Archive for the ‘Germany’ Category

Bridgestone

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

 

As Bridgestone is optimising European operations, there is a need for new ways of approaching issues and new levels of thinking. With this reality in mind, Bridgestone has established a partnership with AIESEC.

According to the management of Bridgestone, people in AIESEC are used to seeing the bigger picture - what the
organisation is striving for and what that has to do with work. Young people who have been active in AIESEC have
gained extremely important experiences; working with people from different cultures, managing teams, proactively taking responsibility. Yves Bataille, Senior Manager, IT says, “We are a truly international minded company with our different manufacturing and sales companies all around Europe. Our challenge is to help all these people to work together. Through AIESEC interns we help our company to develop the habit of working with different cultures. ”

Jörg Lüdemann, AIESEC intern is currently a part of the SAP support team of Bridgestone. He says “Beside working
in the multinational environment in the headquarters and the possibility of being retained afterwards, the
position that was offered by Bridgestone was exactly matching my own expectations towards the scope of the first job in my career. ”

As Patrick Woitrain, Director, HR Europe puts it “We believe young people who have been active in AIESEC have
gained extremely important experiences; working with people from different cultures, managing teams, proactively taking responsibility. These people often have the potential we are looking for… they can support us in facing the situations and environments we find ourselves as a company. ”

This being the first year of co-operation, both AIESEC and Bridgestone are looking forward to continue a successful partnership.

Michaela Neubert

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

If Michaela would use one word to describe her current experience in AIESEC it would be proud. Rightfully so, as she is one of seven people currently overseeing a national organization of over 2000 members from across Germany at just 26 years old.


Michaela holds the position of Vice President Communications, and one of her main responsibilities is to create a strategic communication plan for AIESEC in her country. A large task, but she is also managing a team to help her meet this goal, comprised of students studying in this field and with previous experience in the area. In her role she has the opportunity to learn how to design and implement marketing materials and campaigns across the country, design and maintain a national website and coordinate media requests, all to enable more people to know about AIESEC’s activities in Germany.


Although Michaela did not study Communications, it has always been an interest of hers, and the practical things she is learning in her role she sees as great value for her future career. She sees the value in having a broad background and experience in various fields, which for her have spanned sales, HR and now communications.


This experience so far has given Michaela more self-confidence and a more focused picture of what her future goals are. She has a clearer picture of herself and how others perceive her, which enabled her to be more flexible to changes, different environments and people.

Working in the international environment that AIESEC provides has made managing diversity a daily topic for Michaela, and a skill she finds quite valuable for her future in any career she decides to pursue.

Sabine Ziem

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

One summer Sabine decided to do something different. She heard about AIESEC’s exchange program and after applying for that, she found herself heading to Colombia for her summer vacation.

Sabine spent her summer working for a social entrepreneur that had set up a foundation to build small cooperatives with single mothers. Her foundation would attract single mothers with little or no education and train them, and help them to set up an informal business by using the foundation’s business contacts for suppliers, etc. helping these single mothers become social entrepreneurs.
Her role there was to apply for non-corporate funding to help sustain the foundation and enable it to grow. During her time there she applied for more than 15 grants, and set up a system to enable them to continue her work once she left. The most rewarding day of her stay there was a few days before she left, when she received her first grant acceptance-it was a great personal accomplishment and she felt good leaving knowing that her work there had made a difference.
Although the experience was short, it made a definite impact on Sabine’s personal growth. “You really notice what you are doing when you are outside of what is normal for you” she explains. “You have to go through this process to really know yourself, your strengths, leadership skills, etc. You won’t find this by staying in

your own environment.”

 

Living in Colombia also gave Sabine a chance to practice her Spanish that she had been studying at university.

While it was challenging at first, she learned quickly being surrounded by it all the time, and after about three months she was almost fluent.

 

From Colombia to Germany: Living an Impactful experience

Friday, February 20th, 2009

 

Pertenecer a AIESEC ha sido una de las oportunidades más importantes  y enriquecedoras de mi vida.
 
Después de una intensa e integral experiencia AIESECa, desempeñando una gran variedad de roles estratégicos de liderazgo a nivel local, regional y nacional, me trace la meta de finalizar mi ciclo de aprendizaje personal y profesional aprovechando una de las mas grandes herramientas que nos ofrece la organización para lograrlo: Una practica laboral e internacional con uno de los mas importantes aliados globales.

Siempre había sido uno de mis sueños y grandes objetivos llegar a ser parte de un equipo de trabajo en una empresa mundial, líder en su campo, una empresa administrada por los mas altos estándares de calidad y efectividad, con un alto nivel de excelencia en sus resultados, una empresa que tuviera una fuerte cultura organizacional internacional y sus valores claramente definidos, una compañía que estuviera en la capacidad de reconocer mis conocimientos, talentos, experiencia previa y que pudiera convertirse en mi mejor soporte para crecer  tanto a nivel personal como profesional y fue en la primera compañía mundial, líder en logística, Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN-DHL), donde encontré todo esto y mucho mas. 

Ahora, me encuentro trabajando en el área de “Procurement  Europe, Middle East & Africa countries, EMEA“. Un departamento bastante dinámico, en el cual estoy logrando poner en practica todo el aprendizaje que obtuve como recién graduada en Ingeniería Industrial de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, así como, participar activamente en equipos integrados por directivos de los cargos mas importantes a nivel global de la compañía , en la dirección de relevantes proyectos.

No me cabe duda que esta valiosa experiencia , es la mejor oportunidad que tengo en este momento de contribuir con mis capacidades profesionales y de liderazgo y al mismo tiempo continuar ganando mas conocimientos y experiencia en la administración de negocios, logística, recursos humanos, entre otros, en un nivel corporativo internacional y en un ambiente completamente dinámico y competitivo.

Durante todo mi tiempo de pertenencia a AIESEC he estado convencida de la gran importancia de tomar una experiencia internacional de aprendizaje o un intercambio  para  perfeccionar nuestras carreras en la organización. Sin embargo, ahora que la estoy viviendo  no solo estoy convencida sino que estoy totalmente segura de que es la mejor forma de lograrlo.

Deutsche Post World Net, hasta el momento ha cumplido perfectamente mis expectativas  y las esta excediendo. Ser parte de uno de los grupos de entrenados mas grandes en el mundo en una ciudad y un país  con una amplia riqueza cultural e histórica como lo son Bonn y  Alemania respectivamente, son dos razones más que suficientes para estar muy orgullosa y feliz de haber sido  miembro activa de AIESEC en Colombia, capitulo Pereira  y de seguir conformando esta maravillosa familia mundial AIESECa.

Una ve mas reitero y comparto con ustedes que:

“Ser AIESECo es más que una palabra y más que un título, es algo que se lleva en el corazón.”

Bonn, Alemania. Enero 17 de 2009.