My first project
I started my traineeship in Eindhoven, sharing an apartment with a Brazilian girl who had just started the traineeship as well, in the Technology & Innovation track. My first project, at Trespa, was around the construction of a dashboard that would provide an overview of the scrap resulting from Fenix production at different sites. Next to handling a lot of data to achieve this, my project also put me into contact with a lot of different people with different functions, ranging from production, planning and quality control to sales, controlling and master data management, within Trespa, Arpa, Westag and Formica. The variety of people I have met is further enriched by the network of current and former trainees.
Personal growth
For my second project, I was based in Gutersloh, sharing a house with three other trainees. My role was to support the development of the new HPL range for Westag’s 2021 collection. The personal growth I experience every time I change locations is really game-changing. To be uprooted and find your ground again is an experience I had during my exchange in Shanghai, which was part of my master’s degree. Yet this is not a ‘do it once and you’ve reaped all the benefits’ type of situation. Changing environments is really refreshing to me and has helped me more than I expected in my personal development.
Challenge myself by making real impact
During my two projects, I learned to challenge myself much more when performing analyses, to better understand both the ‘why’ behind the analysis and the ‘so what’ that comes after it. At the beginning of the traineeship, I would mainly present facts and figures, while now my focus has shifted much more towards the impact that can be achieved with those facts and figures. A huge factor for my improvement on this aspect is the training days incorporated in the traineeship. To constantly challenge my thinking is not always comfortable, especially at the beginning, but looking back and noticing how much I’ve grown is definitely super rewarding.
Unlocking potential
Reflecting on my experience within the trainee programme so far, I’m truly glad that I joined. It has proven to be an excellent environment for me to develop myself in. There are a lot of opportunities available when you apply a proactive mindset. In summary, I would describe the culture of Broadview as ‘unlocking potential’, both in the sense of the synergies that can be created by the cooperation of different companies within the group, and the unlocking of the potential of the people working there.
From business to sustainability
During my last project, which was at DOS in the UK, I started having conversations with HR managers, including those in departments I had not previously worked for during any of the rotations. Based on my interests I ended up joining the sustainability team at Nemho after my traineeship, which I'm very happy about. To be able to analyze products from not only a marketing/business point of view but also a sustainability perspective is very valuable, as I expect both to merge more and more in the future.