Since this summer, we have been hosting Pauline, who has been working hard to put together some great surftrips for you. We are coming to the end of the adventure for her and this is the opportunity to ask her what she thought of her time at 360° Surf.
1- Can you quickly introduce yourself?
My name is Pauline, I am 24 years old and I come from the Basque Country. I went to the ESC Rennes School of Business in Brittany where I did a Master's degree in Sport, Leisure and Tourism Management.
I started surfing when I was 10, taking a week's course with some friends in Anglet and I loved it! I then went back to year-round lessons when I was 14. I've always kept a link with surfing. I was in the class of professional surfers in second year like Pv Laborde, Dimitri Ouvré and had the chance to meet Maud LeCar or Pauline Ado in the school... ! They never stopped travelling and it made me dream.
2- Why did you choose 360° Surf for your internship?
I wanted to find an end-of-study internship in the Basque Country or in the Landes, to get back to my roots. When I saw all my friends from business school leaving for Paris, I wasn't really tempted... I wanted to focus on the living environment. Then I was looking for a job as a sales representative in the field of sport and/or tourism. When I saw the offer from 360° Surf, I jumped at the chance, it was the ideal internship for me, and there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity! What's more, the sales team is based in Hossegor, the capital of surfing, so the setting really attracted me.
3- What exactly was your job?
A lot of my work was done on the computer. I was in constant contact with the clients and service providers of our 64 surfing destinations.
To put it simply, we receive a request from a client for a surftrip to a destination of his choice, and my role, unlike a direct provider-client relationship, was to target his needs, to advise him on this surfing destination, often changing the destination according to his level, desires and expectations, and then to create a quote.
Then the trip had to be organised: contract, validation with the surf camps on site, sending the gift pack to the clients, etc. It was a matter of following up the client from A to Z, before, during and after the surf trip. In general, the relationship that develops with the clients is quite cool because they are very motivated to go and share the values of surfing.
Selling a dream and making it come true is pretty cool!
4- What do you think is the best surfing destination / surf camp?
The best surf trip ? Too much choice! I think the quality of the destination depends on 3 main axes:
The level of surfing of the client, his budget and the period in which he wants to go. Afterwards, it's true that we can make a top 3 of the offers which gather the maximum of criteria with in number 1 the surf camp MoroccoTop quality waves, inexpensive and accessible to all.
In second place was the surf trip to Canary IslandsThere are so many waves and accommodation options to choose from!
Finally on my podium of surf spots 2017 the surfing trip PortugalThis is a surf trip in Europe, accessible by car, with very good quality waves.
6- What did your internship bring you? What do you remember about it?
This course was a really good experience for me. I even feel lucky to have done something I like, which corresponds to me and all this in a pleasant atmosphere (lunch break in front of the sea, surfing with the 360° Surf team, good company spirit...). I learnt a lot about customer relationship management, the importance of the quality of links with service providers, the management of unforeseen events and life in a company. What I also found good was the autonomy that Matthieu gave us, while supervising our work. This allowed me to gain confidence and responsibility. To sum up, I couldn't have expected more from an internship at the end of my studies!
5- In real life, what is the team like?
Haha! In fact, it's really nice! There's Matthieu, the big boss, who's not often there because he's out and about, often with the providers, sometimes with his surfboard! There is Ambre, who is the link and checks that everything is in place. There's Fanny, who doesn't sleep much because she's so busy with 360° Surf's communication. And there's us sales people who are behind the screens!
7- So why are you leaving?
I wanted to get away from it all, after selling surftrips all over the world... Haha, and then I met a Quebecer, who I'm going to join, while he finishes his studies. After that, we'll see, but I hope to come back to the south-west of France, where life is good! Of course, I'll come back to see the 360° Surf team... I hope they won't have forgotten me ;-).