My Co-op experience

Greetings! I’m Haggai Lahav.
I’m a second-year student for business administration and entrepreneurship.
This blog is to share about my experience at the Co-op program abroad!

First thing first- when I heard I got accepted to the program it was super exciting. Berlin is one of my favorite cities in Europe, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work there. After the application process ended and I was told I was accepted, I felt so lucky and grateful to have this opportunity. So, I flew to berlin and stayed there for a full month.

I got Lucky- one of my childhood friends who lives in berlin just had a free room in his apartment. he invited me over for that internship time and of course I agreed!
So, the experience became even more exiting with the privilege to bond with a friend after long years of distance!

I did my internship at a company called CALLSTR. They have a B2B video solution for websites. With Callstr’s solution any website can implement a direct video call option easily and affordably. Callstr is alumni of the Bosch start-up harbor, they have already developed and launched their product to the point they have paying customers.

I chose to apply to them because I come with rich E-commerce experience, and their product is very useful for e-commerce activities, so I thought it’s a great fit to my prior knowledge and experience and I might be able to offer some added value. Another reason I chose Callstr is because of the position type they posted- It was a Product Intern Position, which I find very interesting.

One of my tasks was researching the competitive landscape and determining a new go-to-market strategy based on the research. Next, I was asked to design and develop landing pages for the new market I discovered. To complete all the work I did I then created a presentation with all the findings, designs, and the required UX change suggestions and presented it to the CEO and CTO.

Additionally, I had to map the whole user journey on Figma and suggest improvements to the present product flow. Needless to say, this is a very strong practical experience you don’t usually get to do as a student, so it is worth a lot!

While doing all this work, I gained many skills. Researching user flows, creating professional business presentations, developing, and structuring content, designing it, and presenting it efficiently.

Besides that, I learned how to get used to a new working culture.
Living and working abroad for 5 weeks gave me a lot of confidence and satisfaction.

My company's CEO made sure I had significant experience beyond my day-to-day responsibilities: We went to Bosch start-ups networking event, on the beautiful Bosch IOT Campus terrace, as a part of their accelerator start-ups recruitment. I had the opportunity to meet and connect with many entrepreneurs at all stages there. Besides that, we also had a few working days at other companies’ offices, so I had the chance to meet, grab launches, and be introduced to very important and influential figures in the German start-up eco-system. I expanded my network and made new connections and friends, which I'm sure will go with me on my future path.

So, If you are considering taking the global Co-op program- I highly recommend you to do so! It's an opportunity to travel abroad, meet new people, and gain hands-on experience and knowledge.

Thanks, Adelson school. For the opportunity. Looking forward to my next challenge!
Haggai Lahav