Lars: 'A learning experience in a great organisation'

Lars van den Hengel, 22, did his traineeship at Alfen during his third year at college. He was researching the impact of a so-called 'throughput' plan. So it was second nature for him to develop a similar plan for technicians. He put quite a bit of work into the job profiles. And he can talk about it enthusiastically.

"My name is Lars van den Hengel, I'm 22 and I live in Lelystad. I did my traineeship at Alfen during my third year studying HRM at the Windesheim College in Zwolle. I researched my case for 20 consecutive weeks, carried out assignments independently and gave my colleagues on the HR department a helping hand.

As a freshman I had already been looking into a traineeship for my second year via LinkedIn. Alfen got in touch with me to review the opportunities for a hands-on internship. There was nothing going at that moment. But in that same year, I was looking for a year-three traineeship and was invited to interview at Alfen once again. And this time around, I struck lucky!

'Research: throughput plan'

My school had asked me to undertake a survey. My research considered the influence of a throughput plan on company-wide results. Due to the fact that Alfen did not have a throughput plan at that point in time, I developed one for the engineers.

In addition, I spent time converting job profiles into a new format. But during this conversion process, it became distinctly clear that the enormous growth of Alfen had resulted in the need for adapted profiles - and more fundamentally the need to draft new ones. So I was able to invest a great deal of time on this assignment."

Marlous de Neijs, internship supervisor, had this to say: "Although this was a whole new ballgame for Lars, he jumped right in and displayed the right attitude and perseverance. He got to work enthusiastically and actively sought information from my colleagues and me to supplement missing know-how."

'Welcoming reception'

"I had a truly pleasurable traineeship at Alfen. A warm and welcoming reception at the outset of my internship made me feel very much at home as of Day 1. I was treated as a fully-fledged employee on the HR department. My colleagues were seriously committed to the assignments at hand and their progress.

During this traineeship, I could feel myself developing from both a personal and professional perspective. From the very outset, I had formulated three personal learning objectives; learn to present, learn to plan and organise, and learn how to take the initiative. In order to develop personally, I put up my hand to of make presentations and lead the guided tours during Open House events as well as intro-gatherings for new employees.