‘My international journey is nowhere near over!’

24 Fevereiro 2017

I am Tim Schellekens, 30 years old. My journey at Arcadis started in 2012 with at the environmental assessment department at Arcadis The Netherlands.

In 2014 I participated in the Global Shaper Program (that seems ages ago). As soon as I joined Arcadis I learned of the Global Shaper Program and I knew straight away I wanted to participate.Tim 1

During my studies, I already got a taste of working internationally by studying in Dublin for a few months and hosting foreign students at my university. I really enjoyed working and living with people from other countries.

So I could not pass up on such a great opportunity as Global Shapers. It is a great way to get to know Arcadis, meet young colleagues from all over the world and work on your international career.

During the face-to-face phase of Global Shapers, we worked on several new tools focusing on improving global collaboration. We made several videos explaining some of our signature projects (rather than boring project reference texts), came up with a virtual team building guide. Perhaps you have not heard of or seen these tools but one thing it did (for me at least) is to evoke a sense of pride in Arcadis.

When I returned from Global Shapers I not only had a better understanding of what we at Arcadis are good at and where we want to go as a company. I also made many new friends and had grown my network enormously (both in the virtual phase and the face-to-face phase). And with all these new connections it becomes a lot easier to get in touch with colleagues from across the globe. And to stay in touch. Surely several of my fellow 2014 Global Shapers have left Arcadis in order to pursue their career somewhere else but me and many others still remain in contact with each other and if possible meet up from time to time.

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Global Shapers confirmed my desire to work internationally. I wanted more of it. Through my new connections, I got the chance to assist one of our European Value Proposition Leaders, to help set up a global Community of Practice, to join the AGLF 2016 in Berlin with many other alumni Global Shapers Just last week I learned I will have a new global role as of April 1st 2017. My international journey is nowhere near over! Give yours a boost as well and apply for Global Shapers 2017! Enjoy!

 

-Tim Schellekens

Global Shaper: Generation 2014

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