BLOG – Representing GEC across four American states

13 noviembre 2017

Quest is an international transfer program which connects Arcadians from all over the world. Quest is sponsored by the Lovinklaan Foundation. Each week we highlight a story of one of our employees who went on an exchange. In this blogpost we cover the Quest story of Vidya Sundaram who traveled from Mumbai, India to Syracuse, Raleigh, Houston, Connecticut and New Jersey, USA.

Why did I apply for a Quest

I was invited on a Quest by the Exxon Mobil Global Account team, primarily to meet with the team and the client. The concept of GEC Environment being new, the team wanted me to give a brief presentation on the capabilities that GEC would contribute. Since the visit was 3 weeks long, I also visited additional offices in the US to increase GEC awareness.

I got the chance to visit offices in Syracuse, NY, hosted by Vincent Maresco, Raleigh, North Carolina hosted by Corrie Chwalek and Houston, Texas hosted by Wayne Patterson & Cranbury, NJ.

“An experience beyond words!”

Highlight of my quest experience

I was given the platform to represent the GECs not only across the four Arcadis US offices but also at the Exxon Mobil Client Campus in Spring Hills, Texas. It was a great opportunity to meet with a lot of the people I worked with in person, communicate the GEC capabilities and to spread the message of our mixed team. I was also able to meet with different client teams and understand, but as also able to discuss challenges they faced in the past when collaborating with GECs and reintroduce the changes made within the GECs. Furthermore, one of the highlights was being invited to a face-to-face breakfast meeting with the Exxon Mobil client.

Another highlight was, following the presentation at the Exxon Mobil Campus, the client expressing an interest in visiting the GEC offices in India. And they actually did! The client visited the GEC offices from July 5th to July 7th, 2017. Never before has a client visited the GECs since its inception.

My Quest in one word

“Educational”

Learnings and experiences

This was one of the best trips for me professionally not only for this year but in my overall career. I had the privilege of meeting a lot of people and connect with them on a personal level. The visit gave me an insight into how each of the offices work, their organization structure and their thoughts on using the GEC. I was able to effectively highlight the benefits of using GECs and how it could benefit them on increasing the overall company revenue and winning more client work.

It was also great to rekindle the relationship and memories with some of my ex-coworkers who moved to Arcadis US and we spend some quality time reminiscing some of the best times we have had in our careers.

I would recommend everyone to take this opportunity provided to all of us. It is a great way to meet some exciting people, gain new knowledge and step out into a world other than your own. It gives a whole new perspective to the work culture and also enables you to grow in your career. There are some amazing people around all the offices who are doing brilliant work and Quest would be the perfect opportunity to explore that.

Be yourself and enjoy the ride. When you enjoy, it makes more people join the ride. Everyone has to experience a Quest, at least once.

The international transfer program Quest, which connects Arcadians from all over the world, is sponsored by the Lovinklaan Foundation.

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