To Trainee or not to Trainee

I would say: To Trainee!!!

Here I will sum up my traineeship at Headway and show pictures of the amazing trips and parties I experienced here. The Philippines is just amazing!!

First let me introduce myself again: my name is Cees van Eysinga and I'm from the Netherlands. I'm 25 years old and almost finished with my studies (Industrial Engineering).

I arrived in Manila February 13th and started my traineeship at Headway the following Monday. This traineeship is part of the curriculum for my studies and therefore compulsory. I chose Headway and the Philippines only because I have a friend who did his traineeship here and he told me great stories. A few e-mails and I was on my way to Manila :) Cheers to my network and to networking in general!

The things that I love most about this traineeship is that life just never gets boring here. Although I work during the week there's always parties going on everywhere and almost every weekend I'm on a trip (just call it holidays) to the most beautiful places on earth!! And that's not exaggerated; the Philippines with its 7,107 islands host the most unspoiled and beautiful scenery in the world. Mountains (no snow), Tropical Islands, Rice Terraces, Underwater Worlds, Beaches, Rain Forests, Rivers, Volcanoes, Wildlife, etc etc etc etc.

I've met great people here. This shows the best with my "family" at Headway. They are my fellow foreign trainees and are very remarkable and wonderful friends! We've shared allot and experienced more! Following is a picture of my family:

This is the crew who I've been partying and traveling with allot! From left to right:

Dorota, Cees, Bryan, Eva, Karla

The San Miguel Strong Ice shirts are epic already. We won them in a drinking contest organized by AIESEC in Club Ascend in the Fort. Foreigners vs Filipinos. Not a very competitive opponent.

Now a series of photos will follow. These will show the events I've been experiencing! Enjoy!

Whaleshark snorkling in DONSOL, March 2009

Arrival in Legaspi

Our resort in Donsol

The animal we came to see

We saw 6 whalesharks, AMAZING!!!

Chilling at the beach during sunset

On the roof of a Jeepney back to Legaspi

Beautiful Philippine sunset

To be continued...

My Project Team

One of the best things in life is to be able to work with smart, committed and fun people. And these are some of the attributes of my team here (10 times even better!)

All of them are Filipinos and I find a nice balance between technical, management, analysis backgrounds. Also a really amazing balance between ages, all of them have shown me determination, competence, passion, honesty, humbleness, respect and good doses of laughter, advice, comprehension and brightness.

Being a young Peruvian (Latin) in The Philippines is a great deal, but I couldn't feel more proud of my team here, it's an honor to me to be able to lead you, to be able to learn from you and to give you my best.

You have my all my respect. You have become one of the best motivations and sources of inspiration for me at work.

Thank you very much:
Alec, Mon, PX, Nic, Sheila and Karra.

And to Marcelo and Petr: thanks for this amazing legacy.

Here's to a very good looking team and a successful project that will be delivered soon! :)
KT

A little bit of History

On Monday together with my family (father, sister and brother in law) which are visiting me in the Philippines.  We took one day trip to Corregidor which is an island on near Manila. Corregidor is known the world over for its role in war, bravery, and history. It is three miles long and 1 ½ miles at its widest point, facing the China Sea and flanked by the provinces of Bataan and Cavite. A rock island remarkably shaped like a tadpole at the entrance of Manila Bay, Corregidor's strategic location was vital in the defense of Manila during World War II.

The name 'Corregidor' came from the Spanish 'corregir', or 'to correct', since the island was a checkpoint for vessels entering Manila Bay during the Spanish and American occupations. Perhaps it is Corregidor's geographical proximity to Bataan and existing inaccurate historical writings that cause many to associate the rock island with the Death March, which came shortly after the Fall of Bataan.

Corregidor became the headquarters of the Allied Forces and also the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth government.  It was from Corregidor that Philippine Pres.  Manuel Quezon and MacArthur left for Australia in February leaving behind Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright in command.

Today, Corregidor's rich history continues to draw Filipinos and foreign tourists alike, making the island one of the most visited tourist spots in the country. For first-time Filipino visitors, Corregidor reacquaints them with the past and helps them discover their national identity. The island is home to many historical treasures.

 

It was interesting experience to know something about World War II in Asia. Because so far I knew mainly about Europe.  If anyone is interested in history he should go definitive there.

 

Headway – AMA Partnership

On Wednesday Headway signed a partnership with AMA EDUCATION SYSTEMS HOLDINGS, INC., which is a corporation duly established and operating in the Philippines, they are capturing different universities mainly IT. The main objectives of this partnership are to have an access to pool of talents that can work in Headway. We wish to give chance for AMA students to have their On-the-Job-Training here as well as be an employee. We would like to be involved in job fairs and career talks. Headway management would like to put an effort to shape young Filipinos, learn critical thinking and other core competencies. We believe that such activities can bring positive impact on filipino education system and we will be looking for signing such partnership with other universities.

Introducing the SIX of us :)

Ok! So this post is dedicated to the amazing and fun individuals who are doing their traineeship at HEADWAY today. These are:

From left to right:
Dorota (Poland), Cees (The Netherlands), Bryan (Canada), Eva (Slovakia), Karla (Perú)
- Sonia (Romania) missing in the pic.

TRAINEES IN THE OFFICE

Dorota (HR-SSG) - Cees (Quality - SSG) - Bryan (HBS) - Karla (HPL) - Eva (HBS)
Sonia missing in the picture (HBS)

TRAINEES PROUD WINNERS OF THIS COOL COMPETITION

Upper Line: Cees, Dorota
Bottom Line: Eva, Karla, Sonia
Bryan missing in the pic (he was in Vietnam)

TRAINEES ENJOYING DONSOL (LEGAZPI) in The Philippines

SONIA - 24 years old, committed to a cool chinese, from Romania, she holds a degree in Economics. She arrived in August 2008 and will be here till January 2010. She works as project manager in Headway Business Services, establishing a company in The Philippines.

BRYAN - 29 years old, single, from Canada. He is a Chemical Engineer, he had worked at National level in AIESEC in Hungary and The Netherlands. Now he is doing a business consulting traineeship for one year, till August 2009.

DOROTA - 25 years old, committed to a nice filipino, from Poland. She got her master's degree in Economics in 2007, then worked for AIESEC at National level and afterwards decided to go for an internship. Her role is HR Officer for Headway Business Services - Shared Services Group, meaning that she manages HR in three different companies. She will be here till August 2009, maybe longer :)

EVA - 25 years old, committed to a smart czech, from Slovakia. She holds a Masters degree in Public Economics. She has being into 25 countries because of AIESEC and personal travels. She is Business Consultant for 2 current projects in Headway Business Services. So far, she is enjoying her 7 months in The Philippines.

KARLA - 25 years old, single lady, she comes from Perú, she is an Industrial Engineer, who had lived and worked in Perú, U.S. and Brazil ; and traveled across Latin America because of AIESEC and non-AIESEC related projects. Today she works as business consultant and project manager in Headway Process Logics. So far she has been here for 3 months and she loves it.

CEES - 24 years old, single, from The Netherlands, (almost graduated as) Industrial Engineer. He has lived in The Netherlands, France and now he is enjoying his "pinoy" experience. He works as Quality Control Officer for Headway Business Services - Shared services Group; meaning that he is working in implementing and monitoring quality standards in three companies. He arrived in February and will be here till August.

These are us!
Check out this "formal" video we put together =)

Cool thing to realize while writing this, how extraordinary is to find similar people, with similar interests, from Europe and America; AIESECers, with international experience, Economics and Engineering backgrounds, very ambitious minds, really caring, sometimes random and ultra fun:

Check out our attempt to become Chinese in a Friday night, after finishing a typical Headway week.

Headway promesses a challenging and life changing experience to their trainees. So far, it has been full with different, unique, special, surprising, unexpected, kind, random, possitive, fun, incredible... situations.

For sure we will continue sharing stories of our wonderful experience coming from working on a Consultancy firm; learning how to balance work with beautiful nature and trips... in this unique country - The Philippines.

Stay tuned for more :)