The management traineeship is designed for non-technical professionals who want to develop personal leadership skills and gain meaningful work experience during an orientational curriculum of internal projects and business cases. Moreover, the trainees are selected for their ability to think out of the box and ask critical questions that will advance the organisation.
Priya Pershad (27), a trained International Marketing specialist, joined the ICT management traineeship for the opportunity to see every aspect of a large listed company:
“I wanted to make an informed decision regarding the direction of my career. Therefore, the traineeship is the perfect fit for me.” Merle Meeuws (25) graduated cum laude in Culture, Organisation and Management. She also wanted to keep her options open and was attracted by ICT Group’s recent expansion beyond Dutch borders as she’s prone to travel. Jasper Groenendijk (23) holds a degree in International Management. “I was triggered to join ICT Group for one of the company’s core values: freedom to act. Now that I work here, I have experienced that a company truly can live by its values.” “Right from the start,” Jasper says, “I knew ICT would take us very seriously. We are not only free to act on our curiosity and ask any question that comes to mind, we truly feel appreciated for our fresh outlook on business processes.”
The first project Jasper and Priya worked on was the restructuring of the internal audit process. Considering the exponential growth in projects, audits should efficiently detect risk and support the business process. Priya: “Without any prior knowledge, Jasper and I immersed ourselves in the world of auditing and toured the company for our research. Where Jasper will continue to implement the findings and recommendations of our project, I will take on another organisational transition as my second big project.” Merle’s first project was the advancement of international integration within ICT Netherlands with the aim of transforming from an international programme to an international and intercultural policy. Thanks to cooperation with many colleagues throughout the company, the project resulted in a guidebook for the onboarding of new (international) staff, amongst others. “ICT consists of thirty+ nationalities and values mutual understanding in international working relations. I very much enjoyed the opportunity to apply my academic knowledge in a practical way. ICT is a very pragmatic organisation where ‘learning by doing’ definitely sets the pace.” Another project involved the start-up of the tech recruitment branch office in Eindhoven for Additude, the Swedish subsidiary that joined the ICT Group last January. To learn more about Additude she travelled to Sweden to get to know the organisation and the colleagues there.
Lots of chances
In addition to the main projects, the trainees got the chance to work on smaller ones as well. Priya assisted the Chief Information Security Officer with data security for ISO 27000. Jasper continues to serve as an analyst to the Technology Advisory Council. Merle was asked to share her thoughts on revisiting the company’s core values in a manner that the whole ICT Group can identify with the overarching core values. However, the traineeship consists of more than just projects. Jasper: “We got the opportunity to become members of the Council of 20, a group of young, critical and involved ICT employees who want to help advance the company. Moreover, the trainees partake in courses at the ICT Academy such as Finance for Non-Financials and Scrum. Furthermore, at least twice a month they meet with their supervisor, as a group or individually. “A typical day at work? My days are never the same!”, Merle says. “In general, we get to meet many interesting people, we make a lot of mileage, one day a week we’re in training or intervision, and the rest of our time is spent on research and writing.” Priya concludes: “We’re here to look at business processes from a non-technical viewpoint. I know nothing about software or automation, but still I am valued for my contribution to the organisation. I commend the company because it gives its employees, technical or nontechnical, lots of opportunities in every way they can.”
Meet the trainees
We have also created a video where you can meet the trainees in person. Watch the video below!
