Out of the comfort zone: Guillaume’s internship at Kuehne + Nagel
Despite his young age, logistics student Guillaume has a clear vision of his career goals and how he wants to reach them. One step in that plan is his internship at Kuehne + Nagel, in which Guillaume analyses operational processes and suggest improvements in line with our strategy. Under the supervision of his airfreight manager, Guillaume is encouraged to step out of his comfort zone to gain the personal and professional confidence needed to reach his ambitions.
During his all-round first year of Bachelor studies, it was mainly the course on logistics for which Guillaume gladly took a seat in his college’s auditorium. The course introduced him to the interesting world of supply chain processes and convinced him to pursue a career in logistics. “I felt this urge to learn more about logistics. As an added plus, there’s quite a broad variety of jobs in the logistics sector as well as a lot of job security. All of these things persuaded me to choose logistics as my specialisation”, he explains.
But there can be a world of difference between theory and practice, and Guillaume wanted to explore the daily workings of a leading logistics company. His aim? Taking a leap out of his comfort zone to discover his professional side. “In my daily life I noticed some things that I wanted to change about myself”, Guillaume explains. “Becoming more assertive was an important one.” At Kuehne + Nagel, Guillaume discussed this topic with his supervisor who ensures to give Guillaume plenty of autonomy in his research project so that he gets used to addressing the management with his questions and ideas.
Besides stepping out of his comfort zone, Guillaume also dived into the workings of the company – both on a strategical and operational level. “My research centers around redesigning processes in alignment with the company strategy”, he explains. “This means that I’m sitting together with a lot of people from different departments, and even with customers, to ask what they think works well or what potentially could be improved. Then I’ll use that input to suggest ways in which processes could be redesigned to be more efficient.”
For Guillaume, it has been an enlightening experience bringing him one step closer to successful career in logistics. Positively surprised by the company’s flexible work regulations and the friendly atmosphere in the office, he feels great at Kuehne + Nagel BeLux. And most importantly, Guillaume will finish his internship knowing that he has made a difference, exclaiming that “I think it’s a great internship because I can hopefully contribute to the future and help innovate, and I can also build a great network of leading logistics experts.”
Would you also like to work in a leading logistics company? Then check our open vacancies in our Career Portal: https://jobs.kuehne-nagel.com