Carl-Philip in action
Convincing results
Following my bachelor's degree in International Business Economics at the University of Maastricht, I was keen on gaining practical experiences and discovering how the theoretical knowledge can be applied in profession, before starting my Master studies in International Business in February 2012.
DESMA turned out to be a lucky choice: the company is global market leader in its industry, is internationally acting at several locations with around 500 employees, but me as a newcomer could still obtain a general idea of the internal procedures.
For the period of 18 weeks I had been working in the sales-marketing department. My area of responsibility mainly comprised marketing, controlling and inhouse consulting. The whole department gave me a warm welcome and made me feel being a part of their team. At the beginning of my internship I was trained by the head of the Process Engineering Center in the technical field of the company in order to get a rough understanding of DESMA products and technologies. Both theoretical knowledge of injection moulding and hands-on training directly on the machine were imparted to me. This technical introduction into this business was the basis for my further tasks during my internship and was very helpful.
Right at the onset, I had the chance to follow the process of selecting a new agency in the marketing department. In this context I helped to set up a so-called balance scorecard. As unbiased employee I was able to evaluate the documents of the various agencies objectively. Here it struck me for the first time that my opinion is being taken seriously and that discussions with colleagues and superiors took place as equals. On a regular basis, I also made translations from German into English and vice versa for the eNewsletter, press reports and presentations. Doing this job, I benefitted from my good command of English on account of my studies in an English-speaking country. Since the DESMA Open House was staged during my internship, I had the opportunity to take part in the preparations of this event. I especially liked about it the change to regular day-to-day business with the event in the town hall, the lectures and the outing to the Rhine Falls in Switzerland.
As far as company accounting is concerned, I assisted the management in preparing and evaluating analyses, e. g. I took part in updating the budget commentary for the years 2012-15. The analysis of the POC list also provided me with interesting findings about the deviation of costs upwards as well as downwards. However, I realized as well that the sole preparation of such lists is not sufficient, but can only initiate a detailed analysis afterwards in order to eliminate problems identified sustainably. I found this part of my work very interesting, because this allowed me to directly understand and follow the management's approach at first hand.
Apart from my jobs in marketing and management accounting, the management had entrusted me with a special project: the analysis of the main process chain. Being given such a great task as a graduate from university without practical experience in consulting is a big challenge which I, however, took up with determination and passion. I quickly realized how much fun project work is. By means of interviews with approx. 20 colleagues I acquired the actual status of the process chain and prepared a corresponding survey. It has been especially challenging to draw and to identify the crucial points from the colleagues during our long discussions. By way of the weak spots found out, it was feasible to create ideas which could contribute to an interdisciplinary solution to the problems. In a discussion with both Managing Directors I presented my results to them and we discussed it jointly. Afterwards, these results were presented to a group of 23 colleagues which mainly consisted of my interview partners. Due to the fact that my studies in Maastricht required regular presentations in front of a group, it was a good opportunity to resort to these abilities with the audience embracing my spirited speech. For the further project work, the management assigned me to take up certain issues from my analysis and to make it a subject of discussion with selected employees in small workshops. In partially very constructive discussions, I assumed the role of the presenter, steered the conversations and gave impetuses. The management very much appreciated my work done in this project, because the findings gained are supposed to be realized and not to end up in the drawer. The further way of proceeding here still needed to be discussed, for the advantages of an external and unbiased presenter were for the time being no longer available after my internship was finished.
During my time at DESMA I was able to gather valuable experiences and findings for myself. The analytic approach in a consulting process was just as much new territory for me as the dealing with employees was in my project work. In view of communication and procedure I surely learnt a lot at DESMA. The internship confirmed my decision to complete the Master studies in International Business with the focus set on organization: management, change and consultancy. The experiences gathered made me feel stronger and motivated for the two-term studies. Moreover, this internship opened up to me the perspective to possibly seek my career entry in the consulting industry after my studies. Without these experiences, my plans after finishing my studies would have turned out rather vague. Now I know which path I should take.