“Congratulations; You are in!”

24 März 2017

Thursday 30th of June, 2016. 9:10 AM UK time. “Congratulations; You are in!”

That was one of the most fascinating emails I have ever received. But, honestly, I was far from imagining what becoming a Global Shaper would mean to me.

Hello! My name is Guillermo Hidalgo, and I work within the Bristol (UK) Rail team as a Graduate Civil & Structural Engineer. I am proud to be one of the 107 Global Shapers: Generation 2016 alumni, and I will tell you a bit about this life-changing experience.

After having some (international!) collaborative fun during the pre-application phase, I had to sharpen my creativity to boost my opportunities to get in. My video was one of the chosen applications: I was in!

Congratulations, kick off call, Virtual Phase, Kai Tak Airport, lunch with the Arcadis UKLT, a bunch of intercontinental Skype calls, flight tickets, MBTI, #FitforQatar… That was a teaser, a way of getting a progressive insight of what would happen in Doha; but what a teaser! Intense and exciting, my curiosity and enthusiasm did not but grow day after day.

And then… Doha! There we all had the chance to meet those we had collaborated with remotely: 107 Global Shapers, led by a supportive Organising Team, mentored by some of the most expert Senior Leaders in Arcadis, working together in five different workflows to shape the renewed Client Passport, Mentor Programme, Social Media and the Grand Final, everything with the help of a Branding team (which I participated in!). Not everything was work: sports, a desert safari, a Dhow boat tour with Arcadis’ Executive Board were some of the activities through which we all started building a special relationship: we were not colleagues anymore. We became friends.

Things have happened since the face-to face programme. The ripple effect is on his way: I presented my experience not only to my office, but also to my colleagues in Toulouse (France) where I had the chance to go on a Quest in January. The Mentor Programme, Social Media Success Stories and the Client Passport are still being developed and will be launched soon.

The horizon looks promising: but I still look back and think on how much I have learnt in few months, the possibility I have been given to participate in the “bigger picture” by producing tools Arcadis´ will be using globally; and how 107 people, 107 young professionals coming from totally different backgrounds managed to work together as one, sharing creativity and technical knowledge to produce an outstanding outcome in a very tight timescale. Three cheers for us!

Have I picked your curiosity? If you have come to this line, I can well assume I have! Tick-tock… the application period is around the corner! Keep an eye on this website and Arcadis´ Social Media: do you want to become part of Global Shapers: Generation 2017? Stay tuned!

– Guillermo Hidalgo

Global Shaper: Generation 2016

Blogs