European Young Professional Logistics at TimoCom
University trainee from Lithuania supports the TIMOCOM representative office in Poland
Erkrath, Germany, 2018-09-07 – TIMOCOM has always been dedicated to supporting young students and apprentices as they develop, ensuring they gain practical industry expertise. Now, however, the IT service provider has taken their support for the logistics industry a step further, offering, for the first time, a three month summer traineeship at their representative office in Poland. By contributing to youth development, TIMOCOM also hopes to inspire other companies in the industry.
In a TIMOCOM workshop for students at a Lithuanian university, a very proactive student caught the Country Manager Baltics/CIS' attention. This led to an offer of traineeship for the student.
As Europe's largest transport platform, it is essential that TIMOCOM responds to the needs of individual markets and customers. To promote communication with future industry participants, each Country Manager maintains contact with universities that offer logistics and transport management programs. Up until now, the focus was on, in particular, lectures and workshops, after which participants received sought-after TIMOCOM certificates.
The next step: supporting new talent live on the job
A current pilot project with a Lithuanian university, however, is proving that there is a lot more to be gained from cooperation between the economy and the academy: “I had been considering offering an internship or traineeship for a while. But the idea crystallised after a workshop at the Gediminas Technical University in Vilnius. One of the students who took part really stood out; she was always actively involved, and asked a lot of questions afterwards. And the project took off from there,” reports Denis Pasala, Country Manager Baltic States & CIS at TIMOCOM.
For Marija Kolosova, it was her first contact with a transport platform. Her interest in the function and potential uses went above and beyond the contents of the workshop. And so, instead of simply receiving the usual training certificate once the workshop was complete, she also got an unusual offer: “After the workshop I was told there was an option of completing a more intensive traineeship with TimoCom. It was a very interesting opportunity, the chance of a lifetime,” the student says. After this positive feedback, Pasala worked together with Prof. Dr. Doz. Nijolė Batarlienė and the sales manager at the TIMOCOM representative office to develop a three month traineeship program. “6 months later, I was already on a plane to Pila, and as of the 24th of June I am part of the team, and will be for the next three months. I have already gained so much practical knowledge and experience. Towards the end of my internship, I will get to see the TIMOCOM Headquarters in Germany, and I am very excited,” Kolosova continues.
According to Denis Pasala, the cooperation with Gediminas Technical University and Prof. Dr. Doz. Nijolė Batarlienė is an important addition to the measures TIMOCOM is taking to promote the industry to newcomers. “Not just lectures and seminars, but concrete creation of internships and traineeships within companies are essential to acquiring knowledge "live on the job.’”
TimoCom hopes that the pilot project will contribute even more to training highly qualified employees for the logistics market, and help provide a decisive push to other institutions to get more actively involved in training future industry participants.