HONOLULU, HAWAII (July 26, 2011) – PacRim Marketing Group, Inc. is hosting student interns to help them gain experience in multicultural marketing, especially to the Asian international traveler. Three students and one graduate from universities across the United States are interning at the company for the summer, working in video production and editing, advertising and media—both online and print—and providing support for integrated marketing clients, as well as working directly with clients.
The students have a wide range of experience and education, with interests in international business, cross cultural communications, and Asian studies, in most cases. They are all fluent or studying at least one Asian language—Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.
PacRim Marketing Group has always had an active intern program, according to President and CEO Dave Erdman, who participated in several student internships through Bucknell University and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, School of Travel Industry Management.
“Each of my internships was valuable and important in crafting my career,” Erdman said. “I also had many excellent mentors, and hope we can offer the same to these bright students, who also bring us intelligence from other countries and our youth culture.”
PacRim Marketing Group has become more selective when recruiting for its internship program, and selected this summer’s interns from Harvard University, Willamette University, and University of Hawaii, Manoa. Three of the interns attended Hawaii high schools and one is from Japan; all have taken leadership roles in school or community organizations.
The selection process started last February from a pool of more than twenty applicants. Most of the summer intern applicant inquiries come from university intern programs, referrals, and from students visiting the website www.pacrimmarketing.com.
College Sophomores Aisha Price, Jenna Wu, and Jamie Lee, and graduate Ryoko Yamakawa were the lucky ones selected for this year’s summer internship program at PacRim Marketing Group. Price is a Punahou graduate studying at Harvard University to get a Bachelor of Arts degree, concentrating on East Asian Studies; she speaks fluent Chinese and just returned from a one-month internship at Le Meridien Hotel in Shanghai, China. Wu is studying at Willamette University to get her Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese Studies and Studio Art and speaks Chinese and Japanese. Lee is working on her Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing and International Business at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and is fluent in Korean, with conversational Japanese speaking skills. Ryoko Yamakawa has a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a focus on graphic arts, from University of Hawaii, Manoa.
PacRim Marketing Group has had different intern programs over the years, including one where its interns from Macao started a Chinese blog about Hawaii and helped strengthen the corporate ties with a college in Macao. Each intern is assigned to a “mentor” at the company. Several of the interns have returned to work at the company after graduating from college.