Through the application process, I surprised myself on how much I gained

23 août 2017

Vicky Chou, Global Shapers 2017 

One of my favorite projects I have been involved with at Arcadis was a wildfire remediation project in Northern California. While I greatly enjoyed the field work and my first project away from home, the best part of the experience was meeting and working with over 80 other young Arcadians from all over the USA. As a part of a small office in Philadelphia, I only interact with a small circle of Arcadians, so this wildfire project opened my network and introduced me to other young engineers and geologists in the company – many of whom became close friends! I felt more connected to the company by being a part of this work community.

Having another opportunity to meet young professionals from Arcadis, but this time globally, was my initial motivation for applying to Global Shapers. After learning more about this program, I was excited at the chance to develop myself personally and professionally. This program is unique to Arcadis and provides invaluable experience for young professionals by allowing us to connect with global leadership and make an impact on the company. Collaborating with similarly motivated young professionals continues to excite me as I countdown the days till the F2F event. My passion is water resources, and while not every Global Shaper is involved in that field, I am looking forward to exchanging perspectives, ideas, and enthusiasm with the other Global Shapers who also have a passion for the environment. Beyond the opportunities to network and further my career, I cannot wait to make some lasting friendships and travel to a new country.

I chose to produce a video for my application because I thought a video would best convey my personality and enthusiasm. The themes of digital and sustainability sparked a lot of ideas and the hardest part was actually fitting everything into a 50 second video! After a lot of brainstorming and bouncing ideas off other prospective Shapers, my final inspiration came after attending an Arcadis presentation about the “Empowering Water Utility Innovation” report at a conference. The presentation inspired my application by synthesizing the concepts of digital and sustainability through innovation. I conveyed this idea through what I knew best about Arcadis – the green infrastructure design work I do every day! Through the application process, I surprised myself on how much I gained; I learned a lot about the breadth of work Arcadis does and connected with many young Arcadians as well as senior leadership. On top of that, I had a lot of fun using creativity to describe my every day job in the video application!

To future applicants, I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and talk to as many people as you can, do research to learn more about Arcadis’s multitude of projects, and just have fun putting your own unique personality and perspective into your application!

Vicki’s application

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