Day of the Intern: our awesome Anouk!

“Hi I am Anouk, 17 years old and live with my parents, brother and sisters in Almelo. Our family has a mutual interest: army vehicles from the 1940-1945. That’s where my interest in cars came from. I grew up with that and as a little child I went on the truck with my dad and that’s where my love for that beautiful big stuff came from! I’m in the final year of the VMBO at the Zone College. In the last year we were allowed to do an internship, 1 day a week. And I was allowed to do this at Dijkstra Plastics at the location in Almelo. Which I really loved. I used to go there every Friday with a lot of pleasure.

I ended up at Dijkstra Plastics because of my father. I really wanted to do something with logistics during my internship, and preferably at Dijkstra Plastics. For me as a girl, it’s nice to get into familiar territory within a man’s world.  My father, Martijn, works as a driver at Dijkstra Plastics. He arranged for me the mail address where I could apply and the rest I did it myself. I got a lot of experience during my internship and learned a lot. I worked in the warehouse and there’s a lot going on there. You start by first putting all the products, produced the night before, in the right places in the warehouse racks. But we also prepare the orders for the drivers, including what the drivers take for us from the other production location we place in the racks or we set up for another order. Emptying all waste bins in the warehouse and production is also part of it. I work with four men, but that’s not a problem for me. With them it is always fun during work and I have learned a lot from them. I am very happy and grateful with the opportunities I have been given.

I think it’s awesome to be a truck driver, but I also find it very interesting to know how the whole process works beforehand. I really like to see the logistical side of it. During my internship I learned to drive a reach truck and on the pump truck. And I learned how to place the pallets in the racks and how to prepare orders. Plus, I also loaded or unloaded a truck a few times. And I also enjoyed working with the men.

In August I start with the education transport and logistics and hope to be ready in about 2 years. The best outcome would be to still work at Dijkstra Plastics and start by driving buckets around in one of their beautiful truck throughout the Netherlands and beyond!

Finally, how nice it is to be able to drive a big car as a girl/woman in a men’s world and make customers happy with the product you are transporting. On the truck you have a lot of freedom and you have contact with your customers and with your colleagues.”