Working In China – Sameer Choglay| 3 min read

Prior to arriving in China I worked for a pharmaceutical company; it took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t for me. I thought an internship would be best, I could potentially work in any given field, doing tasks which are completely new to me in order to find out which career path I want to follow.

Whilst going through the application process for ImmerQi, I was asked which field I want to work in. I replied with the purposefully broad “healthcare/pharmaceutical industry”. ImmerQi had gotten back to me with OASIS International hospital, a newly established private international hospital located in Beijing. Having researched the company and spoken to my would-be supervisor, I decided that this was the ideal fit for me. I would be allowed to move between departments, working in different fields to find out what I truly wanted to do.

My first day  at work and I was taken to the hospital by a couple of the ImmerQi team, so that I knew the route and to introduce to me at my work place.  When I started talking to my supervisor she had told me that she too had been an intern and she understood my want to do as many different tasks as possible in the limited time available. All the staff are very friendly and helpful, offering to show me areas of Beijing, sharing food with me and generally making the transition to moving here that bit easier.

I’ve been here for over 3 months now and I’ve worked in a number of different departments undertaking a number of projects. These include updating and redesigning the drug formulary, creating policy handbooks, representing the hospital at events, running through customer services protocols with staff as well as going through business development ideas and analyses. In addition to this I’ve also taken part in the work talent show as part of a salsa act. I did not know salsa before I started working here.

The whole duration of my internship has gone swimmingly well, and very different to the hardships I found when first trying to integrate in to society here. While I haven’t found that one career path I look for, I can say I’m very grateful for being able to work here and allowing me to dip my fingers in to a bit of everything. I’ve been given advice, met contacts and have been subjected to a range of experiences which can only be beneficial to my professional career.