos for advertisements. Another very interesting day in that week was when three colleagues and I met for going to Janda Baik. It is countryside area and we visited there five different resorts to decide which one is the best for the coming teambuilding day. Unfortunately the teambuilding day is in December – so I cannot join. We had to check if there is enough place for the department, which activities they can do there after the brainstorming and whether it is possible to get there breakfast and lunch as well as snacks. That was very exciting and I enjoyed the jungle area as well. Everywhere are monkeys, many dogs as well as the most beautiful plants I have ever seen. I also saw the Dragon Fruit Plant.

Week 6: 07/11/16 - 11/11/16

I was adding the results of the Development Center in a Database. These were about 300 people, so this task took almost the whole week. Furthermore I was designing a Career Book- let for Career Fair with all information for students, graduates as well as professionals.

Week 7: 14/11/16 – 18/11/16

Additionally to the career booklet I designed a Postcard for the career fair and I also improved the career booklet for the Career Fair. I prepared some ideas for promoting Allianz at the job fair, which I should present the following week to my colleague. Furthermore I called people for the reference check and asked about the candidates behaviours, their main job responsibilities and for the reason they left the company as well as either they would rehire the candidate or not. Another task my colleague, who is organizing after work activities, was asking me, was creating a excel chart with all the bowling scores and make a rating for the last bowling session in December, where only the best 50 can take part.

Week 8: 21/11/16 – 28/11/16 7 | P a g e

The week started with some reference checks. I had a meeting where I could show the career booklet and the postcard I had designed for the job fair. Additionally I shared ideas for

promoting Allianz at the Job Fair. I also completed a database about attended exams and online exams employees did at Allianz. Another interesting task was preparing and doing a telephone interview, where I could ask the candidate questions I prepared on my own. The person who I interviewed was recommended of his dad, who is working here for more than 10 years. My colleague let it up to me how to create the interview. I just had to write a report, either I would hire him or not. Of course it was obvious, that this person will be hired, but it was a good training for me to try on my own and Allianz had to do an interview formally. On my last day my colleagues prepared a surprise for me: cake and malaysian sweets. In the even- ing we had an amazing dinner – seafood. I also tried to resist the whole stay against durian – the smelly fruit, but at my last day I had to try as my last malaysian lection and it really tastes like spoiled eggs. 8 | P a g e

3. Intercultural Experiences

3.1 Lost in Malaysia?

As I arrived in Kuala Lumpur I was kind of lost. There was this huge airport, which was constructed like a very long and slender building. I had no idea where to go. Addi- tionally I had a really bad jetlag and was very tired. Fortunately I asked a stewardess who was very kind and brought me to the immigration counter. There I met the first Malaysian lady and she was a very unfriendly person. She was just talking to her colleague and when she spoke to me she was mumbling. At the end she told me that she only confirms a Visa for the duration of one month and I would have to go to another office in Putrajaya. I was quite confused as I had the stamp in my passport, but I was so tired and annoyed of her mumbling and could not understand her anyway, so I just accepted. It took me about 2 hours to get some cash, to get a Malaysian phone number and to get known how to order a taxi. In comparison to Germany, you cannot just call a taxi when you are standing at the street. You have to take a ticket and wait. It seemed as nobody could really understand me, so I tried to communicate by pantomimic and I really started to worry about how to survive the next two months. Finally I got the taxi and the man was talking to me and we could not understand each other again. Then he called his wife and asked me to talk with her about her career in London, I did not know why and I could not understand her also, so I felt again very uncomfortable. When I was in the taxi I called Alina – my Airbnb contact. She told me that there was a German boy waiting for me to show me the house I rented. I was so happy and relieved that there would be someone who could understand me. He showed me around and the house was very nice. I should stay there with Julian, the German, Sridah, an Indian men and of course with Alina and Martin, who sub rented the rooms. The rest of the day I was just sleeping because of my terrible jetlag, which would last the whole week.

Another incidence happened when I was in a supermarket to buy some groceries. I was looking for toast in this really huge supermarket with lots of western food. I asked about four different people and everybody told me something else. In the end I typed TOAST – WHITE BREAD in my mobile to show them in case they do not understand me acoustically, I also tried to explain them with different attributes, like soft bread, white, American, you put jam on it. At the end they told me sold out or we do not have that. No one could help me, so I gave up and suddenly next to the cash counter there was plenty of toast.

I am not sure, if they are afraid of me, because I look western. But sometimes they people did not react at all, when I was trying to ask something.

After all I can say, I can definitely understand English here even with the asian accent, but on my first day I just had a bad start with bad luck, which shocked me that day a lot.

3.2 Malaysian Roommates

In the first morning in Malaysia I had to make a terrible discovery – there was a 10cm big cockroach over my bed on the wall. Fortunately Julian - the German roommate - killed it. The next days and weeks I had very often meetings with those animals in my house. Cockroaches in all sizes and lizards in all colours – this is experience. And even I 9 | P a g e

never thought I would do that – I got used to it. The first nights I dreamt and thought that everything around me is scrambling and scuttling, but after I killed the first on my own, it got better. The only thing I had to handle is scarring when I discovered them. As I told my colleagues about those incidents, they told me that lizards are really hard to avoid here, but that cockroaches are not that common to have in the house in that amount and that I should really complain to the owner. So I sought conversation to Alina and we decided to be more careful with trash and food. But in the end, we still had cockroaches. I really felt uncomfortable in the kitchen and the rest of the house. For my room I paid much attention that there were no more cockroaches.

3.3 People

Every day I went to Allianz by by Uber – this is an application for mobiles, where you can book taxis driven by private drivers. I paid for one way about 6 to 7 ringgit which is about 1.30 to1.50 Euro for a distance about 5km. This is also how I met my first Ma- laysian friend – Janesh. He is an Indian Malaysian guy, who is about 27 years old and does this job despite he studied gastronomic because he earns much more money with doing the driver job. We arranged that he would pick me each day from home to work and vice versa. He was always recommending some sights or places to go and gives very helpful hints. As he was staying 4 years in Australia he speaks very good English and was very easy to understand. He also takes me sometimes for dinner or for having drinks in the city and he is explaining many cultural things.

Most people here are very open, friendly and helpful. It is easy to make friends with everyone. Allianz is also organizing lots of after work activities. I can join running, Zumba, Kick-Boxing and Bowling. As I am obviously European many people ask me what I am doing here and how I like Malaysia and about my experiences. But I think it is very important to show them you are also open and willing to try everything. The most important thing is to be open for different food. My colleagues enjoyed taking me to new places and new restaurants with different cuisines like Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese as well as Thai. And I really had to try everything – so I also tried frog – which was something I would never ever eat, but I had to try and as I only have now the chance to learn that much about a new country and their culture as well as their food – I tried it and I was quite surprised how delicious it was.

Another aspect about people here is that it seems to be special if people here see European girls. I do not really know why, but you have to get used to it, that all men are starring at European women. Most of them are very talkative and very flirty as well. I got here up to now about four proposals of marriage, especially from Indian guys.

Another temporary housemate was Saranya – a 27-years-old Thai girl from Bangkok, who is working here for two months in a marketing agency. As she was also alone, we spent almost every day with each other and had a lot of fun. She became like a big sister and we also travelled together. After 2 weeks she moved to a new condo, which is a skyscraper with lots of flats and facilities like gym and an infinity pool. I learned from her not to disappear in difficult situations and to keep calm. She also taught me not to take everything too serious, not to over think a lot and let things just go their way.

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3.4 Safety

As I mentioned I had to get used to be starred by men. You should not walk the streets alone when it is dark. My colleagues said I should always wear my bag at the house side and never at the street side and also in my neighbourhood are many signs for paying attention of being robbed. But if you go in group you should be safe. I did not make any bad experiences, but once I arrived at the airport and I was drawing money, a man stand directly behind me – I mean that close that I could felt his breath in my neck. I was not alone, so I turned myself and asked him very loud if everything is alright. He immediately took a step backwards.

It seems like they do not have any rules on the streets. You always have to be very careful on the streets. Because I was told the order in traffic would be bus, car, mo- torbike and then human.

3.5 Food In Malaysia food plays a very important role. I can totally understand this because it is really very good. You can try a big variety of different food. I had been in Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian and American restaurants as well I have tried the street food. I was not always very sure about what I just eat, but I did not have any bad experience. When you go through food streets you can really get everything. They sell there all different kinds of fruits, which I have never seen in my life before. And also the fruits I knew of the tropic fruit area in German supermarkets look here totally different. They are very huge and much juicier than in Germany. I love the big quantity of different fruits, vegetables and food you can try here. A fruit where I am trying to escape from my colleagues is the durian fruit. They eat a lot of chicken and most of the dishes are served with rice. And they love to eat spicy. They also fry almost everything. Especially banana leaf is one of my favourite dishes here. It is quite common to drink lots of tea for lunch and dinner, even the temperature is everyday about 30 up to 35 degrees. They do not like the heat of the weather. This is also why they have everywhere air-conditioning and cool offices, cars and shops to 20 degrees. This makes it quite hard to dress because you will always sweat on the way to work and feel cold in the office. I usually wear as much as I can, because it is really cold. Another interesting fact about Asian culture is, that they eat for breakfast also rice and chicken and spicy. One day I tried their breakfast. It was Malaysian traditional breakfast - Nasi Lemak - with coconut rice and spicy sauce, fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumbers as well as chicken and the meal was packed into a banana leaf. As I tried it I did not really like it, because I did not want to eat spicy in the morning. But at the end I often ate it, because it was really delicious and it is keeping full for long time.

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3.6 Religion This is playing a very important role. Almost everybody goes to church, temple or mosque every week. They also pray every day. And you can hear muslins prayers at special times of the day. As everywhere in the world they differ in practising religion. I met a colleague who is muslin and did not wear a scarf at all. And another colleague was explaining that they wear scarves because they want to do and it is not like every woman must hide behind her husband. They also have a voice here and can do what they want, also in career. But she also explained that there are more old- fashioned countries, where women have no rights. In many restaurants you can see halal and non-halal tableware. It means that on those plates did never touch any pork or other impure things. It is reckoned to be impure to touch a dog as well. In supermarkets you can see shields that it is forbidden by right to sell alcohol to muslins. Another thing I was told is that sometimes hotels only let muslins a double room if they show that their marriage documents.

One day I went to a Chinese temple and everywhere they put joss sticks and in the middle of the temple was a big fire where the people prayed and burned papers with symbols and paintings. Later I was told that they send their wishes to the Gods by burning the papers. In the temple were many candles and altars where they put much food. That is sacrificial offering. But later they eat it or give it to poor people.

3.7 Trips 3.7.1 Cameron Highlands Saranya and I rented a car and we drove to Cameron Highland. This is a countryside area with lots of plantations for tea or strawberries. We stopped at a tea plantation and walked through the bushes where they plant the tea. The view was marvellous and it does not even look like reality because the hills are in big number, very high but not broad and the green of the plants is seems to be un- natural green. When you touch the leaves they seem to be very thick and look like plastic. Between the tea plants tropical flowers are growing in all colours and forms I have never seen before.

3.7.2 Island Pangkor At one weekend Julian and I travelled to Pangkor, which is an Island just 3 hours away from Kuala Lumpur. We took the fairy to reach Pangkor and there we rented a scooter to discover the island. As November is monsoon time, it was raining heavily one afternoon for 2 hours. But the sea is that warm that we just stayed in the warm water till it stopped. The next day we rented a kayak and went to a very small island only few hundred meters away where we were almost alone. On 12 | P a g e

the island was a small jungle where we go through. It was very adventurous. The beach has white sand and you can find the most beautiful shells and crabs there.

3.7.3 Island Langkawi For my last weekend Saranya and I were planning to do a farewell trip to Langkawi, which is famous for its beautiful beaches. We went there to different beaches and did horse riding through the djungle as well as jetsky and partying at some bars. We rented a scooter and drove through the island, discovered some harbors and the statue of an eagle which is the emblem of Langkawi. We also traveled to black sand beach and to a buddistic temple.

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4. Conclusion

To sum up there are a few things, which are good to know and definitely to discover about Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. To those places I would count the Batu Caves. When you go there it is like you would be in another time and world. All the statures and the old temple are very impressive. Everywhere monkeys run and it is quite funny to watch them stealing things. Also the Petronas Towers are amazing. They are count as the biggest building of the world. I also visited the City Gallery where you can watch a great light show of facts about Kuala Lumpur on a glass miniature town. I also went to several sky bars, because I really enjoyed the views over Kuala Lumpur at night. I did another trip to Cameron Highlands, where we went through tea plantations and had a great view over this beautiful landscape. And of course discover the Islands. Visit the most beautiful beaches to relax and recover from the stressful working days.

To compare my expectations with my impressions of the country, I have to say, I am not right with my prejudices that the whole country is very slow-working and not at all very different to European style of working. Even you hear that everywhere, I cannot agree, because I did not make the experience in my department. Also big variety of culture there does not really harm problems. The only point is that you have to get used to the starring men. But the most difference to German lifestyle is their belief and religion.

The benefits of the internship are obvious. I did a big development in view of independence and self-confidence. I was alone in a country where values and culture are very different to yours, so I had to deal with everything by my own and could not call my parents to ask for advice also because of the time difference. So I got very well-considered and aware of taking good care of myself. Even if it seems that I was alone, there are many people, who are in the same situation and they are also looking for connection. Furthermore Malaysian people are open, friendly and very cooperative.

I really could improve my English skills a lot. I was forced to speak English with everybody. In the period of the 2 months I only met 2 German people. Even if I sometimes felt stressed to talk all the time English, I could see every time improvements in talking more fluently. After all it was from time to time difficult to understand the strong accent. Very funny was, when my Chinese colleague talked about her stay in London and imitated London people talking. I have never understood her that clearly as in that moment.

In future view, I think within the stay in Kuala Lumpur, I did a big development. Is it my English skills, is it the new cultural experience or is it personal development. I learned to be open about religion and different values, to be adaptable in new situations and any challenges and to trust myself to cope with all that on the other side of the world, totally being solely responsible.