Trainee Marit Bos aan het woord
Since there is no standard training for the specialist work at Van Hessen, we have been working for years with special trainee programmes to train new people internally. Even in these Covid times, trainees have started at us, so too Marit Bos. Marit follows the Product Specialist traineeship.
After my training, I was looking for a job where you can learn a lot and where you get plenty of opportunities. Because I am eager to learn and have a hands-on mentality, I like learning from practice. The traineeship at Van Hessen fits in very well with this. The beauty is that after completing this traineeship, there are also plenty of opportunities for further development. You receive broad training and this enables you to work in the company on various aspects. It is also very diverse and so you never get bored.
I started this traineeship four months ago, and have already learned a great deal in that period. About myself, but also about the company and the industry. I had already studied food technology, and so I am very product oriented. In this traineeship, you also get to know the whole company; you take a look in all sorts of different departments in order to see the whole picture. Without any experience in sales, I now sit at the table with the sales managers to understand their department.
In connection with Covid, I have not yet been to other locations. Once that is possible, I will be at the airport straight away to catch a flight to one of our production locations abroad. What I find really interesting is that when I came here, everybody already knew my name. People are very interested in you and make every effort to have a chat with you. When I first met the CEO in the car park, he knew immediately that I was the new trainee. You're not a number and from the first moment, you belong with the team.
As a trainee, you are never alone; there is already a nice big pool of young (former) trainees so you can always rely on someone with whom to spar or exchange ideas. The traineeship is pretty tough; you are on your qui vive all the time because you keep posing the ‘why’ question. However, it makes sure that you stay motivated and keep focused. I can imagine that this traineeship is not for everyone. You have to really want to continue to learn and quite a lot is expected of you. But you also get a lot in return and there are so many opportunities within the company. My product specialist traineeship lasts at least another year. In my traineeship, I focus on sheep casings. Afterwards, I'm going to work as a product specialist in sheep casings and I will probably start at a production site and assist in technical sales questions. But first learn and experience even more!
