IT IS A PURE JOY TO WORK WITH OTHER NEW EMPLOYEES AND GO THROUGH THE INTRODUCTION PROCESS TOGETHER."
The Van Iterson Institute is an elaborate introduction for consultants to the different departments within Bilfinger. I have been with the company for four months at time of publication. Though it has been a relatively short time, there are many things I wish to share with you about my experience attending the Van Iterson Institute.
Personally, it has been quite the struggle to determine what I am really passionate about. What is it that I want to pursue in my career? I have an overall picture of what direction I want to go in, Safety & Security Management is what I studied, so something related to that has my preference. At least that is what I think is the case, I actually enjoy doing a lot of things, maybe too many things even. For me it is tough to decide on what my course of action should be.
My first contact with Bilfinger was with a recruiter, it was a more personal message than what I usually receive from companies. This stood out to me immediately. The concept of the Van Iterson Institute was outlined in the same message. An institute that teaches you about every department within Bilfinger and lets you work on projects with fellow new recruits. As you can imagine this was thoroughly appealing to someone who is still searching for what direction to take my career in.
The wide variety of work is great for me as there are many things I love doing. However, this also makes it difficult for me to choose the department I want to work in after my traineeship. For example, during my traineeship I discovered that while I do enjoy mechanical engineering, it is not something I can see myself doing for the rest of my career.
Currently I am in my fourth month at the company, still a newbie. Even among my classmates in the Van Iterson Institute as I started slightly later in the year than some of the others. Regardless, it is a pure joy to work with other new employees and go through the introduction process together. The institute days are always on Fridays, making it easy for you and your colleagues to remember. This is key as it means that your other colleagues will not disturb you with project-related matters, you really get that Friday time to invest in yourself and your personal development. The other four days of the week are regular working days, but I would say it is easy to combine that with the learning aspect. There are no exams like you would expect in University and you do not need to study in your own time. There is no evaluation from the institute, evaluation comes in the form of your work performance evaluation so to speak.
The subjects that are being taught change periodically, but we take just enough time to go in-depth on each topic. I quite enjoy that. The nitty-gritty details come into play while working on projects. Sometimes from the outside, a subject can look rather shallow. However, once you delve deeper you will discover there is actually a lot more to it than meets the eye initially. This is something I am reminded of constantly at the Van Iterson Institute and I enter each lesson with an open mind. So far, they have always exceeded my expectations.
If the technical consultancy and engineering industry appeals to you at all, I would recommend the Van Iterson Institute wholeheartedly. I always look forward to going to each lesson and it is extremely valuable to share that experience with other new employees. A piece of advice I would give to anyone wanting to work at Bilfinger: do not be afraid to ask questions. If there is anything unclear, just ask. I certainly had many questions during my interview and I was honestly surprised how they managed to answer each and every one of them. Of course it is simultaneously a great opportunity to get to know the company and the person in front of you, so take advantage of that.