Candidate stories: Minck Beernink
Gepubliceerd op 10-08-2022
“Every disadvantage has its advantage,” Minck experienced this firsthand when his contract wasn’t renewed due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, when one door closes, another window opens. Now, Minck is thriving at Schneider Electric, and we had the opportunity to speak with him about his experience.
You've been with Schneider Electric for a while now. Can you tell us more about your role and the company?
“I’ve been working in the Digital Sales team at Schneider Electric for ten months now. We map out the installers behind the wholesalers. Schneider Electric largely supplies wholesalers, who in turn serve the installers. Simply put, Schneider Electric deals with everything that requires electricity nowadays. That electricity needs to be distributed in a certain way through buildings, train stations, airports, etc. To achieve that, a lot of components and products are needed. We focus primarily on energy management and supply various products for that purpose. We sell many of these components or products to installers, for example, those who come to homes to repair electrical panels. Installers buy their supplies from wholesalers. Normally, we don’t sell directly to the installers. Because the wholesaler is in between, many installers are not familiar with us. Over the past year, we’ve been trying, through campaigns, to identify which installers are familiar with Schneider Electric and find us interesting as a company. We made a lot of follow-up calls to identify potential business and interesting customers, then made sure we could respond directly to those installers instead of going through the wholesaler. In the Digital Sales team, I mainly focus on small to medium-sized installers in the residential and utility sectors.”
"I always try to get the most out of everything; effort multiplied by knowledge equals results."
You're now part of the digital sales team, but how did your career start?
“I was 16 when I finished my vocational education (VMBO). At that point, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future. I ended up studying to become a teaching assistant. Fun, but not really my thing. I realized that fairly quickly. Fortunately, at that time, you could apply for any higher education (HBO) program with any vocational diploma. That’s why I finished the teaching assistant program. After that, I started at the Higher Hotel School in Apeldoorn. During my studies, I went to Sint Maarten for an operational internship. The following year, I did my management internship at the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel at Schiphol. In total, I interned and worked at the Sheraton for two and a half years. After my role as Duty Trainee, I was asked to replace the outgoing Duty Manager after my internship. I was leading four other Duty Manager Trainees. It was a very fun but also educational role! Unfortunately, this adventure came to an end due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and my contract wasn’t renewed. I was already very interested in sales at that time. That’s why I started looking around and eventually landed at Schneider Electric. It’s an incredibly challenging job where you’re constantly competing with yourself.”
How did the process go with DevelopHer Academy and Women in Sales for you?
During my search for an exciting sales role, I came across the vacancy at Schneider Electric, which was combined with the traineeship from DevelopHer Academy. After several interviews, I got a good understanding of the role, the traineeship, and the benefits I would gain from it. When I was hired, I got a very enthusiastic call from Sabine, who explained the rest of the process.
From day one, I found this process to be very pleasant. It went smoothly, professionally, and I immediately felt at home.
I’m really happy I chose the traineeship. Every two weeks, I receive a full day of sales training. The theory perfectly aligns with my role, helping me grow as a sales professional. I would make this choice again without hesitation and recommend it to everyone, especially if you’re fresh out of school. Sometimes there’s skepticism about traineeships because people think, “Why would you do a traineeship after completing an HBO degree?” But after going through this traineeship, I can confirm that this view is incorrect. I see it more as a full-time job with in-depth training every two weeks, where theory is tested against practical examples.”
