Opportunity and Change: Anneleen’s Kuehne + Nagel career
As a well-travelled expat child, Anneleen already observed at a young age the connecting links of the world with much fascination: airplanes, cargo ships and trucks that shape the globalised world as we know it. “The way everything is linked always intrigued me and made me reflect”, she explains. So when she started her job in a small forwarding company after graduating with a BA of Translation, it opened the doors to a successful supply chain career.
“My interest in logistics grew, and I completed an MBA in Supply Chain about five years ago to broaden my knowledge in the field”, she continues. While Anneleen initially started a consultancy career, she soon realised that it was too far away from the real action. “I felt like I was missing something and I wanted to go back to operations”, she says. Not much later, she joined Kuehne + Nagel as Operations Manager in the warehouse within the contract logistics area.
She explains: “For two years I led the operations in one of our warehouses. During that time, I’ve had the chance to implement a lot of changes with a large degree of freedom. It allowed me to learn a lot, from getting to the bottom of the warehouse processes to leading a team.”
But after two years, Anneleen felt like it was time for a change. “I wasn’t sure what kind of change I wanted. Taking on a different customer crossed my mind. But then the vacancy of Project Assistant opened, and suddenly it was clear to me that that’s what I wanted to do next”, she says. Although she sometimes misses the fast-paced hustle and bustle of the warehouse environment, Anneleen confirms that she’s very happy with this career step. “I’m very happy where I am today but I still try to visit the warehouse at least once per week”, she adds.
As Project Assistant, she now has a full overview of contract logistics in Belgium and Luxembourg. “We’re growing a lot, and my role is to see how we can further improve our project implementations on all contract logistics sites in BeLux”, she explains. Thanks to the large variety of projects she deals with, from customer implementations, to customer engagement projects, footprints and CTI - to name a few - every day brings a new and interesting challenge.
For Anneleen, the development chances that she received over the past few years have been a big motivator. “Kuehne + Nagel is a company where you get a lot of opportunities if you’re open for it and take initiative”, she says. “There are plenty of trainings or even temporary projects to grow! And Kuehne + Nagel is also one big and connected global team. Everyone works together to reach the same goal.”
Would you like to join our team? Then check our open vacancies in our Career Portal: https://jobs.kuehne-nagel.com