Aitor Cia Lozano on his Workday traineeship at SuccessDay: “I see this as the best investment in myself”
A new group of trainees started at SuccessDay in April of this year. The young professionals will learn the finer details of the HRIT profession – and of Workday in particular – and immediately put their new-found knowledge into practice with prominent clients. In this blog, we introduce our new talent Aitor Cia Lozano to you.
Aitor (25) grew up in Spain and has spent a lot of time abroad throughout his life. He has lived in Belgium, Finland and France. After following a bachelor’s in Labor Relations and Human Resources at the Univeridad Pública de Navarra, plenty of jobs were there for the taking, but he cose to continue studying abroad. He considered master’s courses in Ireland, Singapore and the United States, but eventually chose Human Resource Studies at Tilburg University. “This master’s course was well regarded, and it turned out to be a perfect match. I haven’t regretted it for a second.”
He immediately felt at home in the Netherlands. “I love your culture. People are open minded, direct, friendly and transparent. I feel completely free here.” When he completed his master’s earlier this year, it was clear to him that he would stay in the Netherlands. He already speaks the language a little after following two Dutch courses. It is his ambition to further elevate his current B1 language level to professional level. “I believe you can only really fully immerse yourself in a new culture when you have a good command of the language.”
Pressure cooker
He followed an extra internship to gain more work experience at Signify (Philips Lightning) in Eindhoven. At the same time, he was approached by a recruiter to come to SuccessDay to talk about a traineeship. This piqued his interest, and he was curious about the possibilities. “I have always been interested in HRIT, an aspect that was not covered in my studies. I see myself as a bit of a geek, to be honest. At SuccessDay I can develop myself further in this field, which is ideal.”
He talked with three different professionals from the Eindhoven-based company and it clicked straight away. They offered him a job as a Junior Business Consultant from 1 April. With the Workday traineeship, he will further specialize in Workday, which is also considered to be the Rolls Royce of HRIT systems. Aitor learns and works simultaneously and sees this as ‘the best ever investment in himself’. “I can already say that I’ve made the right decision. You’re in an incredible pressure cooker here. You can advance yourself at record speed and gigantically improve your market value.”
Young vibe
One of the positive aspects of the traineeship for Aitor is that it eases him gently into the world of work. “I wasn’t fully prepared for this after two short internships. What do you really know when you’ve just graduated? There is still so much to learn and discover. All this comes together perfectly in this traineeship.” He now lives in Eindhoven, within walking distance of the SuccessDay office. “It’s super practical.”
Now that the second month of his traineeship at SuccessDay is coming to an end, he can say will full conviction that he has made the right choice. “The people are nice and helpful, there’s a great atmosphere and the intensive learning process fits me like a glove. The motto ‘work hard, play hard’ applies here. I love the young vibe here too. Everyone is willing to help each other, and we laugh and hang out together.”
Just like Bambi
Aitor describes himself as a bit of a perfectionist, eager to learn and curious. In the coming year he hopes to fully familiarize himself with the Workday HRIT system, to be of great value to the SuccessDay AMS team, and to take on a variety of customer roles. He is currently working as a Project Management Officer (PMO) at a multinational in Enkhuizen and is mainly involved in support activities for the project manager, including scheduling appointments, monitoring deadlines, preparing materials such as Powerpoint presentations, and the consultants’ time registration.
“In these first few weeks I still feel just like Babmi learning to walk, but I know things will get better as soon as I’ve gathered all the information I need and have got to know the organization better”, explains Aitor. Ultimately, he would like to focus more on the integration and configuration side of things. “But this PMO position is a great first step towards developing a helicopter view.”
Future plans
When his traineeship is over, he would like to continue working at SuccessDay. “One year is nothing when it comes to learning. I feel like a fish in water here and I’ll still have a lot to learn by then.” Talking of learning new things, during his student years in Tilburg he joined the rowing club. “I learned so much there! Teamwork is key in rowing, as are commitment and discipline. At one point I was training 20 to 30 hours a week. When I was rowing, I gained skills that will stand me in good stead for the rest of my career.”
