Introducing: our new business graduate students!

Not only in our engineering department did two graduate interns start last week but also within the Sales & Marketing and Continuous Improvement department, we welcomed two graduate students. In this article, we would like to introduce Soufiane Loukili and Wouter Coolen. When Soufiane is not busy practicing sports at the highest level, he can be found in the Sales & Marketing department, while Wouter will be completing his graduation internship in the CI department.

Soufiane is 25 years old and is currently in the final phase of his Marketing Management studies at the Fontys International Business School in Venlo. However, Soufiane is not only a diligent marketing student who is currently on the verge of graduating cum laude, but in his spare time, he also practices MMA fighting at a top-level. He excels in fighting in such a way that he even trained in Ireland with Connor McGregor’s team.

Wouter is the youngster of the two with his 23 years of age. He is also in the final phase of his studies, although in his case he is studying Business Management at the Fontys Hogeschool in Eindhoven. Wouter is also a sporty type and can be found every Sunday on the football pitch where he plays for VV Koningslust, and of course, he also enjoys the third half! Besides his study and hobbies, he works at AZ BBQ service, driving almost every Saturday through the Netherlands and Belgium to make people happy with a delicious barbecue.

Soufiane; ‘The broad orientation of the study ensures that you gain a lot of knowledge about different marketing disciplines.  This really appealed to me when I chose Marketing Management. I would have liked to learn more the sales process, but I hope to be able to develop this further at Marcelissen during my graduation assignment.’ After completing his three-year intermediate vocational programme Account Manager (sales), Wouter felt he had not yet finished learning and wanted to follow a technically-oriented bachelor degree. The Business Management course at Fontys was a perfect match with his previous education and so the choice was quickly made. To this day, Wouter is happy that he made this decision.

Following the advice of a number of classmates, who had carried out a 7^th-semester project at Marcelissen, Wouter applied for an internship at Marcelissen. The fact that Marcelissen is a family business with intensive and personal guidance were already plus points in advance. These feelings were confirmed during a conversation with our Continuous Improvement Specialist Joany van de Griendt, after which he was happy to start working for us. Soufiane, on the other hand, already knew Marcelissen from his third-year internship where he worked at an online communication agency that supports Marcelissen in its online marketing. When he visited the company for an interview, he was positively surprised by the atmosphere and possibilities. Soufiane; ‘Jos Derijk’s enthusiasm about Marcelissen’s story was contagious, which made me decide that this is the company where I wanted to finish my studies’.

Within Marcelissen we strive to ensure that we learn something new every day. Wouter will help us with this, by investigating how we can further optimize the current production capacity. While Wouter focuses on the internal part, Soufiane will investigate how Marcelissen can better profile itself to the outside world. By looking at the wishes and perceptions of various stakeholders, he will give an advice that we can immediately start working on.

Wouter; ‘Of course, I aim to graduate with a good result, but I also find it important to connect with the different departments within Marcelissen. A good ambience and a pleasant working atmosphere always make work more fun, so that is what I am looking forward to above all’. Soufiane shares this thought and adds that his main goal is to graduate cum laude for his bachelor degree. He also wants to improve his marketing skills and experience what the sales process looks like in practice.

Finally, we wish both gentlemen the best of luck with their graduation projects and are pleased to be able to work with such motivated students. Twice a year a new group of (graduation) interns start at Marcelissen. If you want to know more about this, do not hesitate to contact us.

To be continued!