Learning and working in a large company with family atmosphere

My name is Rebecca Brecht and since August 2017 I have been training as a business administrator in office management at INP.

For me, it was not always clear that I wanted to learn a profession in an office setting.
Before I started at INP, I had successfully completed my training as a sports and fitness specialist in the health workshop in Dudenhofen. I liked it there because I got along really well with my colleagues, the team gave me a lot of support in the sport and in every other respect and I learned a lot.

I also enjoyed working with the customers, but soon thereafter I realized that I did not want to become a fitness trainer. Fortunately for me, the training was wide-ranging and included many other elements. For example, some of my classmates in the vocational school were mostly focused on the main training area and actually only worked with training programs for members. I spent more time at the front desk/counter or in the office, because I thought it was more fun.

Since the health workshop is also connected to a physiotherapy practice, I was able to assist in scheduling, rescheduling and billing. However, I often had to work on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (sometimes also late shifts), which I did not particularly like.
All in all, it was clear to me that I would rather take a job in an office. Therefore, I started looking for a suitable training place.

People sometimes ask me how I stumbled upon INP: Since my father works in the building opposite of INP and I live in Berghausen, I’ve known about the company for some time. However, I didn’t know exactly what the company does. So I informed myself and applied for an apprenticeship.

During the job interview with Mrs. Jester and Mr. Kauther, I also gained more insight into what INP does and what my apprenticeship would look like. This made INP even more interesting to me. After being shortlisted, I had a second job interview and was finally lucky enough to be accepted as an apprentice.

On my first day of training, Kevin, the other "new" apprentice, and I received a tour around the premises and were introduced to the employees. We received a very warm welcome.
Since August 01, 2017, I have been working in the department of business services in the invoice receipt section. I was also almost immediately assigned some of my own tasks.
For example, I am handling part of the time recording in our ERP system. I keep an eye on the employee's time accounts, process absence reports and enter time sheets. In addition, I am responsible for the processing of vacation requests. I help enter the incoming invoices and handle the filing of documents and contracts. Furthermore, it’s also my job to look after the office supplies, in other words ordering them, managing them and passing them out to the employees. I also furnish new workstations with everything necessary.

Thanks to my colleagues, I feel very comfortable in my current department and see INP as an opportunity to improve myself in many areas. For example, I was already allowed to attend a seminar on wages. Two more seminar days are already planned.

In May, I moved to the department of Mechanical Engineering and Welding and am pleased to gain further insights and experiences there and in whatever comes next.

(Note: Rebecca Brecht has since completed her training and is now a permanent part of the INP accounting team, she is studying to become a financial accountant).

My first contact with INP Germany was about 3 years ago. Back then, I already knew in which direction I wanted to go career-wise, therefore I decided to do an internship in the IT department. I liked the internship so much that I completed another one the following year. At this point, it was clear to me that I wanted to complete my apprenticeship as an IT specialist for system integration.

Even before I graduated high school, I applied at INP and after a job interview with the IT manager, Ekkehard Kuhnle, everything went pretty fast. From that point on, I could proudly call myself an apprentice at INP Germany. 

On the first day of my apprenticeship, Rebecca, another new trainee who began her training as an office management assistant, and I were shown around the company and introduced to our new colleagues. All employees were very nice and we were welcomed with open arms. Luckily, I already knew a few faces because of my internship. Therefore, my excitement was limited.

Throughout my training, I make contact with almost every employee. As soon as there are technical problems, whether with the PC or mobile phone, I am ready to help. Even colleagues from other branches call us if they have problems with their technology. In addition, new employees get a thorough introduction to the software from our department along with the guidelines and instructions on how to handle technical devices. In my training I am learning every important aspect of IT, from upgrading a server to support through remote desktop. If I stumble upon a problem I can’t quite fix, I can always ask someone in my department and always get a solution. In addition, during my training, I am receiving a lot of new insight, which I can also implement well in practice. For example, once I had contact with the support department of our suppliers and was able to solve a problem that puzzled our entire department. Procurement of new equipment such as laptops, monitors and hard drives is also covered by the IT department. Thus, I also got to know the commercial part of the training. The requests for offers and the remaining order process were initially quite new to me, but I got used to it quickly and am quite comfortable with it now. Our colleagues are always equipped with the best possible materials and techniques, but at the same time we always keep the price/benefit ratio in mind.

Earlier this year, I received a project assignment that I'm very proud of. I am allowed to participate in the introduction of the new ERP system. It requires, among other things, time recording and project management. In preparation to go live, data has to be transferred from another program, among other things. That is pretty exciting.

I think it's great that as an apprentice I can take on responsibility myself and that something new is waiting for me every day.

(Note: Kevin Kirst has since completed his training and is now a permanent part of the INP IT team).