In this blog post, Janis talks about his diverse areas of assignment as a trainee at DESMA:

After an introduction to elastomer processing and a subsequent run through the various departments in Fridingen, I have already spent three weeks at each of our subsidiaries in Slovakia and the USA this year. By the end of the year, I will have also visited our two other subsidiaries in China and India.

Before I started at DESMA, I completed a Bachelor’s degree in “International Business Administration” in Heilbronn and St. Petersburg as well as the English-language Master’s degree in “International Business and Intercultural Management”. During this time I first worked as a student assistant at the university and later as a working student in the B2B sales department of an automotive supplier. I came to DESMA directly after my studies through a initiative application, which quickly led to an employment contract after two interviews. From the first day on, I felt comfortable at DESMA. On the one hand because of the working atmosphere and the interesting tasks, on the other hand because both colleagues and superiors took a lot of time to promote me.

Until the end of August 2019, I was at Salzgitter AG as a guest student. At the beginning of my one-week stay in Salzgitter, I participated in an impressive plant tour at the Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. Afterwards, I was given the opportunity to get to know my colleagues from SZAG and to exchange ideas with them on various specialist topics. In addition, a colleague from the HR team presented me with opportunities for further training and qualifications at Salzgitter AG as part of the company’s FORWARD program.

Another highlight of my stay was the company run in Braunschweig, where the Salzgitter AG participated with more than 200 participants. Special respect is due to the colleagues who completed the five-kilometer course in their fireproof but not very breathable protective clothing (including helmet!).

In September 2019, I returned to Fridingen with new knowledge and many new impressions in my luggage. The stay in Salzgitter once again reaffirmed that I made the correct choice to start as a trainee at the Salzgitter subsidiary DESMA. I am looking forward to many new challenging tasks and the further good cooperation with my colleagues from the entire Salzgitter Group.